All Cooped Up

Escapee

As hard as it was to do, we had to put the girls(and I mean chickens) behind bars so to speak. They were ABSOLUTELY tearing the hell out of the backyard, our backyard. So we cleared out an area to fence in and we put up the fence with plenty of room to roam and scratch. While Lilly and Miss Fry didn't love it they've adjusted. Gracie, on the other hand escaped at dusk to find her way to the preferred roost up in the evergreen tree, right over the walkway to the deck. "We need a taller fence!" said I so I added another foot and a half to the height of the fence, once again Gracie escapes. Darn, fouled by a fowl!...... Netting on the little tree! Yet once again, that bird has flown the coop! Mind you, she paces to get in every morning and she's more than content to hang with the flock during the day, but come 7:00 p.m. she starts to pace and when she knows your not watching anymore, out she goes. We've since added even more fencing  netting, and a couple rakes strategically stuck in the trees. Problem solved?  No, that chick has gotten out of that coop every night that they've been in there. Out smarted by a chicken... what the cluck.

A Berry Nice Surprise

Black  Beauties

Just a little vine...

YUM!

I left these few vines of blackberry hanging over the corner of our fence in the hopes that I'd get a few handfuls of berries to savour out of hand. When they were ripe and ready I was tickled to get a whole 9x12 pan full of the biggest yummiest berries I've ever eaten. Connor and I turned them into a big berry crumble.  There are still plenty of unripened berries that I should get one more picking, hmmm... maybe.... PIE!

The Scoop on the Coop

Lilly Leghorn and Miss Fry

Miss Fry and Gracie

The lovely and ladylike Gracie

I'd been talking about getting chickens for some time; when my Uncle Pat offered me the use of a small pen, feeding dishes, and a warming lamp. Well, there it was, everything I needed to get started on my days as a chicken keeper. What could I do but put up, I certainly wasn't going to shut up. So off  I went with my Grandson to Coastal Farm. We picked out three little hens, 2 Leghorns, and an Andalusian. I wish I had taken pictures of them as little chicks, but I had my eye on the prize, and they didn't become that interesting to me until I started  stalking them in anticipation of eggs.

Dinners on the chicks

Our First

Our first

There are three chickens living in our back yard right now. This past Monday they started paying for the privilege of living here. Their names are Lilly Leghorn, Gracy, and Miss. Fry, and on Monday, they started laying eggs.  We had our firtst meal from them last night, (breakfast for dinner) and they were golden, rich and delicious!