Farm Fresh Eggs!

 Remember these guys I told you about a few months ago?? Well, they are all grown up into big girls now!  We are happy to announce that the dogs are being remarkably good with their new free range friends and nearly all are still accounted for!!  You might also recall that we carefully studied the requirements and worked really hard to get a nesting box all ready for them so they had a nice quiet place to lay eggs...

Who wouldn't want to start laying eggs in this beauty?!?!?!  But chickens are apparently independent thinkers... who knew??  Here's where this guy comes into the picture...

They found one of these to make their own nest and lay their eggs!  If you aren't familiar with these, they are protein tubs that you put out for cattle.  The empty ones can be used for all sorts of jobs around the farm.  We happen to be using a couple out by the chicken pen to hold some extra grass hay to bed the rabbits.  You guessed it... that is where Miss Hen decided she would start laying her eggs.  Once she did, the others followed suit and now that seems to be the nest of choice.  So when the book said they need a nice, quiet, private, dark place to lay their eggs... it was lying.  When the book said it didn't have to be anything fancy... it was right on!

For the record, this isn't my picture.  We only get one or two eggs a day so far but we have great expectations for more!!

And my friend Lyndi was right about the math lessons... so far we have gathered 6 eggs.  Nate has broken 2 of them.  How many have we gotten to eat?  Ally says 4.  Isn't she smart?? 

The chickin coop...

Remember these guys from the big chicken sale?  Well, the experts tell me they should start laying eggs soon so we needed a chicken coop.  We found some for $150 - 300 but much to the hubby's dismay, I was convinced we could build one for next to nothing.  So I took a handy dandy piece of scrap paper and engineered a very ROUGH plan.  We already had some leftover plywood from the house remodel so I went to the hardware store and bought $13.33 worth of wood screws, L brackets, and a couple of 1x2's. 

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and the hubby was home from work a little early so we set out to build our nesting box.  Since I love power tools, I was in charge of all the cutting.  Go Me! Ally was in charge of photography but all I got was 14 pictures of the power saw (all very up close and personal) so she got demoted.  Actually... she got mad and went inside to read a book.

Gail was in charge of all the measuring.  He had trouble reading my blue prints so I had to translate the little scribbly lines for him.  "... Of course that is the top piece... isn't that obvious??"

Nate was a big help.  He even got to use his own drill.  Doesn't every 6 year old have their own power drill??  I see he is using a screw driver here... battery must have been dead.

Ally finished her book and returned to help us finish up the project.  I think she really came out to see how  much longer I would be so I could come in and make supper.  Anyway, while she was there we put her to work.  She measured and cut some of the dividers.

Here we are putting the dividers in.  Apparently chickens like privacy to lay their eggs.  So privacy we gave them.  They better get to work.

Here's the finished box.  We stole the hinges off the old rabbit cage and I still have my 1x2's left so we made the whole thing for less than 5 bucks!  YESSSSS.  I think we should go into mass production.  You can send me your orders via the comments below.

By the way... I am selling them for $150.  Labor is expensive you know.....

Now go buy some chickens!

Chicken Sale...

As promised, here is a little peak at our first official "chicken sale"!  It's actually tagged an exotic animal sale but it's about 80% birds, 15% farm animals, and 5% other stuff.  It was overwhelming to see all the different types of birds:  chickens, geese, ducks, guinneas, peacocks, pheasants, turkeys... you name it, they had it.  I never knew there were so many different breeds of chickens!  

Every type of bird and cage you can imagine!! Nate's checking it all out!

Chinchillas!  I had never seen one of these before!



Nate pitched in with the sale ring crew and helped move crates into the sale line!

 

Ally is picking out the rabbits she wants to bid on!



Llamas... they were really sweet and din't even spit on us!



They also had all sorts of farm animals like pot belly pigs, goats, llamas, donkeys, horses and the essentials like horse tack, cages, feed pans, grain bins, etc...  It was a one stop shop!  We met up with a couple of other local families and had our own "cheering section" in the stands.  Our group "won" plenty of stuff and we all resembled the Beverly Hillbillies as we pulled out of the parking lot!

Donkeys!  I LOVE donkeys but we didn't bring one home :(



Our friends bought their girls a new horse!  What a fun surprise for them!!

These are the two bunnies that came to live on the farm with us... Meet Checkers and Socks!



Our new Guinnea!  We love them and all the noise they make!

We also came home with 13 chickens so I am excited to soon have some farm fresh eggs.  Next time you come visit, you might just get scrambled eggs for lunch!!

A new addition to the farm...

The word is out that the family made a little road trip last weekend.... to a CHICKEN SALE!  I know you are all just dying to know what the heck a chicken sale is so you'll have to check back soon to get the full story, complete with pics.  It's pretty much what you are already imagining but I do have proof in case you think that might be too hard to believe.  In the meantime, I had to share my cuties with their new pals.  I never knew chickens could be "tame" but these certainly are.  The kids are already talking about taking them to the fair next year.  I just want to have scambled eggs between now and then.  We'll see how it turns out!  

Chicken Sale post coming soon.  You know you want the scoop!