After starting over with our flock of chickens, it has been a waiting game of when they'll start laying. The first eggs typically arrive around 21 weeks of age, give or take a few weeks.

Every now and then, we let our girls (dog and hens) roam the back yard together. 

Thankfully, the hens and Singer don't mind each other.

They rarely ever wander up this far from their coop, but occasionally they'll tag along after us and end up hanging around the kitchen door. Which, of course, is highly amusing for us. They like to cock their heads and peer up at us or try to sip from Singer's water bowl.

Here is our first egg! So tiny!

They usually start out teensy weensy and get larger as the hens get more experienced.

The Auracana-Americanas began laying first, which makes more sense, as the Light Brahmas get so much bigger - so developmentally they're a little behind their coop sisters.

A day or two after our first egg, a second hen began laying. It's interesting to see the variation in hues between the two hens. For over a week or two, there were just two hens laying-  both Auracanas (which lay the "Easter Eggs"). 

Here's a comparison of a "first egg" and a more normal sized egg.  Although, the second egg could also just be a double yolk-er, which is also common when hens begin laying.

Finally, what we've all been waiting for!

A few more weeks in, we now have some Light Brahma's laying (the brown eggs) which makes for some beautiful color variation in our egg cartons.  As of today, not all the ladies are laying yet, but we know at least 6 are. We have been getting about 5-6 eggs per day. It is so much fun to go check for eggs and find them waiting for us!

Our new chickens are funny little ladies. There are 6 Light Brahmas and 5 Auracana-Americanas, and they have decided they don't like to leave the chicken hen house. I'm not sure why, because their little run is a nice place, too. Perhaps because we've had almost non-stop rain ever since they were moved into the coop - they simply don't want to venture out in case it's raining or storming, as it usually is! 

Lately, we've taken it upon ourselves to acclimate them better to the outdoors. We check on them several times a day, haul them out of the coop and try to get them to act like chickens! Peck something! Eat a worm! We have discovered that they love mulberries, and our mulberry tree has produced a record crop this spring. While the kids eat some for themselves, they toss some to the chickens too. 

We're also trying to get them used to having us around them. Some are more skittish than others.

I tried to entice them outdoors with some mango peel and nice leafy compost scraps! 

I was reading on a Backyard Chicken forum that others have had this issue, too. Apparently, I'm not the only one with agorophobic hens. My next trick is to block access to the henhouse and make them spend more time in the run and outside. They will obviously have access to their food and water, but there's no reason I can see for hunkering up inside all day. It's not like that box is air-conditioned! Plus, their nesting boxes are getting mites, which happens when they don't take their dirt baths regularly. I suppose, in their defense, it's difficult to flop around in dust when it rains every day.

They are not laying yet. I'm expecting eggs towards the first of July. The Light Brahmas lay brown eggs, but the Auracanas will lay pastel colored eggs. I'm ready!

To continue a tradition began by my parents when my siblings and I were children, Kyle is reading through the Bill Gothard Character Sketch books given to me by my parents. We've incorporated this into our school curriculum, and set aside time on Wednesday nights to do this.  If you're not familiar with Gothard's Character Sketch books, you're missing out.  I have extremely clear memories of crowding around my Dad's knees with my brothers while my Dad read through the two volumes.  Gothard takes all kinds of different character traits, like Loyalty, Perseverance, Faithfulness, etc. and teaches those lessons using animals.  

The past week, we've been studying the countries of the Middle East in History/Geography, and the kids and I had so much fun identifying those countries on our map. We have a CD that teaches us songs to memorize the names of the countries, and so far, it's been a huge success. It even led to a big discussion of how to accurately pronounce Quatar. 

Poulet, our other Auracana-Americana saying Hi as I check out the interior of the henhouse.

At least 6 of the hens are laying regularly. Although they might have hatched all on the same day, much like humans, they each mature at different rates. You can tell the maturity of a hen by the color and size of its comb and wattle. One of my Buff Orpingtons matured way before the others and was my first egg layers. In the picture above, the green egg is from Poulet, and the largest egg, which is SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than any we have gotten before is from one of my Light Brahma's ("Little Penguin", to give credit where it's due).  

Speaking of production...I'll be 34 weeks preggo this weekend.

