Baby Chicks!

We went to the Grange today to pick up these cute little babies!

I purchased 8 and ended up with 9! Hubby's calling them our "Bakers Dozen" : )

• 2 Americauna
• 2 Jersey Black Giants
• 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte's
• 1 Rhode ISland Red
• 1 Partridge Rock
• 1 Buff Orphington
• And a partridge...no just kidding! hahaha

This is one of the 2 Jersey Black Giants. They are about 7 days older than the others and already quite a bit larger! 

The lighter one here is one of the Americauna's (Not sure on Spelling or exact variety, I'm not a pro...) They lay the bluish green eggs. We got two of these beauties! 

The other darker one is a Silver Laced Wyandotte. They are beautiful and not only good layers but good fryers and can handle the winters fairly well. 

 Isn't this face ADORABLE!

We're looking forward to the entertainment and the eggs these ladies will provide us... crossing my fingers we didn't end up with 9 roosters!
I'm hoping to complete their digs, and upload more pics soon. I'm still adding some finishing touches and need to do one more coat of paint. I figure we have a few weeks until they're ready to leave their little corner!
Enjoy!

Apple Blossoms!

The Apples are surely thriving! So beautiful! 

This last one is actually one of the Lilacs about to bloom but I thought the little spider in the middle was really neat!

The Nesting Box

I've been SLOWLY working on the coop. The most recent project involved constructing a nesting box for the pretty little hens! The studs and part of the coop are now primed as well. I'm challenging myself to do this for little to no $$. So far the materials have all been found and lying around our yard.

I started out with a 4x8 sheet of plywood. (Aren't my two furry little helpers cute!) 

 I cut it into pieces. I'm kind of going off another coop I've seen but really making it up as I go. Luckily I made my cuts correctly and only needed one piece of wood! : ) 

Now that it's assembled I let the wood dry out and put some paint cans on top overnight to try and get it to straighten out.(I'm laughing to myself because I'm really not that good of a carpenter and it's pretty crooked! hahaha) But I'm sure the hens won't mind too much! 

I built a stand for it and primed it all with Kilz to try and prevent mold. I also framed in the stud walls on the side. I'm still trying to decide if I should use some sort of paneling to close it off. (I have some really cute stuff that I took from the mobile home remodel) OR I'm thinking of keeping it open but just using chicken wire instead. (There will be a door on the back of the nesting box so I can easily collect the eggs)

Thanks to my Sister-In-Law Julie I have a REALLY CUTE door into the coop! I love the old hardware on it!

There's more to do but I'm happy with the progress so far! I've solicited hubby's help to try and create the outside run. He's got an idea to use the little treed area behind the shed as a "Native Growth Chicken Habitat" - too funny! Supposedly they'll like all the bugs and stuff! I'm all for less bugs! Woo hoo! Until next time....