Grandma's Bowl

There are so many things I love about having chickens.

Simple,

Wonderful,

Little Things

And I think that until you have chickens you can't really understand all those little things completely.

Today was a very special day, a day I get to enjoy one of my favorite "little things".  For the first time in about 12 years I got to put my own fresh eggs in my Grandma's Bowl.  Silly right?  Maybe.  But for me, so much love, and so many memories are brought back in that one simple action.

My Grandma Cox passed away many years ago, when my oldest daughter Meghann was just a baby.  My Grandparents always had chickens.  And maybe my love for having my own eggs comes from those memories.  When she passed away I got many of her wonderful bowls.  And I do very much treasure them.  

Since I have such a love for cooking I have always loved beautiful dishes.  And Grandma's bowls were so wonderful.  I remember exclaiming how beautiful her bowls were one day and she laughed.  She told me that that silly bowl came free in a box of oatmeal.  Nothing special about it at all.  

Nothing special!?!!!  

Was she serious? 

 But my grandparents were very simple people.  She didn't have beautiful china or expensive things.  I think she found it hard to understand how I could think that something so simple would be incredible.

For years I filled this beautiful green bowl with my fresh eggs.  And every time I pull it out of the refrigerator I think of my wonderful Grandma.  

Oh how I wish I could talk to her again and have her tell me stories about her childhood and her parents.  

After I moved from the farm and no longer had fresh eggs I continued to use this special bowl for my store bought eggs.  And although I still always thought of Grandma when I got eggs out, it never held the "magic" that it always seemed to hold with my own eggs.  Today the "magic" returns.  It gives me so much joy to put my own eggs in this amazing bowl again.  

All of our eggs to date. 

And I hope Grandma is looking down and smiling to see that this "silly" bowl brings me such joy.

Sure, I know that using the bowl every day could mean that someday it gets broken.  And I have often thought about retiring it to the china hutch for "safe keeping".  Somehow in my heart I feel like using the bowl is what I should be doing.  What joy does it bring locked away in a cabinet?  And even if it someday does get broken I will have all the memories of using it for years and years.

So, should my children or grandchildren ever have any of my dishes or anything else, I hope they will use those items every day.  I hope they will remember me with happy wonderful memories that make them smile the way I smile and think of my Grandma Cox when I use her special bowls.

The top two eggs are today's eggs.  The one toward the back is from Oprah Orpington.  The one in the front is from Martha our Cuckoo Marans.  The picture doesn't totally capture how amazingly pretty this egg is.  

Interesting Egg Day

I am having so much fun going out to the hen house throughout the day to see if there are any new eggs.

This morning when I took breakfast out and went into the coop for the "Morning Maid Service" I was surprised to find this soft shell egg.

I brought it up to the house right away to show my husband.  Since he is a self professed "city boy" he hasn't ever seen anything like this before.  I found the egg on the poop board under the roost which is why you can see sand on it in the picture.  My guess is that this egg belongs to Gilda since I caught Oprah in the nest box later in the day with her own egg.  And the egg is light enough that I am assuming it doesn't belong to one of the Cuckoo Marans girls.  Gilda's comb and wattles have been getting redder and redder every day so I have been anticipating her first egg.  It is SO exciting to have a new layer!

What egg oddities have you found in your hen house?

Pullet or Hen?

Technology is certainly an amazing thing!  16 years ago when I had my first chicken coop the internet was in it's infancy.  Certainly there wasn't anywhere near the information we have available to us today.

Now, after reading and researching and learning it is almost like experiencing everything with my new girls all over again.  For instance, with my very first chickens I had no idea what to look for in the way of visible changes when chickens go from being a pullet to being a hen.

Once again I have to thank Kathy The Chicken Chick for all of her information and for teaching me so much.  Kathy has a wonderful post at her blog about chickens combs and wattles becoming more red as they near laying age.  Since we have our first two layers I thought I would share a few pictures to show you the difference between our hens and pullets.

Oprah Orpington and one of our Cuckoo Marans are our current two layers.  Notice how nice and red their combs and wattles are.

This picture of three of our "Cuckoo Girls" really shows the difference between the pullets and the layer.

Can you guess which one of these girls is giving me beautiful brown eggs?

I am sure you guessed right.  The big girl in the back is our Hen and the two in front are pullets.  Isn't it amazing how starkly different they look? 