Thanks to regular visits to my chiropractor (where Dorien and August are pictured playing above) 

and the gym swimming pool, I feel great! 

The baby is growing and active (my stomach is aquiver with baby wiggles as I write this post) and has yet to settle head down. It does get there, but also apparently has enough room to move sideways and back to head up and then around again. I'm praying it settles head down in the next week or so.

I'll try to post some updated belly pictures in the next few days. 

Meanwhile, I intend to fully enjoy this Labor Day weekend by pulling down my infant garb from the attic and maybe painting our nursery! Changes are afoot! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Feast your eyes on our gorgeous chicken coop/run that is, FINALLY, complete. 

Sigh of complete happiness....

Oh yes, it also has occupants. Cute little guys. I mean gals.

Speaking of cute guys - check out this little hunk of mine. Wowser. 

I pity the women in his future. They're not gonna have a prayer.

But back to the coop. Ok, so where I left you last - hanging in utter suspense, I just know - we had put up the siding on the henhouse and had finished the egg boxes, but had yet to complete the interior wall, install roosts or paint the henhouse. We also needed to put up the ramp for the little ladies to enter their new digs. 

And today. Yes, TODAY, all is complete. I spent the afternoon painting the second coat of paint on the siding and painted the little cedar roofs of the egg boxes as well as the egg boxes themselves. 

Here is a view of the whole mansion from the back of it. I know it looks funny propped up the way it is in the back, but our yard is, as I've said before, VERY sloping. In order to level the whole contraption, there's a foot difference from the back to the front. Meaning, we had to attach extra panels of hardware cloth to the back in order to extend the cloth a foot into the ground.

This is our largest egg box - there are 3 separate egg boxes inside. This side of the henhouse wall was put together with cedar fence post boards. We cut them to size and removed their rounded ends. I turned the remains of the rounded ends into a cedar "shake" roof of sorts. I was very pleased with how they turned out.

Right now, the egg boxes are locked with some non-fancy clasps that actually are supposed to connect Singer's water pail to her crate.  I have been searching high and low for locking carabiners - but not wanting to spend $15 for each one. I finally found a set of 6 on Amazon for $8. As soon as those arrive, I'll feel better about our overall security.

I hear raccoons are pretty adept at maneuvering latches. And I kid you not, just this past Friday evening, as we were driving home, an enormous raccoon was just casually strolling down the middle of our street.

Beginning to understand why I went to such great lengths to protect my hens? 

Another view of the final product.  Again, this was constructed from plans purchased on www.thegardencoop.com  This is the actual Garden Coop, extended by an additional 3 feet to accommodate more hens.  I also added exterior egg boxes and moved the hen's "pop hole" (or their little entrance) to the front of the henhouse instead of in the floor. 

It's a thing of beauty, isn't it? I am seriously ridiculously proud of this coop.  It was a challenge, but totally worth every second, and truthfully, every penny. Kyle and I had so much fun working together on it, and it turned out very professional, if we do say so ourselves!

If you're wondering where the colors came from for the henhouse, I was inspired by this particular house.  It was featured in my Design*Sponge at Home book. The house was designed by House of Honey, and although I wasn't able to get the exact names or colors of the paint they used for this exterior, I poured over paint samples at Home Depot, Lowes and Sherwin Williams before coming up with my closest approximation. For the dark grey color, I used Sherwin Williams' Rock Bottom. For the yellow/green, I used Eye Catching. The white paint for our roof shingles was leftover exterior trim paint used on our house.

Although the lighting may not show it, I think I came pretty close.  I love how modern and crisp it looks. 

But enough of the exterior, let's move inside this palace!

Here is the interior henhouse wall, out of which we cut a door (part of the plan) which gives me access to the coop for cleaning purposes.

  

Here's the little ramp we made with branches and plywood. It leads up to their little entrance.

And speaking of entrance, Dorien wants in!

The girls have lived in their new home almost a week exactly now, and I think they like it.

We attached their feeder to the stud below the coop and it seems to work well.

We had more trouble with the waterer, which would get off balance and spill its contents down the hill.

I have attempted to create a level rock platform for the waterer, but occasionally it still tips a bit and drains down the hill.  We're working on it.

My precious daughter who loves the chickens just as much as I do.

We're the chicken gals.

