Busy Busy!

The weather has been so nice the past week or so that I have been extremely busy doing things outside. Of course, the inside of the house reflects this (which means since it is now rainy and nasty, and will be for the next week or so, I should have time to catch up), but things are coming together outside. I got the lawn mowed for the first time this year. I've been working in the flower beds. We finally got the dock fixed from when the wind storm knocked it out of place. And we got the chicken coop almost entirely finished, with the exception of a few boxes, which is good because last Sunday, a couple that B works with gave us their 6 chickens. Yes, that is in addition to the 10 chicks we already have. But these chickens are already laying eggs, and since we got them, we have already gotten over 2 dozen eggs! I've really enjoyed the fresh eggs. We actually cracked fresh brown ones next to the white ones I got last at the store. And they were quite different! The yolks were a brighter yellow and bigger, and the eggs were more firm in our home grown eggs.

These chickens are actually a mix. Some of them actually lay blue-green eggs, also known as Easter eggs I've been told, and the rest lay brown eggs. It seems our animal family just keeps growing!

I really like having our own eggs, and I still hope that we will eventually be able to sell some at the Farmer's Market once our 10 chicks start laying eggs. Until then, we already have people that we know interested in buying some from us, which is nice. We definitely can't eat them all ourselves! :)

Speaking of the little chicks, here is the picture I took right before we put them outside earlier this week:
Two and a half weeks, and they have grown enormously! Not to mention, they seem to be in the ugly, awkward stage of getting their feathers... :) makes me laugh. We have let them wander outside in an enclosed space and they seemed to enjoy it, but for the most part they are still kept inside an area of the chicken coop with the heat lamp. Hopefully they will be ok, because the weather has decided to backtrack and we are supposed to get snow on Tuesday! I think they have enough feathers now to keep warm with the heat lamp (although we may lower it just to be safe).

The dogs have also been really good about the chickens. We have been slow to introduce them, and so far there have only been a few chases. I believe that sometime soon the dogs will be desensitized to them just as they are the geese that are always hanging out around our pond (which I wish the dogs would chase away). We just have to be extra careful and observant when the dogs are near where the chickens are right now.

I must admit, that I have really enjoyed this experience so far. It has been fun watching the chicks grow, and I even love having the bigger chickens. I love going in the coop and finding eggs, it is kind of like finding a small present every day. :)

Hope all of you were able to enjoy some nice weather over the past week...and that not every one is unlucky enough to get the cold weather we will soon be getting!