This is a picture of our two Buff Orpington girls.  Gilda on the left is not yet laying.  But Oprah is laying very well.  As of today we have collected a total of 8 eggs from our hen house!  I am so excited to make a very special breakfast very soon.

Another picture of Oprah Orpington and Gilda.  Just too pretty not to share.  I love how big and fluffy and beautiful the Orpingtons are.

I thought I would share one more picture from today.  This is Gwhen enjoying the new treat baskets I hung.  The temperature is about 63 outside so it is a GORGEOUS day!  The only thing that would make it a bit better would be if it was a little less windy.  But a 60 degree day in late December is a wonderful treat!

How are your girls doing?  Do you have some pullets that you are anxious to get eggs from?  I am so excited to get our first Easter Egger eggs!!!

A two egg day!

I was so surprised to find a second egg in the nest box this evening.  

Evidently the egg I found this morning was from Gilda.  I owe her a huge apology because I gave Oprah a big "thank you" for the egg this morning.  The 2nd egg I found this evening was quite a bit larger and therefore most likely from Oprah.  (**hmmm - I think I owe another apology.  After finding our Cuckoo Marans in the nest box, I now think that our first two egg day was actually a Buff Orpington egg from Oprah and a Cuckoo Marans egg from #90)

We will be having a delicious breakfast very soon with these wonderful eggs.  :)

Caught in the act

Caught ya!  Doesn't Oprah look beautiful in the nest?

She skipped Friday but gave us our 2nd tiny egg today.  This one is just slightly larger than the first egg on Thursday.  My husband is already asking when we can make breakfast.  :)

All of my friends and family know that I am a list keeper.  Unfortunately my daughters have inherited this curse too.  So I am going to start off keeping a list of the eggs we get each day.  The list will include what type of eggs are collected.  I am not sure if this is a list I will continue permanently, but it seems like it might be an interesting list to refer back to.  You can find our list in the top tabs under "Egg Count".  In the future I may use the list as a way of letting neighbors and family of when I have extra eggs.

Our first EGG!!!!

I was beginning to think it was never going to happen.  Maybe it was just a myth.  I mean, I have had chickens before, years ago.  I vividly remember those chickens laying eggs.  :)  Is it possible that all 12 of the chickens I got were just the "non-egg laying" kind?  My husband even started to joke around that I had deceived him about the "delicious breakfasts" we would have and that in truth these chickens were only here to be my fun pets.

It really happened!  And it is hard to put into words the pure joy I felt in finding this tiny beauty in the nest box.

I am pretty sure this special gift was laid by Oprah Orpington.  Her comb and wattle are more red than Gilda's.  And I am so happy that our first egg is from this special girl.  She has been the "first" for many things in our new hen house including the first to eat treats out of my hand.

I always thought our first egg might come from one of the Orpingtons.  And I had a hunch that the far North nest box would be the "favorite" nest box.  I am just so happy that she used the nest box with our pretty Christmas nest box curtains and didn't hide this beauty under the coop.

The size of our first egg was a little surprising to me.  It is truly the size of a small bantam egg.  I guess it has been too many years ago that I got our first egg from our first set of chickens.  Such a cute little thing.  Of course I know that the eggs will get bigger as she lays more and I am happy that they gradually work up to full size eggs.

So Hummingbird Hollow is truly now a Hen House.

Thank you Oprah for this amazing gift.  My mind is racing with recipes I can make and things I can bake. 

Augh! The white stuff!!!

First I have to apologize for being so quiet here on the blog for the last month.  It has been super busy between decorating the house for Christmas, making a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner for my family, and making lots and lots of Christmas presents.

And there hasn't been much happening in the hen house.  STILL no eggs.  :( 

I have however been super worried about the girls during this arctic cold snap we have had over the last 5 days or so.  We have had lows in the single digits and highs in the teens.  I don't think it got this cold all Winter last year.  

This is the first Winter with our girls.  And the first Winter that I have ever used sand in my coop for my chickens.  I love the sand in my coop!  It is truly so easy to keep clean.  But I worried that the coop would be colder with no straw.  But I have continued with my original plan and the girls seem to be doing GREAT!  The coop is very well built and certainly draft free.  But it has great ventilation with two roof vents and a vent on the north and south walls, as well as vents in the soffits.  We have NO heat lamps.  The only additional light we supply is a rope light that is on early in the morning and in the evening.  It is on a timer to go off and give the girls 8 full hours of darkness.  The girls all come running out in the morning when I open the run door and seem completely unfazed by the cold temperatures.
**Edit** - I almost forgot to tell you that the one other thing I am doing for the chickens now that we are having below freezing temperatures is that I give them a "late evening" snack every night.  At about 4:30 I take the girls either some stale bread, dry oats, cracked corn, or left over tortillas. (we always seem to have lots of these)  The girls are generally all in the coop by 5:30 each evening so a snack at this time catches them before they are roosted and ready for bed.  The idea behind the late snack is that the girls will have food in them that they are digesting through the night.  Just that act of digestion creates some warmth for them.  

