Chicken update...

Hello there! Wow, I've been really lazy with my posts lately... I've actually been having fun just livin' life and not living in front of the computer or behind my camera anymore and I have to say it has felt really good. I have a little chicken update for you all in case you were wondering about our little feathered friends. These are are three adult chickens that we have remaining. From left to right we have 

Whitey, Betty and Molly. Whitey we couldn't come up with a name for and at the time she had two other sisters that looked just like her and we couldn't really tell them apart so we just called them 

"the white ones".... Unfortunately, the other two both perished. One got heat stroke (we think) and the other was malled by a raccoon. It was truly horrid! Betty (the brown one) and Molly (the speckled one) are from our first two batches of chicks and have managed to hang in there. I have grown really attached to those two but I have to say Molly is my favorite. 

This is Whitey, she is a light tan Brahman. She is more of the aggressive one in the bunch.

Molly is a Wyandotte and is pretty shy but is very sweet and will let you pick her up. 

I had to take her to the vet for a split nail several times and developed a tight bond with her. 

These six fuzz balls are our new chicks! Although they are gawky teenage chicks now they were all very tiny a month ago... especially that little one all the way on the left. She is my favorite little chick and boy o' boy does she have grit. We ended up naming her lil' bit. We both didn't think she would make it, but she surprised us both. Actually, they all surprised us. Usually about half will perish just naturally and the strongest chicks will remain but in this case they all made it. This has never happened to us before... which is why I bought six, thinking that half would die. Nope... now we have nine total! Two Plymouth Rock's (the black ones) and four Americana's (the tan striped ones).

This little girl is one of the Plymouth Rock's. There are two in the bunch. They will grow up to be speckled white and black sort of like Molly and will lay white or light tan eggs. 

The other tan striped ones above are Americana's and with be various shades of light blonde, reddish and brown and depending on their color they may lay green or light blue eggs which are very beautiful. We seem to have a mixture of Americana color variations because one is definitely blond so of course we had to name her Blondie. Then we have one that is a golden shade and she is named Goldie, and there is one that is dark brown that is now known as Brownie and of course don't forget Lil' Bit. Lil' Bit has distinct markings around her eyes that now makes it easier to tell her apart from her sisters but she is catching up in size.

They are now so big that Matt had to build them a huge coop for outside. They enjoy meal worms as a treat on a daily basis. We like to spoil our chicks. There are many more images that I have taken since these baby pictures so I'll have to do another update soon. It's so much fun to watch these little guys grow up and change.... 

xoxo

Backyard babies!

Hey ya'll! The Mister and I have some fun and delicious things growing in our little backyard garden that we'd like to share with you! We also wanna share how our little baby chicks are growing and progressing.... it's so rewarding having our own garden and now that we have chicken's that provide us with eggs we as happy as can be! We get about 2-3 eggs a day now from Betty, Lola and Molly. It makes me so happy to see them running around and being goofy little birds. The little chicks are in their "awkward phase" right now but are almost big enough to go in the coop with the big girls. We have been slowly integrating them and everything seems to be working out just fine. 

As you can see we have a smaller cage in the bigger coop so the older girl's can get used to the little ones. 

Molly on the left and Betty on the right... Lola is camera shy. 

We've got some wonderful veggies and herbs growing right now. The curly and flat leaf parsley has exploded! The basil is really starting to grow and I'm already planning "summer dishes" around all this goodness! We've also got heirloom tomatoes and a bunch of onions, green pepper, green beans and hot peppers on the way! 

Our blackberry bush has really sprouted this year and more limbs have shot out of the ground and are making their way up our fence. I'm so excited for this years crop... we may actually be able to make some Jam. Last year we only had a handful of black berries at a time and couldn't do much with them. 

Fresh Dill... one of my favorites in Cucumber Salad! 

Heirloom Tomatoes.

Curly and Flat Leaf Parsley... it makes everything taste better.

These little girl's are so tame and love to be picked up and cuddled. They are Light Brahma chickens.

My favorite Minnetonka Moccasins.

My sweet babies.... Lucy isn't photogenic.

Sophie relaxing in the shade of our Bamboo plants. Lucy doesn't like to get her picture taken too much these days...

