March Update

Be free little poults.  Check out
the world!

Lots of changes happened in the month of March!  From the chicks growing up,  to new garden beds built,  it's been pretty exciting around here!

The almost hens checking out
the new fencing.

Well, the chicks,  I mean, poults are now 6 weeks old, and they pretty much have all their feathers now.  They are now roosting on the roosting bar at night.  It's so cute to watch them climb up there!  Since the last post there has been another change.

I finally added a temporary gate so they can get to the chicken run from the chicken coop.  I have the small corner blocked off so the almost hens cannot get to them.  I cannot wait for the poults to get a little larger so I can finally merge both flocks together!

The almost hens... they are just about ready to start laying eggs.  I can tell because their comb and wattles are getting more and more red everyday.  I cannot wait to start collecting fresh eggs again! :D


As for the garden.  I have planted many herbs and vegetables.  I'm hoping through all these cold snaps that my tomatoes and green peppers will survive.

In my herb garden I have:
Three kinds of lavender
Spearmint
Peppermint
Lemon Balm
Lemon Verbena
Lemon Grass
Rosemary
Curry
Garlic Chives
Parsley
Feverfew
Purple Sage
Regular Sage
Pineapple Sage
Stevia
Aloe
Borrage
Cilantro (for now)

At least 20 different herbs in my garden.  My goal is to get to 30 herbs.   Can't wait! :D

I also have planted three different tomato plants.  Purple Peppers, Jalapenos, Artichokes, Cucumbers, Zucchini, and an random onion that started growing from my compost pile.  I will be planting later (as soon as I get rid of the fire ants in one of the boxes), egg plant and okra.

one of three new garden boxes

 

Whew, the chickens now have a new home

We finally got to the point where we can put the hens in the chicken coop.  We spent about four hours yesterday putting up wire,  making the roosts, and building and installing the door.  Feels so good to be pretty much done.  We still have to make the chunnel, put up some trim, and a few other things here and there. 

Sleeping on her new roost,  only thing is.... the roost is outside on it's side.

You can see with the windows what color I chose.

Wire is now covering any exposed holes!

Josh made a peg so the rope to open the door would work smoothly

The new door!

New door in action!

Laying some cheap flooring for "easy" clean up.

The highest roosting bar

Chickens in the coop

sleepy chickens

Wire and Box

We worked hard all day today on the Ella Sue Cottage.  We put trim on the windows (yesterday I put the wire on, boy are my hands tired!).  And we build the nesting box.  All we have left is the chicken door, the "Chunnel" connecting the Cottage and the chicken run, roosting bars, and the trim.

Wire and trim around the windows.

Wire in the rafters,  keep out coons!

Making groves in the wood with the router.

Success! 

\

Securing the box to the cottage.

Putting the lid on the box.  My oldest is tall enough to reach inside and get the eggs. :D

Classic red with classic white trim.....

...or pick something more trendy? 

Naming the Coop and UPDATES

So far we have made some more progress this month.  We finally figured out a name for the coop and are getting closer and closer to finishing the coop.


Naming the Chicken Coop

Ella Sue in 2011

In England people have named their homes and properties by either a defining feature or after an ancestor.  I took this tradition and used it for figuring out a name for the chicken coop.

We're naming the chicken coop after our dearly departed Ella Sue.  Elle Sue was the chicken with the most adventures out of all my flock.  She was named by a friend of ours, and it took me forever to realize that he named her after LSU!!  In about October of 2011 she ended up getting a back injury, and I had to do "Chicken Physical Therapy" on her.  Right as she was healing, she ended escaping her temporary run and got eaten by a hawk.  I miss her dearly!  SO... the name of the new coop:

ELLA SUE COTTAGE

New Roof and Color Added

Adding the felt stuff to the roof before putting on tiles.

There will be a sliding door on the front of the coop.

My husband and Mother-in-Law worked hard at getting as much of the chicken coop done before she had to go back home.  We finally now have a roof. After this rain leaves, we'll put wire on the windows, then trim.  I'll also get wire in all the other exposed places to keep the nasty coons out of the coop.  We still need to build the roosting bars and the nesting boxes.  Can't wail to declare this thing finished!





Yesterday I painted the chicken coop "Classic Red".  I was thinking about making the trim white, but driving around I noticed a red house with a cream trim.  My thoughts?  That would make my chicken coop very chic.  So since adding color to a can of paint is free,  I might as well get an awesome color to go with the red.