The only thing they seem to absolutely NOT like is snow.  They try very hard to avoid the white stuff!

They go to great lengths to try to fly around the corner of the coop and over to the covered area of the run where there is generally no snow.  

I am afraid the girls are in for a big surprise if we ever get a true measurable snow.  So far this year we have had just a dusting.

How are your chickens doing with the cold Winter temperatures?

Making Flock Block Substitute

As I said in my post over the weekend, I am doing everything I can think of to get ready for Winter.  One of my Winter concerns is having nutritious treats for the girls.  It seems like we have lots of tomatoes and cucumbers and grapes during the Summer to give the girls but Winter will be a different story.

A few weeks ago I made the Peeps Pumpkin Pie recipe from The Chicken Chick.  Those are tucked safely away in the freezer for using this Winter.  Today I decided to make some Flock Block Substitute also from a recipe from The Chicken Chick.

One recipe made 4 pie tins of flock block.  They are still baking in the oven and smell FANTASTIC!

You can find the recipe that I used from The Chicken Chick at her blog here.

I made just a few changes...

1. I decided to bake mine in pie tins rather than 8 x 8 pans just because I had plenty of pie tins to bake 4 at once. 

2. I used 1 cup of Calf Manna rather than Omega Egg since that is what I have on hand.

3. I used 2 cups of water rather than 3 cups.  The humidity will affect this greatly so my advice is to add water slowly until you get the consistency that Kathy describes in her recipe.

Hopefully these flock blocks will not only be a wonderful healthy treat but will also be a bit of a boredom buster this Winter.  It will be nice to have treat options on hand for the days when the weather isn't so nice.

Do you make treats for your chickens?  I would love to hear about them.

More improvements and getting ready for Old Man Winter

Do you think we will ever be done making improvements to the chicken coop?  Will we ever really stand there looking at the coop and breathe a sigh of relief that we are truly, finally, totally done?

Somehow I think the answer is no.  We will never be totally done.  There will always be something more to do.  Please don't tell my husband.  :) 

Mostly I want to be ready for Winter.  We have already had quite a few frosty mornings and I know that colder mornings and nights are yet to come.  So the task for the weekend was to do some caulking and weather proofing so that the chicken coop is draft free.

We picked up a heated water bowl so I think the watering situation is worked out.  I am planning to water the flock outside this winter and the heated bowl will make that process easier.

For the nest box doors we decided that the best way to accomplish a draft free door was to add board inside the top latch of the nest boxes.  Works like a charm.

The tan boards toward the top of the picture are the draft boards.  They just cover the "seam" between the wall and the nest box door.  

In order to make sure our chickens get plenty of "light" I wanted to put our light on a timer.  This timer ensures that the girls get a full 8 hours of complete dark at night to rest, but enough light to hopefully continue laying through the winter.  And of course the timer means I don't have to personally go out to turn off the light.  :) 

Perfect!

Next task....finish the soffits on the north and south sides of the coop.  Darn, that will have to wait until next weekend.  We decided that these sides should have solid soffits rather than the vented soffits and that will require another trip to the hardware store.

Next on the list is to put up some boards to provide wind protection for the chickens when they are under the chicken coop this Winter.  Nope, that will have to wait until next weekend too. (Yes, another weekend of working on the chicken coop)

So, after a small amount of begging and pleading for my husbands forgiveness I talked him into making a ramp for the chickens to get down from the roost.  I was getting worried that one of them might get injured jumping down from the poop board.  They are truly clumsy creatures and I would feel awful if one of them was hurt.  Our poop board ends up being a bit high in order to have room for the metal  trash cans that hold their feed.  They don't have any trouble at all flying up to the roost.  It is the getting down that is a bugger.  

My husband built this ramp much like the ramp that goes down into the run.  A board was screwed to the front of the poop board with two wood shims so there is a small space to insert the metal piece that is attached to the ramp.  This allows for the ramp to be removed easily for cleaning. 