Oh and here is the chickens' other biggest fan. Dorien loves them, and is so sweet to them. They seem to respond well to him too.

How could you not love this beautiful boy?

Me, the chicken whisperer. This is one of my Light Brahmas. My favorite, in fact. She is very friendly. I was squatting down talking to them and she just hopped up on my arm and got all comfy. She loves to be softly petted on her breast feathers. You can't see it in the picture, but she has the most awesome feathered feet!

Still acting as a roost while petting one of the Black Australorps.  They're not usually the most social breed, but every now and then they strut over and peck into my palm. The caramel colored one behind her is a Buff Orpington. We named one of our Buff Orpies "Violet," but to be honest, we're not sure which one. We tend to refer to them as the "Violets". Gotta do something about that before it sticks.

Here is a Rhode Island Red with a Buff Orpington behind her. I had paint on my hands and they tried their best to peck it off me. They also love to peck my wedding ring. 

Making some eye contact with a Black Australorp. It really is odd that she settled so easily in my hands and just looked at me. We can definitely tell that the amount of time we've spent around them has paid off. They are very tame and friendly and seem to enjoy our company. Even Kyle (who continues to profess disinterest) enjoys petting them and talking to them. 

Dorien, what a cutie. 

He wanted to sit next to me as we watched the chickies.

Brooklyn gets right up in the thick of them while they eat. She is so proud of them.

My Grandma visited us this past week (she is a fellow chicken lover - known to rescue them from the sides of the highway if they fall out of a chicken transport truck), and Brooklyn took great delight in gently picking up her favorites and letting Grandma Barbara hold them. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Brooklyn or Grandma. 

Dorien demonstrates the perch feature of our coop. We have two of them at different levels and going different directions. We also have a perch inside their henhouse.

Now that the coop is ready, I can turn my attention to refilling the hole Singer dug out of my raised bed...and maybe actually planting my garden...

I like that there is plenty of room inside our coop for us to hang out if we so choose.  

Right now, the chicks are just scratching into the earth, which was pretty bare after Kyle and I trampled all over it and dug it up.  I will eventually throw some straw around to absorb some of their poop - which makes wonderful compost! 

A view of the chickens using the feeder with the ladder to the right.

The chicken eating (on the right) is our Free Rare Chick from Murray McMurray. We had no clue what she was at first, but we're pretty sure we've identified her as a Lakenvelder. She's Kyle's favorite.

Here they huddle into their favorite corner. These crazy girls.  The two speckled white ones to the right are my Light Brahmas, the one closest to us, with a poofy orange head and black specks all over her body - she is one of my Americana-Auracanas.  We've named her Minnie. She looks NOTHING like her fellow AA who is solid white. We named her Poulet in honor of our first chicken.

Aren't they lovely? They are 7 weeks old today.

And hilarious. They are truly funny little creatures.  As of yet, they are still figuring out their new environment.   They have not mastered going up their ladder into the henhouse in the evenings. I wish they would get that concept, because as it is, I have to go out after dusk and pick each one up from their little huddle in the corner and move them up to the henhouse. There they stay until morning when they  manage to find their way down the ladder to their breakfast.  For the first two days in the coop, they didn't realize they could walk down the ladder to their food, so I had to take each one out and show them their food trough. I was much relieved when I came out to the coop the third morning to find them all outside and eating breakfast. 

One great feature of this coop is that I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to let them out of their coop into the run. They can enter and exit the coop at their will, in complete safety. Allowing me to sleep in normally. I usually add food to their feeder in the late afternoon.I only put enough for them to eat a breakfast and a dinner. I've read that if you leave too much in, it attracts rodents. 

Doesn't this look cozy? For a chicken, that is.  It's the interior of their henhouse - with three of the egg boxes straight ahead. The fourth one is to the left. There's plenty of pine shavings to get nestled in. 

And the stick is a perch for them.

Here's the large egg box opened up. The 2x4s propped up act as stops to keep shavings from falling out. They move easily to clean the egg boxes.

And here's the small egg box and its little stop.

With the stop removed, so you can see the interior. 

Now, all we do is keep them safe and happy and wait for the day this little box holds an egg or two for our consumption! I hope you've enjoyed our coop building journey! If you're ever in my neighborhood, stop by and tour our coop and meet the ladies! They love visitors!