NEW CHICKS

On Tuesday our new chicks arrived!  In the past when I have purchased the chicks from the local feed store, they must have been older chicks, because these girls are so tiny!  They are like little puff balls on two sticks.  At this time, we officially have 15 chickens.  The 5 older girls are already molting.  All that's left is for their comb and wattles to finish growing and turning red, then we will start getting our first eggs!

GARDEN UPDATE

Not sure how this whole green house thing I am doing is going.  Many of my herbs grew up fine, and then they all started dying.  So bummed.

Almost all my borage has died.

The Building Has Started

Greetings!  So far we have five chickens in our chicken run.  They are currently staying in our old chicken coop (which sold BTW!! Praise the Lord!).  They should start laying in a few months.  Canot wait!  Our new chicks are still growing in their eggs somewhere in the USA.  They will be here in two weeks!  Cannot wait to see their little fuzzy selves. We should have a total of 15 chickens all together by the time March starts. 

Working on the chicken coop floor.

My Beloved husband and his Mom have started work on the chicken coop.  As of today, they officially have three walls up and the roof. So proud of them! 

Putting up the framing.

all four walls of the framing is up! 

The coop at night....

I've been working on the garden as well.  I have all my boxes filled with dirt.  My neighbor gave us some wood for free, so I will be able to build some more boxes!  Bring on the herbs!  My goal is to have over 25 herbs this year.  I'm also going to grow tomatoes, sugar peas, peppers, and cucumbers.  In one of the boxes, where I had some old compost, an onion started to grow, so I guess I'll have an onion too.  In the back corner where the white trellis is, there is a Mayhaw. Hopefully this will all come together.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of and prevent fire ants in the garden boxes?

A Coop Idea

Well, we will not be building a chicken coop shed combo, so I've been researching coop ideas on Backyarchickens.com and I think I found what design I would like. 

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/american-canyon-coop

One thing I noticed as I looked at the coop ideas is many people came up with names for their chicken coop. I think goat would be fun! Any ideas??

My old chicken coop may sell soon.  It's still for sale!  I posted pictures of it on Craigslist.  It's hard selling this one, because I think most people are looking for a chicken tractor.

http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/grd/3451979071.html

I have seven more calenders for sale! They come in on Monday :)

I'm also a photographer.  Check out my work: http://www.kristiephoto.com

Welcome and Dreams

Well... I've been trying to grow a garden in the south for the past two years and I have owned chickens as well.  I love both!  I would like to have more chickens and have a larger more organized garden.  I will use the blog to document what I do during what times of the year so I can remember what I did last year rather than keeping a note book.  Also hoping to use this blog to sell some of my chicken calendars so I can raise money for the new chicken coop and materials to build my new garden.

Dreams....

Chicken Coop Shed

An old hen in the
chicken run

Currently I have a 3 chicken, chicken coop.  I'm trying to sell it to put money towards a new coop.  What I would love to do for the chicken coop is build a 8x12 shed.  Have 5x8ft be for the chickens (roosting, nesting, eating drinking) and the other footage to house all the yard and chicken supplies.  This will free up the other shed in our backyard so I can create my studio for my photography business.  The reality is I will probably only be able to build just a chicken coop and just have to deal with it.  To build a 8x12 shed may require more work and get building inspectors to come out and inspect the shed before and after it is built to make sure it is sound and safe.  You do not need building inspectors for a chicken coop!

We already have a chicken run.  I would attach the coop to the run and put an automatic door so the chickens can come and go as they please.  This will also protect them from wild animals at night (we lost many over the past year from animals) and also free up some of my time so I do not have to let them out/put them in at night.

The Garden 

Beet Salad.  I could grow
all these ingredients in my
garden in the winter! 

For my garden,  I want a larger herb garden with a little more shade.  I have learned that many of the herbs I like to grow require a little more shade than normal due to the intense sun and heat down here.   I have a few boxes built already,  but I need dirt, and more wood for boxes.  I am also hoping to grow some seasonal vegetables as well.  Next summer I want to grow:

• Tomatoes
• Green Peppers
• Banana Peppers
• Spicy Peppers of some sort
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini

And of course over 30 different herbs.  I got really close to having 30 different herbs last year.  It was a blast!

In the next few days I will take some pictures of the areas I will be working with, and draw diagrams of what I would like to see in the coming year.  The chicken shed comes first, as I have the chicks coming in February!  10 cute, fuzzy little chicks! :D

Buy a 2013 calendar and help this dream come true!

$10.85 (not including shipping)  

I'm also a photographer.  Check out my work: http://www.kristiephoto.com