 I have no idea what these little metal plates are called.  But they are used sometimes when building roof trusses I think.  Anyway they work great because they can be screwed to the bottom of the ramp and the metal is bent so it slides into the "holder" above.

Success again!  I feel much better that the girls have a better way of getting down from their roost.  After the picture was taken we did add another cross board to the top of the ramp.  The space at the top was too big and the girls had to slide too far before reaching a foot hold.

You may notice in the picture above that the sand I use on the coop floor is swept away from the feeder area.  I do this because the girls make a bit of a mess when they eat.  With the sand swept away I can sweep up feed they spill and put it back in the feeder.  Much less waste this way and I don't end up with feed in the sand.

One last little improvement for the weekend.  I have been wanting to add some type of "pull" to make it easier for me to use the gate from the run.  I know, it is definitely NOT fancy.  But hey...it works!  And I no longer have to reach through the wire to lift the gate latch.

My husband drilled a hole through the gate post.  Then I tied a piece of rope onto the latch and put the rope through the hole and to the inside of the run.  Drat!  It didn't work.  The rope created too much friction in the rough wood and wouldn't slide freely to allow the latch to fall and hook into place.  Solution....a long piece of twist tie wire.  The plastic coated wire slides through easily.  I want to get some type of wooden beat to attach to the end of the wire so that it looks a little less "rustic".  But now it is so much easier to get out of the run. 

Of course the girls are always curious about what I am doing.  I couldn't resist taking this picture of Hazel and Oprah Orpington.  They seemed to be striking a pose for all of you but actually they were trying to get a good look at the camera just in case it was a treat.  :) 

All in all the coop is working wonderfully!  I love, love, love it!  And the girls love it too.  The new Cuckoo Marans girls are settling in well and will be needing some names soon.  They look enough alike that I probably need to get their leg bands on before I get too busy naming them. 

We got lots of things marked off of the "to do" list.  How is your "to do" list looking?  Are you ready for Winter?  

They're heeeeeeeeeeeeeere

Scared?

Oh, well don't be.  Even though Halloween is tomorrow they're not aliens, not ghosts, not even zombies.

Of course I am talking about our 5 new pullets.  Our Cuckoo Marans arrived today!!!!  And now our flock family is complete...at least until Spring.

These girls had a much shorter shipping time than the first pullets.  So they weren't nearly as hungry and their feathers were in much better shape than our first chickens.

The pictures really don't capture how pretty these girls are.  And of course they can't completely relax yet.  They have to be introduced to our first 7 girls and find their place in the pecking order.  I am really hoping that the process goes smoothly.  I am surprised at how small these girls look compared to our first pullets.  I guess that just goes to show how much the first girls have grown!

Have you ever noticed in life how everything HAS to happen all at once.  I called the post office this morning to make sure they had my cell phone number and home phone number so they could reach me when the chickens arrived.  And of course I got a call while I was on the way to the Orthodontist Office with my daughter.  I hated to think of the girls being in the box a moment longer than necessary.  Thankfully Taylor's appointment only lasted about 10 minutes.  Whew!  

Welcome to Kansas girls!  We are so happy you are here and hope you lay us some beautiful chocolate brown eggs VERY soon.

1st Dust Baths

Dust baths?  Really?

To get clean you roll in dirt?

Yes!  Well, if you are a chicken.

And watching chickens take a dust bath is one of my favorite chicken activities.  They kick and scratch and the dirt flies.  Today I got to watch a few of my chickens taking their first dust bath and of course I had to snap a few pictures.

Gilda was really into this dust bath.  She had her head turned and turned almost completely on her back to roll in the dirt.  Looks like Oprah Orpington would like to get in on this prime dust bath spot.

Look how much the girls have killed out the grass in the run area.  The grazing box is doing a nice job of protecting an area of grass for the girls to snack on.  That is Hazel on the grazing box.

All of this relaxing dust bathing was happening while I was inside the coop hard at work finally finishing the last of the painting.  Our new chickens are scheduled to arrive sometime this week and I really wanted to have all of the inside painting completed.

Whew...it took way longer to finish up the painting than I thought it would.  But I think it looks nice.

The nest box wall.

View from inside the coop looking toward the door and porch.

We didn't get the wood put up underneath the chicken house to give the girls some wind protection this Winter.  Maybe next weekend.  :) 

Warm Breakfast

I guess it is the Mom in me.  I just feel better when my family has a nice warm meal.  Especially when it is cold outside.  And my chickens are "like" family to me.  :)  So it makes sense that I would feel better when they have a warm meal on a cold morning.  