Lastly... our beautiful Passion Vine is blooming like crazy and all the bees and butterfly's are going crazy... I love Spring! It's getting hotter and hotter in Austin everyday and soon it will be sweltering. I'm trying to enjoy every single moment of Spring because it'll be over sooo fast. I hope you all enjoyed my little "backyard garden" tour. I'd love to hear what some of you all are growing in your gardens!

xoxo

The newest members of our family.

Welp.... here they are. The newest members of the Hart Farm. I wanted to wait until they were older and stronger to officially introduce them to the world. We originally had five baby chicks but we lost two of them along the way. It happens.... which is why I chose to wait this time. They are Light Brahmas so when they get older they should be mostly white with speckled black and white wings and tails. They should lay brown eggs. These little guys are pretty fun to watch... it wasn't all fun and games though. I have to say this was the most stressful batch of chicks we've had yet. We have three adult chickens now so we've been through this before... raising them and watching them grow. We've also lost a few along the way before and I know now not to get too attached to them. 

We cared for these little guys the same as we had done with the other chicks in the past 

(which had seemed to work well) and my Husbear is very knowledgeable about raising chickens living on a farm in Ohio and all. We just didn't expect what happened to happen... I guess I should say.

(Bummer Alert! With a Happy Ending.)

We had a little plastic Rubbermaid container all set up for them with a heat lamp fashioned into the lid. No.... we didn't close the lid all the way. (Duh) We left the lid open so the air would circulate in and out. Well, apparently some water spilt from their drinking container into the ground up corn cob bedding that they were on and with the heat lamp on mold and bacteria grew at an extremely rapid rate without us knowing. We believe that the chicks may have ate some of the mold and that there was possible a build up of Co2 in the cage because they slowly started stumbling around and loosing their balance. They eventually (within hours) started to loose all control of their fine motor skills and began having seizures. We both panicked!!

We changed their bedding and immediatly discovered the mold. We were soooo pissed at ourselves. We did some research and found that some people said that the corn cob bedding that we were using was a big "no no" as well. I was so unbelievebly angry at myself for letting this happen. I love animals and couldn't believe that what I thought I was doing was right and that I had contributed to them becoming ill. This lead to fighting and crying with the Mister. We were both frustrated and felt horrible about what had happened. We drilled little holes near the bottom of the container for more air circulation and just waited to see if they would survive. Oh yeah.... did I mention they started to have "splayed legs" on account of us using the corn cob bedding. I felt sick at my stomach.... we were the worst people on earth!!! About the bedding... we had used it before with two previous batches of chicks and never had this happen! We immediatly got rid of the bedding and resorted to using paper towels and changing them out twice a day. 

The two smallest chicks had become very weak and we knew they probobably wouldn't make it... but they kept hanging in there. For three days we watched as they bobbed around and continued to sieze. It was horrible and gut wrenching to watch. They finally passed within a day of eachother. I still feel awful. These three managed to brave the storm and came back stronger than ever. One of the little girls has a curled toe still but they are healthy and are getting so big! This is them below after we came back from the Beach. They grew so fast within just those four days we were away! 

I decided this is our last batch of chicks. We already have three other adult Hens that lay on a regular basis and with these three little girls we'll have a perfect round number of six. Not too many to handle but just enough for our little urban backyard farm. If you are thinking about raising your own chicks and having a little coop of your own I would love to hear about it. See the Husbear's eco-friendly chicken coop design here. Also, if you have any questions or want to know where I did my research I can recommed some great sources. 

xoxo

Meet our Chickens

Our baby chicks! Molly on the left and Lola to the right.

The girls are all grown up!

Molly (on the far left) is a Silver Laced Wyandotte... she will lay tan or brown colored eggs.

Lola (on the left) is an Ameracauna. They have signature "fluffy cheeks" and typically lay blue eggs.

Betty is a Dutch Brown Leghorn she lays brown eggs.

Lola on the far left, Betty in the middle and Molly is the speckled white and black one on the left.

Matt's Eco-Friendly Chicken Coop featured on Barley & Pfeiffer Architects

Check out my Husbear Matt Hart's chicken Coop Design featured on Barley & Pfeiffer Architects Blog. Way to go Matt! It's a DIY chicken coop that Matt designed and built for our three chicken's Betty, Lola and Molly. 

