We're ready for our close ups....

Just a quick post this evening to announce CHICK-CAM! I've added a streaming web cam of the brooder so you can check back and see what our chicks are doing.

They have grown a LOT this week - already getting their silkie feathers coming in on their wings. Since nobody told them that Silkies can't fly, they are going to have to learn the hard way and they are already trying out their new wings!

Hoppy is still hopping along on one leg - I do not think that his bum leg will ever straighten out, but since he seems to be getting along pretty well with just one good leg, I will continue to give him the chance to grow and see how he does.

Enjoy the chicken cam! Eventually I plan on getting a webcam out in the big girl's run too...

The Chicks have Hatched!

It's been a busy couple of days in the backyard chicken farm! Our babies have arrived!! They needed a bit of help to get hatched - I think the humidity was a bit low or unsteady so their membranes were too dry. I carefully helped them pip their shells, and it wasn't long before we had all 10 babies drying in the incubator.

They are all eating and drinking well and are just the cutest little fluffballs ever. There is one little guy with a gimpy leg. After researching the common issues with leg problems in chicks, I have ruled out slipped tendon and splayed leg. He just can't put one leg down at all. I think we will try a brace for him and see if it helps at all. His new name: Hoppy...of course! It will be really fun to watch these guys grow up into big little chickens.

It's day 21.... and we have a PIP!

Well, it's day 21.... the silky eggs have been VERY quiet the last couple days. TOO quiet for us waiting and watching and trying not to obsess too much on when those babies will come out...IF they will come out.... will they EVER come out??

Finally - got home from lunch out today and we have a PIP on the side of one of the eggs!! Come on baby chickie, you can do it!! Stay tuned.....

Hatching Eggs & Other Fun

All is calm out in the chicken yard tonight...the girls have settled in nicely to their larger coop and life is slowly returning to normal since our vacation.

In the spirit of 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', I'm a bit reluctant to say much of anything about my expectations for the hatching eggs in the incubator currently. We got 14 silky eggs total in the mail. They are a mix of buffs, whites, partridges and blue/black/splash. Two of them failed to start developing and were removed on day 7. I candled again on day 10 and on 14 and removed one more 'quitter'. That leaves us 11 eggs with dancing chicks inside! It is really neat to candle the eggs and see the baby chicks moving around. You can even see their tiny little feet shining through the eggshell! They are due to hatch on Monday the 15th - how nice that the kids will be out of school. I'm hopeful we'll get at least a few of them to make it all the way out. Stay tuned for the hatching report sometime next week...

The incubator project has been so much fun we are planning another batch to do a project with Andrew's 2nd grade class. I've built a second incubator from another cooler and have spent this week anxiously adjusting it to get it ready. I've included an automatic egg-turner since there will not be anyone there to do the turning duties. The picture is of the new classroom incubator in the testing phase.

Lots of changes to report in our backyard flock!

Well, it's been too long since my last update post! For two of the last four weeks our family was on vacation in Europe, so it was amazing to see the girls when we came back. It seemed they had doubled their size in the two weeks we were gone!

I have finally finished the chicken yard and larger coop for the girls, and just in time! They were rapidly outgrowing the ChickNBarn. I have put up a stretch of chainlink fence to section off part of the yard for the chickens. Their area is approximately 80' x 20'. I used PVC pipe to make arcs to fit over the chicken yard and covered them with deer netting to keep the chickens in and keep them from flying over where the dogs are, or back into the woods. I'm rather pleased with the results, and the chickens are thrilled to have more room to graze in safety!

In other chicken-related news, I have built my own home made incubator and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of silky eggs from Jen, who I met on the Backyard Chickens Forum. Aren't these just the cutest chickens?!?!? After several days of tinkering, I finally have my incubator ready for those eggs. I'm hoping to have them tomorrow or Wednesday. Then it's 3 weeks of anxiety and anticipation - what fun!

Six Weeks....

The chickens have been growing and growing and growing and growing! They look like such nice ladies now.

We've been busy building (yes, another...) larger coop for them. I've come to the realization the ChickNBarn will not work for them when they get full size. The new coop is about 7' x 4' and has 12 nesting boxes. It is painted and shingled and ready for move in day, but I'll not move them over until they get a bit bigger.

The county fair was in town this past week and a friend and I took the kids last Saturday. Of course, I thought the biggest treat was seeing the chickens! There were some silver Wyandottes there, including a beautiful rooster. While we can't get over how big our girls are getting, I was still a bit shocked by how LARGE those grown up girls were! Our ladies have a lot of growing left to do if they are going to be giving us yummy eggs in just three months or so.

The kids had a blast - even though we didn't take them on any rides - but I did pay $2 per child to give them the chance to milk a REAL cow. Jacob and Hayden did great, but Katie and Andrew were a bit less impressed, I think! I'll post pictures as soon as I can find where Jacob left my camera after 'borrowing' it to take his famous chicken videos...

This week's project will be to partition off part of the backyard with chain link fencing so the chickens will have more room to graze unmolested by the dogs. Daisy is determined to have chicken doggy treats, so my hopes of having them co-habitating in the same fenced area is going down the drain. When done, they will have the new coop in an area about 80' by 20'. That will free up the current ChickNBarn/Run for future chicken expansion. Those bantys were SOOOO cute at the fair and hatching eggs may be our spring time project. What fun will that be??!!??

Four Weeks Already??? And New Digs!

I can't believe it's been over four weeks now that we've had our chicken babies. They are growing so nicely and are getting their big girl legs. They have adjusted quite well to life in their ChickNBarn/Run home.


They now have an expanded pen for the daytime. I finished the last of the panels and door on Tuesday and the chicks are very happy to have more room to run and play and graze. Wonder how long the grass in the new area will last??


I remember as a teenager having a dove cote that I could walk into and spend time with the birds. It was one of my favorite things to do - just to sit and watch them. I've rediscovered that joy with my chickens now that I have a pen large enough to stand in easily. These chickens are good therapy given the difficulties we've had lately with our oldest son's hospitalization. It doesn't do well for me to have too much idle time to think these days, so staying busy with working on the chicken pen has been a very good thing for me!