This morning didn't seem nearly as cold as yesterday.  But after reading a post from Penland's Peeps on Facebook about how they give their poultry a warm breakfast I thought I had to try it for our little flock.  They LOVED it!

I put a dish out in the run area with some of our chicken feed mix (I still haven't shared the recipe we are using.  I will do that soon) and then I added about the same amount of hot water.  Of course it cools down quickly by the time I get it to the run and pour it over the food.  So it is just warm by the time the chickens get it.  Note to self....mix half as much next time.  I think the girls will continue to work on it for awhile this morning, but I mixed entirely too much for the 7 girls we currently have.

Over and over again I saw them picking at each others beaks to help clean off the extra food.  Not in an aggressive manner, but very gently.  Chickens are so interesting.

Gwhen and Oprah Orpington help Hazel clean her beak a bit.  

Gwhen and Layla seem less than pleased that the Herb Planter has been moved out of the run.  Sorry girls, it just looked so picked over and scraggly.  I thought you were done with it.  :) 

I know lots of you give warm oatmeal to your chickens on cold mornings.  And I may add some oats to their next warm breakfast.  I would love to hear about the foods you give your chickens on cold mornings.

Nest Box Curtains

If you tell your friends that you are making curtains for your chicken nest boxes you will get a very funny look.  If you tell the lady at Hobby Lobby that you are purchasing fabric to make nest box curtains for the chicken coop you will get an even funnier look.  It all left me feeling a little like maybe I AM the crazy chicken lady.  :)

I still have some painting to do.  But here are the "Fall" nest box curtains.

But honestly they serve many beneficial purposes to the chickens and to me.

1. Curtains "hide" your broody hens.  We all know that what one chicken does the rest of the chickens soon want to do.  None of us need a coop full of broody hens.

2. Curtains provide a dark and private space.  Chickens love to hide their eggs and this helps them feel like they can hide.  Our nest boxes happen to be pretty open so I felt that the curtains would be very helpful in our coop.

3. Chickens often peck at other hens during the laying process.  This is called "vent pecking".  The curtains again hide the process making pecking less of an issue.

4.  When we open our nest box doors from the outside of the coop the chickens sometimes become a little startled.  The curtains have certainly helped so the chickens feel less unsure when those doors are open.

5. I wanted to hurry and get these curtains made before 5 new Cuckoo Marans Pullets arrive at our Hen House next week.  When our first 7 pullets came they liked to have little slumber parties in the nest boxes.  Of course they can leave quite a mess when they "roost" in a nest box overnight.  Now that I have the excelsior nest pads in my boxes I wanted to discourage the new pullets from hanging out in there and making a mess.

So...SEE!  Not entirely crazy after all.  :) 

I may tack back the corners of the nest box curtain openings just until the girls get the idea of the nest box curtains.

It was really a fun day of sewing.  I enjoyed making these curtains and am looking forward to making the Christmas curtains. 

If you would like to make your own, I have created a little graphic showing how I made mine.  Your measurements will vary slightly but hopefully this little pattern will help you get started on your own nest box curtains.  I have 6 nest boxes so the following pattern is for 6 openings.

Remember, you can click on the pattern above to see a larger version.  And you are welcome to right click on the picture and save it to your own computer.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

This last picture is just a view of the top sewing.  I have my curtains hanging on a very narrow curtain rod so the sewing along the top is for that rod.  Many people making next box curtains just staple the curtains to the top of the nest box area.  Because of how our coop is constructed that wasn't as easy for me to do.  The curtain rod worked very well.  And I will be able to easily remove the curtains and wash and store them for next Fall.

Do you have Nest Box Curtains in your coop?  I would love to see pictures.

Are you planning to make Nest Box Curtains?

Be sure to drop by our Facebook page to chat with me and show me pictures.

I could sit and watch for hours

There is something so entertaining about the chickens.  They have such personalities and they seem to always be doing something.  I really could sit and watch them for hours.  And shhhh....don't tell anyone...but I think my husband could sit and watch them for hours too.  He will never admit it.  :)  But we find ourselves out by the run just standing there and watching them.  I want a bench for the run so much!

On Sunday afternoon I decided to give the girls my herb planter.  We have had two nights with frost so it won't last much longer now that cold weather is getting here.  And to be honest my plan all along was to let them enjoy it.  They really seemed to enjoy getting in and around the planter.  They found lots of little treasures.