The chicken “Coop” reflects the design of the art studio I built in the backyard for my wife Taylor, which has a similar sloped roofand is composed of the  same materials. Lucky for me, the left over material or “construction waste” (which wasinconveniently molding under the brand shiny new studio) could be happily repurposed to build the  entire structure for free, that includes the paint and stain.

                  Some of the amenities our chickens Betty, Lola and Molly enjoy are:

·         A radiant barrier Galvalume” D” panel roof at  the nesting box.

·         Radiant barrier insulation with an air gap at the Southwest corner walls.

·         Roll applied rubber membrane flashing under the nesting box roof and the green roof over the roost,  providing them with a very water tight covering (Dry chickens make happy chickens!).

·         Venting at the back wall for good air flow through the roost from the ramp entry.

·         A removable sliding floor tray  in the roost box for easy cleaning.

·         A hinged top at the nest box for easy egg retrieval.

·         A light for heat generation when temperatures dip below freezing.

·         A pop door at the side of the run for chicken access to the yard.

·         A large door at the top of the screened run for easy human access.

·         Mixture of native species and succulents for the top green roof plants (for their viewing pleasure).

·         A 2’-0” below grade ½” X ½ “ galvanized hardware clothe enclosure to keep them safe from marauding raccoons, foxes and cats.

Description, photos, and design courtesy of Matt Hart at Barley & Pfeiffer Architects.

For more ideas or information on how to build a eco-friendly Chicken Coop contact us today.

Source

Letting go and saying goodbye.......

This weekend was one of the best and the worst weekends I've had in quite sometime. The best and the worst you say? Let me explain..... I'll give you the bad news first. It's always best just to get it over with. Just rip it off like a band aid. Our dearest baby chicken Penelope lost her life this Sunday September, 22nd. It happened so fast.... it was unreal. She wasn't "just a chicken" to us, she was more than that. We raised her from a little chick and watched her grow and change into a little adult chicken and even had the joy of receiving a few eggs from her before she passed. She was a good chicken, with TONS of personality. Even my husband Matt agreed that she was the kookiest chicken he'd come in contact with and that's saying a lot considering Matt was raised on a farm full of chickens. We think that she got caught on some loose wire that we had stored under our shed in the backyard. Matt heard her thrashing around and ran out to the backyard and dragged her out from underneath the deck. She died in my arms very fast. Confused and bewildered we checked her body for signs of snake bites...wounds of any sort but couldn't find anything except a drop of blood on her crest. We are pretty sure she panicked and broke her own neck. Matt buried her body in the backyard near some cacti. Poor Betty (our other chicken) has been crying ever since. I'm pretty sure I'm going to come home from work today to find a bunch of baby chicks in our house. 

It's very sad for me because they were my joy. I would wake up in the morning and grab my coffee and take the pups outside to play. I would sit on the deck and watch the doggy's roam around and let the chickens out of their coop. I loved to watch them run around and be silly.... especially Penelope. She was the "wild one".... always chasing after Lucy and pecking at our toes. If you follow me on Instagram you'd know how I'd love to photograph them @nothingbutapigeon. These images were actually taken the morning right before her passing. Matt even bought me this necklace above because he said it reminded him of Penelope and Betty when they were chicks. How sweet is that?

On a lighter note....it was the best weekend as well because it's the first time I've been clear headed in quite awhile. When I say "clear headed" I pretty much mean sober. I've finally made the decision to stop drinking completely and am slowly finding a little bit of peace in my life. More on that later......

Penelope is the black and white speckled hen....Betty is all brown. Penelope is a Mottled Java and Betty is a Dutch Brown Leghorn. We bought them together and they grew up together and were inseparable. This is the awesome chicken coop that Matt designed for them. It's a green coop with live plants growing on the roof to provide them shade and to naturally cool down the temperature of the coop itself. Isn't it neat? It's almost a tiny replica of our house!

Penelope on the prowl scouting out for bugs.

This dress I bought from Target along with the hat. I wanted a new fall hat and couldn't wait to break it out on the first real Fall feeling day. The weather was awesome this weekend but I'm sure it will slowly crawl back up to the high 90's here soon. We will miss Penelope....she lived a great life with us. 

A much better life than most chickens get to have and that I am grateful for.

We will miss you dearly sweet Penelope.

xoxo