Meet the Flock(ers)

Growing up, I was exposed to my grandfather's menagerie of random farm animals...from chickens, ducks, geese, goats, guinea pigs (I still scratch my head over that one), rabbits, turkeys, bees, emus...so it is no wonder that I too, have a hankering for raising animals.  This past August, we purchased our first chickens; now I cannot go too crazy since we live in a neighborhood, but I can at least do a little to be somewhat self reliant. 

We started with four chicks.  I was supposed to have three Americanas and one Black Australourpe, but needless to say, as time has passed, it is quite apparent my Australourpe is a Black Sex Link, but no worries, she has turned out to be a great chicken.  So far, I have found that chickens make great pets...and they also make your breakfast...okay, so they don't prepare it, but they lay some pretty amazing eggs.

Here is my flock :)  This is the day we brought them home...aren't they adorable?

This is our first 'coop' we bought it from a neighbor for $50, wasn't that a steal?

Here are the ladies free ranging, how many chickens do you see?

My very first egg, laid on January 27, 2013, I kept it and plan to blow out the insides and keep the egg :)  nerdy, I know.

 

 

We attempted to give the girls "rapper" names because one of our Americana's had the puffiest cheeks...so she was dubbed "Puff Mama" but it didn't work out so well. 

 

This is Big Red Chicken, she ended up being named for BRC on Dora the Explorer, which we still watch rather frequently, unfortunately.  BRC is an Americana and lays a large blue egg.  Big Red is the noisy one of the group.  She is best friends with Eminem.

 

This is Puff Mama.  Don't tell the others, but she is by far my favorite, she is an Americana and fairly small, maybe only a 2 or 3 pounds.  She is a great egg layer, I usually get one small olive egg per day, I pretty sure she laid my first egg.  She is happy to let me pick her up and carry her around.  Puff is friendly and will hang out with BRC and Em, thus leaving Vanilla Ice out :(

This is Vanilla Ice, a.k.a. Miss Prissy Pants, she is also an Americana.  She is the most aloof of the girls, and I believe she lays the least eggs.  The others don't seem to like her.  Eminem is frequently found hen-pecking her, so she is missing some feathers on her head and neck.  When free ranging, she is ALWAYS on her own as the others are in their snobby little trio.   If she is out and I need to round them up, she is the one I ALWAYS have trouble with.  She really is a beautiful bird, aside from her lack of personality.

This is Eminem.  She has the most personality, by far, and is also the largest of the group.  She lays a nice sized brown egg.  Her BFF (Best Fowl Friend) is Big Red Chicken.  Em will frequently chase you through the yard hoping for a treat of some sort.  She loves Mealworms and yogurt.  As proven in the last picture, she enjoys coming to the back door for a visit.

Here is Em coming to visit:

So, there are my girls.  I have intentions of adding a couple Barred Rocks and a couple of Silkies to the group this Spring.  The Silkies are mostly for nostalgic purposes since my Poppop always had them around, plus, they make great pets and are quite affectionate.  Needless to say, we have since built a bigger coop, it is quite addicting :)  I will post pictures of the new coop and run another day.

What I am growing in my window

I love March!  March means that Spring is almost here and if you know me, you know I highly anticipate Spring the very first day of Fall...Of course, if you saw all the leaves I get to contend with every Fall, you might understand.

As I look out my front window, I see only dreary gray.  It is cloudy outside and there is even a chance of snow.   I am desperate for color outside, plus the greenery gives me a little privacy from my neighbors.  So, until it is green again, I must improvise with what I am growing in my kitchen window.

I have started my own mini windowsill garden in pretty much the only window of my house that gets any sun.  

Here you see I have basil, celery, green onions, (a super cute Dollar Tree solar Daisy) romaine lettuce, more basil, and more celery.  The basil was purchased as rooted plants at the grocery store.  We love bacon and basil wrapped chicken, so planting and reusing the plants is a money saver considering each plant is usually $4.  The celery was done by cutting the base and putting it in water for a week or so and then transferring it to potting soil.  *Note I do regret putting it in a jar with a tapered neck, it now needs to be replanted and I am afraid I will need to break the jar to get it out without damaging the growth.*  The green onion I simply cut from the white roots and put in soil, I have cut it back completely a couple of times, and now I am not getting the same growth as I was, which may be in part to my adorable son overwatering...here is a picture of my garden a few weeks later:

You can see the green onions aren't quite so lush as they were before, but the celery is taking off and the basil is nice and thick.  I did remove the romaine lettuce as it needs to go from water to soil, and today, I am adding pineapple :)

To start your pineapple plant, start with a pineapple, and gently twist off the top

Then, peel the bottom layers of the stalk part,

Finally, submerge the top in water until you see a nice set of roots.  I like this small jar as it keeps only the bottom in the water and allows the roots to grow out without the pressure of being on the bottom of the glass.

So, until my zone (7) allows me to go outside and start my summer garden, this will do for now.

What are you growing in your windowsill?