coop assembly...or not

We started putting the coop together, but haven't quite finished yet. We bought it used from an acquaintance, and it's a little wonky. Getting it all level is no easy task, especially when you have 2 kids all up in your biz.

Aren't they cute? giving us lots of space while we build...but not for too long.

ahh...that's more like it! and then...

...a milk break. So yeah...not much got done as far as putting the coop together. I'm *hoping* we can get it done in the next week or 2 since the chickies will soon be too big for their brooder, and they are really stinking up my laundry room.

HAWKS!

This post is very overdue...my apologies to my 3 followers. ;) Anyway, 2 weeks ago my mother-in-law and niece came over to meet the chickens. I usually don't bring them outside in the evening, but there was still some daylight, so we let the chicks out of the brooder. We sat in the backyard around the patio table and a large bird flew over our heads. So large, that it cast a giant shadow over us. We looked up, and there was a huge red-tailed hawk, just perched in my mulberry tree. I watched it as it stared at my chickens and swooped down towards them! I never thought a hawk would prey like that right in front of me and my family, I mean, there were 5 people, right there! As it swooped down I SCREAMED and he flew off over the back fence and toward the neighbor's yard. It had been just inches away from carrying off one of my little chickies. Part of me is glad that it happened in front of my daughter, I had explained to her that losing a chicken to a predator is a possibility, but now that she actually saw a hawk swoop down, I think she really makes the connection and understands that it CAN happen. After the whole hawk incident I have been pretty nervous about letting the chickens out in the backyard all alone, but over the past 2 weeks I have realized that they are pretty smart, and instinctually hide when something is hovering over them. They have been spending a lot of time in a forsythia bush and behind my rose bushes. This weekend we left them in the backyard while we ran an errand and as we were driving back to the house I saw a hawk circling near our block. I was pretty freaked out, but as I walked in the backyard I could see them all huddled underneath the table. I was so relieved!

Dyeing Eggs (naturally!)

While browsing the ever addicting pinterest I came across this blog post by Two Men and a Little Farm about how to dye eggs using natural dyes.  I thought it was a great project to do together with my daughter, besides being healthier than using the PAAS dye (or any other food coloring for that matter) I thought it would be way more educational.
We wrote down which ingredients we needs to make the colors that we wanted.

• Blueberries for blue/purple
• beets for pink
• pomegranate juice/paprika for red 
• spinach for green
• coffee for dark brown
• tumeric for yellow.

We followed the instructions on the blog and simmered each ingredient for about an hour with a bit of white vinegar.  Some colors came out great, and some were just blah.  The spinach made the water a murky barely green color, so we decided to dump it out and just mix some of the pomegranate juice with tumeric in an attempt to make orange.

Here are our results:

 

What do you think?

The ones dyed with pom juice and paprika came out pretty crusty looking. Perhaps I used too much vinegar? They looks like Freddy Krueger!!
My daughter's favorites are the ones that were dyed with beets, and I love the blueberry eggs! A few of the eggs did crack, so I'm eager to see what the eggs will look like (and taste like) without the shell.
Oh, and I should probably add that these were not white eggs. I purchase free range eggs from a local momma every other week. They are always a mix of light brown and medium brown, so me chose to dye the lighter brown ones.

Happy Spring!

They're learning to fly?!

The chicks are doing great and they are growing FAST!
A few days ago I had a mini heart attack when I went into the laundry room to check on the chicks and to my horror there were only 5 instead of 6!  Martha had somehow flown out of the box and was just chilling in the laundry room.  Thankfully she didn't go behind the dryer, because there is a mousetrap back there! EEK!
I scooped her up, put her back in and put a baby gate on top of the box.  I didn't Have anything else to keep them in, but the gate worked in a pinch.

I came in later and Martha was up on top of the waterer.  I'm so glad that I put the gate up there.  If she had flown out again and hurt herself I (and the kids) would have been so devastated!  I tried to get a photo of her up there, but the flash scared her.  So here's the best I could do:

POOP!!

Yep...poop is the only proof I've got.