Squawkward

The chicks are growing fast! They are also eating a lot more. I can't believe how much more they eat now than just a week ago. The growth spurt has caused a kind of awkward appearance. No longer cute like a chick, but not a full grown hen either. It's like they're in bird junior high!

In addition to their appearance, they are going through a bit of a phase where they completely freak out and squawk like mad every time I reach into the cage for any reason. I now know where the phrase being a "chicken" comes from... it seems they are afraid of every little thing. But if you sit and talk to them for a minute they calm down and work their way over to you. Sometimes I bring them little treats (they LOVE craisins!) and sit to chat with them for a minute. When they aren't in a panic they are quite curious. Now that I've added little perches they have a better view of what's going on outside their cage. Sometimes when I'm out switching loads of laundry (both the birds and the laundry area are in the garage), I see a little head peak over the cardboard to see what I'm doing.

I cleaned out the brooder today and Eli helped me take the chickens out and set them in a plastic tote. I jokingly called him the "Chicken Whisperer" because he was so good with them. They seemed to like him too! While I was cleaning he held one at a time and petted them. They didn't freak out or flap off like I expected. It really was fun to watch. Justus and Hayden also took turns holding them and they did a great job too. When it was time to return the chicks to their clean cage the boys transferred them for me.

Since they are growing so fast we got a move on their future digs today. They are going to have a one of kind coop! After searching the internet we never did find the perfect set of plans. So we decided to combine the features we liked in a couple and design our own. I'll post more about it later, but let's just say any eggs we get will be far from "free" for a very long time! Man, is lumber expensive these days!

The Coop (Part 1)

This is from 3/9/13:

We finally got to work on a more permanent home for the chickens. I see the wisdom in the whole "have a coop ready before you even get chicks" thing now. They do grow really fast!

Part of the delay was figuring out what kind of coop we wanted. It seems that most plans we found are a small box like coop with an attached run. That wasn't what we wanted. Our chickens will be able to roam around our back lot so our coop didn't need an enclosed run. Coops in AZ are quite a bit different than coops in colder parts of the country. We need to worry about chickens overheating not keeping them warm.

We found two plans we liked and basically took things we liked from both to design our own. We wanted a decent size (go big or go home!) and fairly simple to build (carpenters we are not). The two plans we melded together were this Chicken Shed from Ana White and this one.  We knew we could trust Ana's plans... we used her plans to build our bunk beds and they turned out great! Her coop was just a little smaller than we wanted. The other one was too big. Yes, we're like the Goldilocks of chicken coop builders!

After a trip to both Home Depot and Lowes for lumber we got started. First we framed the floor. Easy peasy as JD likes to say. Next up: figuring out how to use a Swanson Speed Square to cut an angle. YouTube to the rescue!  Once we figured that out, we got the front wall done in no time. You can't see from this photo but the top is angled (at 15º) to slope the roof. We still haven't decided how tall the door will be or what the front will be made of. I am leaning towards leaving it completely open, enclosed only with chicken wire, since it gets so hot here. Or maybe a half wall. We'll see. Like I said, we are a lot more concerned about keeping the gals cool than keeping them warm.

Of course, we had a very large work crew helping. Annabeth was on clean up.

Here she is giving Jerry some helpful advice while he works. She blinked every time the hammer hit a nail.

Then she helped move the finished wall out of the way. She is a really strong!

Hayden and JD picked up all the scraps for us. Then they used them to build various things.

Jerry is an excellent foreman. He also does most of the heavy work and the math. I never was good with angles and fractions!

By the end of the weekend we had three walls (front and both sides) framed.

Then the weekend ended and we had to put the project on hold for other things like work and school. Next weekend we'll be back at it!

Fun at the Park

Friday morning we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to the park. A few of the boys brought scooters (or a skateboard) to ride around on. One disadvantage of living on a dirt road is lack of sidewalks for scootering/skating.

I think this was the first time Annabeth remembers being at a park. Of course, she has been to one before but it was long enough ago she doesn't remember. Since we don't have a park within walking distance we just don't go that often. That and it's too hot to go half the year.

Well, we'll have to go more often because she loved it! She enjoyed the swings, but she really loved the slide. She even figured out how to climb the little steps and go down by herself. By the time we left I was just a spotter making sure she didn't get hurt and she was doing the rest herself!

Annabeth will now demonstrate her sliding method:

Step One: Climb up the stairs

Step Two: Crawl across platform

Step Three: Go down! Optional: Say "Wheeee!"

The boys had a good time too, but I didn't get many pictures of them! They were off enjoying scootering on the sidewalk and a game or two of hide-n-seek as well as playing on the bigger playground.

The park was a little busy when we got there due to a "boot camp" but it cleared out and then we almost had the place to ourselves. We didn't bring a picnic lunch this time, but will have to do that soon before it warms up. Wesley pointed out we were at the park almost one year ago to the day for our "Leap Year Picnic".

Speaking of Leap Day, this year's lack of a February 29th means Annabeth didn't get an official day to turn 18 months. Maybe that means she'll stay this age... wouldn't that be nice! She is such a sweetie!

Already Growing

We hadn't even had the chicks a week when I took these pictures (2/19/13). They are growing so fast! They went from little fluff balls to having tiny feathered wings!

They seem to be pretty happy in their little home in the garage. Everyone is warm and well fed and no one has escaped. I still count every time I walk by though... just in case. They don't particularly like us. When we walk up they all run away to the farthest corner but if you just stand there a minute they give up and go back to their chickie business.

I stuck a branch in there for them to stand on. Jerry laughed at me. So far they don't seem to be wanting to "roost". When they get tired they just plop down right where they are and fall asleep.

Here a few photos of the girls...

The view from above

 

 

Zzzzzzz.

Blast from the Past

We have a few toys and books that have been around for a long time. The past few weeks Annabeth has enjoyed reading a particular book with Grandma Linda. It is an old Teletubbies book where each of the TT's is hiding behind a flap waiting to say "peek-a-boo"! (Look you can still get one on Amazon for only a penny!)

Annabeth had no clue who the Teletubbies were she just liked the book. Of course, after reading it so many times she started to learn all their names so we dug out a few of our old TT toys and stuffed animals for her. She seemed to enjoy them but she still had no clue what they really were. So just for fun we pulled up an old clip on YouTube for her. Let's just say I'm really glad they aren't on TV anymore. First, because they are still annoying and, second, because she would be their number one fan! :)

Snow Beautiful

I know my Wisconsin friends will laugh at this but we've had a pretty chilly winter her in AZ. We broke all kinds of low temperature records - mostly while Roz was here to enjoy the "warmer" weather. Looking around our yard you can see most of our bushes and several of our trees did not appreciate those colder temperatures.

This week we had another cold snap but unlike the other one there was a little moisture associated with it and that meant... snow! Some parts of the Phoenix area actually had white stuff on the ground. Unfortunately, we didn't get any at our house. The next day after the clouds cleared a bit I looked out the window and gasped. The boys all came running to see what was going on. We've seen snow on the distant mountains a few times, but never the closer Superstitions. It was so beautiful! I just wish it would have lasted longer.