Fox in backyard

OK - here are the best pics I could get of the fox in the backyard. The chickens are not going to like this....

Garden Sprouts

I think these are peas and beans..... I'll have to ask Leah...

More Chicken Coop Progress

Thanks to my garage sale find of the month (a new pneumatic nailer), progress on the coop has been much faster. Here are the latest pics:

chicks in the backyard

we took the baby CHICKENS OUT SIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Baby CHICKS OUT Side? (in a cage)

posted by Chek

Yet another chicky video

Chickens being chickens. Sorry it's so short. Later.
Love,
SPEK;

Some rather large chickens in the N&I peeper palace

so we were fixing the new peeper palace and Dad& chek climbed into the Peeper Palace. (See pics below) Also- I literally watched a chicken start developing feathers. (see pics below) Hope the peepers like the new palace! (Man, they've moved, what three times? And they're three weeks old. Wow. talk about a confusing childhood. Can't even tell where you are half the time.)
Love,
SPEK ;)

Worms!

The chicks had a treat this morning...

Brief Magnolia and Weeping Cherry Interlude

Feathers...

As promised...

Brief Fly Fishing Interlude

Nice trout on the Little Juniata during the Grannom hatch. For two decent, but not as good as Lucas', grannom dry and wet fly patterns, try here.

Tail Feathers Are A-Poppin!

Film at eleven.

More Chicken Movies

Because I know you can't get enough....

New Peeper Palace

O.K. The new Peeper Palace is up and running.

Chicken Movie Test

Please ignore the dirty state of the Peeper Palace. It's getting cleaned this afternoon.

Enjoy the Peepers.

Chicken Pics

More chicken pics. They are starting to feather and the Peeper Palace is about to undergo a major renovation.

Chicken Naming Update

the last chick to be named is... Apricot. she is the biggest and spunkiest. she is quite interested in exploring the world beyond the peeper palace.

Fly, Babies, Fly!

Key: Purple=Chek
Blue=Spek
The chickies are getting wing feathers! They are getting bigger, too. Unfortunetly, the ones w/ the biggest feathers are unnamed. We will name them soon.we got to go now, Harry Potter awaits!!!
(for those of you out of the loop, Harry Potter is the current bedtime story. i picked it. Can you tell?)
Love,
Spek&Chek

Chicks trust us!!! (or at least pipsqueak does)

So today something REALLY cool happened. THE CHICKENS ATE OUT OF OUR HAND!!! Chek&I held our hands out and Pip* ate out of our hands! Unfortunetly, some food fell through my fingers and she pecked at them and gave me a small scrape, but it doesn't really hurt.
OMIGOSH! The chicks are really starting to trust us!!
Love,
SPEK ;)

Fuzzy Flappers in the Peeper Palace

the chickens are thriving. All are very chipper. All very cute.

What i don't get is why they poop so much. they don't eat nearly as much as they poop.
Love,
Spek ;)

West Philly Cluck-Ho-Cluck-Hey-Cluck-Ho-Cluck-Hey

Julie pointed out this article from the Philly Inquirer about our city-dwelling chicken-raising compatriots. Illegal? Probably. Tasty? Definitely.

Chelsea the chicken whisperer

Chelsea is a chicken whisperer!! She just scoops up a click and BOOM it gets silent!!! Every chick loves her. She is MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Spek and Gemma! ;) ___ /o/ ^___ (shark attack)

Backyard Fox

There's a fox in the backyard.

This thought is more than a little disturbing with the peepers in the basement.

But it's kinda cool.
Love,
SPEK ;)

Oh yeah, Maple Syrup Too...

Our first foray into maple syruping was a sweet success! We started with seven taps, planned to set more, but could not keep up with the sap pouring out of the trees. Boiled most of it down on the stove, but we did one batch out over a fire in the backyard (See pic in title bar) until we ran out of firewood. It is absolutely fabulous! A few batches turned to sugar after it cooled down, but that made for some great apple pie and maple cheesecake. This will definitely be an annual event.

More Chicken Pix

I'm sure if I spelled this post "more chicks pix" this blog would get a lot more traffic...

Chicks Come Home

Today we got our six Red Sex Link chickens (who names these things?). A cross between a Leghorn and a Rhode Island Red. Good layers of delicious brown eggs. Note to all chicken purchasers... baby chicks are not quiet. They should be inside for about 6-8 weeks and then off to the yard. Which means I have until then to get the coop ready, install Fios and the flatscreen and put in the jacuzzi.

Promised picture of the Chicken Coop

OK, here's the promised picture of the chicken coop. Any smart-alec cracks about my carpentry skills will be dealt with appropriately.

Stupid blogger....

Too dumb to fix the html to set up jumps yet... stupid blogger. So, more pictures in this post.

Sunny April Day....

Leah and I spent time today working on the garden fencing. Power augers are great, but highly overrated. Mental note, next time, get the big iron bar for the rocks. Overall, Ouch... More pics after the jump.

CCCHHHIIICCCKKKEEENNN!!!!

So everyone knows we're getting chickens (not for eating) and here are the names we've come up with:
Billina (who by the way will be my special chicken)
Dorothy
pipsqueak
quincy
Tomacha
and one more whose name is yet to be decided. Any suggestions are welcome.

Some basic chicken info:
we're getting 6 chickens, all hens, and they are going to live indoors for a while. They'll be so cute!!! really fuzzy. and downy. and after this, i'll probably go vegetarian (or at least chicken-tarian).
okay, i can't think of anything else important about the chickens, so bye now.
Love,
SPEK ;)

Chicken Coop progress...

photos soon