I love the look Oprah has.  (I think that is Oprah, at little hard to tell from that angle.)

There is something so beautiful and fluffy butts.  :)  And I love how Gwhen's tail feathers have formed.  So pretty.

 

Gilda (left) and Oprah (right) enjoyed watching the gulls flying around.  I could almost hear them wishing they could soar and fly like the gulls were.

After exploring the herb planter Oprah decided to do more exploring.  Not sure if she spotted a bug up in the run roof or not.  But something was sure interesting.

It is hard to even put into words how much I am enjoying these chickens.  I can't imagine how much more we will enjoy them when we start getting some eggs.  Oh!  And our 5 new girls should be arriving next week!  We are expecting 5 cuckoo marans pullets.  

Sunday Mornings

Lately it seems like we just never get a moment to sit and relax.  Maybe that is because we are always thinking of new projects to do in and around the house.  And maybe it is because our youngest is very active and social.  We are either at volleyball, taking her to volleyball, or taking her to one of the jillion other activities she has.  Someday I know I will miss it, so I try to enjoy every minute.

When we do finally have a beautiful Sunday morning it is a very special treat.  And today was very beautiful.  We were able to sleep in a bit which is another treat.  And then we enjoyed a few minutes in the hot tub.  After that it was nice enough to enjoy a late breakfast on the deck.

aaaaah...it felt like a little piece of heaven!

The only thing that could have made this delicious french toast any better is if we had been able to use our own fresh eggs.  C'mon girls!  We are SO excited for your first eggs!!!!

My husband made the french toast using the homemade white bread I made on Friday.  

The birds were chirping, the sun was shining and warming the morning, and I frankly just never wanted it to end.

We even had an unexpected breakfast guest.  No...he didn't eat the rest of my yummy french toast.  I finished it before he visited.  But he didn't seem to mind and made himself at home with my leftover syrup.  

My husband thinks I am crazy, but I love the bees and wasps and honey bees.  "They sting!" he says.  Well, only if you bother them.  :)  This guy and about 50 of his friends were busy buzzing around the grape jelly feeder that I had out for the Orioles.  Well, until they decided to join us for breakfast.

I hope you had a wonderful and relaxed Sunday. 

Be sure to share pictures with us.  It is a bit easier to share pictures on Facebook so visit our page there too.  Our Hummingbird Hollow Facebook Page

Another beautiful sunrise

If you have seen one sunrise you have seen them all!

Right?

Wrong I think!

So many factors play into the sunrise and sunset.  And since I can't be enjoying some of my favorite sunsets over the beach on Anna Maria Island in Florida, I have to see all the beauty in these Kansas sunrises and sunsets.  :) 

On Wednesday morning (October 16th, 2013) I was busy getting all my morning chores done because my daughter Meghann and our new little granddaughter Kinnley were coming to spend the day.  

But I had to stop and take a picture of this beautiful sunrise.  Of course I don't think the camera did it justice.  Some things only God can fully capture.  And this sunrise changed quickly due to the clouds.

The layer of clouds overhead only allowed the sun to peek through right at the horizon.  The way the sun hit the tops of the trees was truly amazingly beautiful.

I hope you all take time to enjoy the simple things even at the busiest times.

Our first Fall!

I sometimes forget that our girls are only 20 or so weeks old.  There are things that they have never seen or experienced.  And that became so clear today when I took a piece of pumpkin out to them.

They looked at it like it was some alien life form.

 They stretched their necks out as far as possible in an effort to check it out.

 "Stop being such CHICKENS!!!" Ok, actually I want them to be more like chickens and start laying us some eggs.  :)

 And then they attacked!  It was a little like Chicken Week! (Our version of Shark Week) :)

 Just sharing this picture of Gilda to show how beautifully she has feathered out.  The girls have been on the new mix of feed for 5 days and I think I already see a difference in their feathers and their size.

 All at once the girls acted like they heard something and they scattered!  Poof!  It is a bit unsettling to be out with them and realize that they sense something that I can't see.  I still don't know what made them go into hiding, but I trust their instincts.

 And what do you do after a delicious snack?  Find your favorite napping spot of course!  The girls love being under the coop.

I walked back into the house after a fun visit with the girls and immediately panicked!  YIKES!!!!  I forgot that I had Banana Bread in the oven.  Thankfully the bread wasn't burned.