Chicken coop tour

We are going to be on the Georgia Organics chicken coop tour this Saturday.  Why anyone would go around looking at other people's coops is a little beyond me, but then I ran into someone who's signed up and looking forward to it, so there you go.  Hope it's a nice day so the chicks can be out.

The older one is full-time in the coop now which is working well although when we had a heavy rain a few nights ago the nesting area got soaked.  The roosting area was fine.

The little chicks go out during the day when it's warm.  At first we had to keep them separated from the older one, but they seemed to have reached a sort of detente, except when they get too close to her food.  Normal.  She still seems to regard us as her flock but I hope once they're older and outside full-time she'll transfer her affiliation to them.  While still roosting on our arms, of course; it's so sweet.

Chick picture

For some reason, even though I uploaded 3 pictures, only 1 is showing.

New chicks

So our new chicks came this past Tuesday.  Amazing how quickly one forgets how cute and little they are.  This time we have an Easter Egger, a Barred Plymouth Rock, and a mystery chick.  They said it was a Blue Andalusian but we looked at the pictures on their site and it clearly is not.  I think it's a Buff Orpington but I guess we'll be able to figure it out when she's older.

The big chick is full time in the coop now, which finally arrived.  The little chicks are still in the cardboard condo at night but spend most of the day in the enclosed lower area of the coop.  The big chick is suffering from severe sibling rivalry or maybe is just a natural bully; anyway, she has to be separated from them for the time being so she's in the chicken yard outside the coop.  All are fully enclosed and, we think, safe.

Black thumb?

I'm starting to think that I'd better leave the growing to my local farmers.  Of everything I've planted so far, only the tomatoes and the peas seem to be doing anything.  And of course my volunteer rhubarb.  Even my basil, which seeded itself last year, is letting me down.  Undaunted, this morning I planted a few more rows of beets and carrots, as well as a bed of zucchini and some corn.  Later today, the peanuts.  Of these, the only one that's sure-fire is the zucchini and it will go nuts.  How do they go from pickle-size to blimp overnight?

3 more chicks on the way and Dominique has built them an absolute fortress.  Will arrive possibly this week or next week for sure.

No more etsy coop link and here's why

I am furious with the guy I bought our chicken coop from.  Original delivery date was March 15; now says it will ship on April 16 and take 7-10 days to arrive.  This is the 3rd new date he's given us and I have absolutely no confidence that it will ship this Friday.  Furthermore, it's quite possible that had the coop been in the yard, the chicks might have been able to escape whatever it was that got in.  So I am holding  him partially responsible for the massacre.  He will be receiving some very negative feedback on his etsy site.

One chick left

I am unbearably sad to report that we are now down to one chick.  Something got into their newly-secured pen yesterday and destroyed both the dominiques.  Only the black jersey giant is left.  We are going to order more and keep trying; Happened yesterday and I'm still crying.

April in Pasadena

The nasturtiums are taking over! That's lavender in the foreground on the right and behind them are the tall purple irises in their annual glory.

The jasmine blooms are almost past and even the one lone asparagus that came up this year has already gone to fern. The others planted last year didn't make it. Peas are almost past too though the sweet peas have just started to bloom. Tomatoes are blooming and the citrus are almost done. It's great to see how many fruit have set. However, our plum didn't bloom very much at all again for the second year. We've got to figure out what the problem is.