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babies + names

the babies are getting big, fast.  that's just the way it is with babies, i guess. 

chased lizards with Quinn today.

 

lost two babies.

last night i spent a long, quiet time sitting on my sunroom floor holding a baby bird as she took her last breaths.  i don't know when, but somewhere along the way my thoughts changed from "come on baby, you are strong, you can do it"  to "it's okay.  let go."  and finally she did.   she curled inwards, took in a deep breath and then stretched out her small body as long and wide as it could go - the way you might stretch when you climb in bed for the night.  though her eyes had been closed all day, she opened them and looked right at me.  they slowly closed again as the breath and life seeped out of her.  life is magic.  and there was a moment when i felt that magic as it left her little body resting in my hand.

all life is noble. and every death is sad. 

we had two deaths this weekend.  the little wyandotte i knew was struggling.  the other was the marans - a shock.  she was fine and then the next time i looked in on them, she was dead.  gone before i had the chance to try to save her.  that is the way things are sometimes.

raising chickens is not for the feint of heart, i've found. 

more baby photos. sick little one.

a few more baby photos - they will have changed so much by tomorrow!

new babies!

the babies are here!!  like last time, i ordered them from my pet chicken.  they hatched on monday and arrived at my post office on tuesday.  i was, again, totally giddy driving home with the little peeping box on the passenger's seat.

petting zoo

 while quinn loved the goats and sheep at the petting zoo, asher and his cousin preferred to pretend to BE goats at the petting zoo.

quick and chilly trip to the beach

three hens

my three hens seem to be finding a rhythm in their days together.  i am happy watching both spring and eliza learn to forage and roam freely in their space - something neither of them were able to do before coming here.  venus is a good teacher.

visit to Blue Heron Farm

our family trip to visit the goats of Blue Heron Farm was fantastic.  we enjoyed the goats (and the dogs, pigs, chickens...)  and learned a lot about them.  after the tour we had a snack of Blue Heron Farm cheeses and crackers at long picnic tables beneath the trees and lisa and christian graciously answered all the questions we could ask.

coop guest

meet eliza.

eliza belongs to a little girl who lives near me.  she is a silkie  (like luna) and she's staying with us for a while.  

last eggs.

we used our last two eggs from the First Flock.  even the boys recognized the moment and asked if we should just keep them in the fridge for a while longer.

insights from today

asher:    when i am a grown up i am going to eat one lollipop and two pretzels.

me:        what, everyday?

asher:     no.  just the first day.

strawberry picking

we took the kids strawberry picking at froberg's farm.  as always, it was a great time (the fried pies in the store are Amazing, don't get just one).

the fields were very muddy when we went.  i love these photos of the boys tackling the mud to pick berries.  each boy's personality is represented so perfectly.

veggie thief

my neighbor is a wonderful gardener. on a few occasions she has invited my boys over to help pick tomatoes or sugar snap peas.  they always come home with a big bowl of veggies for our family and full bellies.

after tagging along to the garden last time, my little quinn has learned where to find delicious snacks.

while i was unloading groceries from the car, Quinn took off down our driveway, across the cul-de-sac, and up the neighbor's driveway.  by the time i caught up with him he had already snagged himself a sugar snap pea and was proudly chowing down.

we did apologize.  she didn't seem too upset, he's kind of hard to stay mad at....

tiny thief and his loot

the little one sucks his fingers

Nell, meet nellie

my grandmother, Mary Nell, came for a visit and got to meet her namesake, Nellie the chicken!

i love everything about these photos.  they are too awesome for words.

boys

greyson has grown so that there are moments when i hardly recognize him.

healing nico, healing me

nico was being picked on by the other chickens.  someone was plucking the feathers from her rump at night.  she started sleeping in the nesting boxes to protect herself.  eventually blood was drawn, and once there is blood (especially on a white chicken) the other hens won't leave it alone.  i had to step in.

Luna's first egg

Luna, the silkie bantam, was the last to begin laying eggs.  the boys and i were so proud of her, we practically had a party!  and her tiny eggs quickly became a favorite - asher asked for "luna's egg" every morning at breakfast.

quinny and jimi

this is quinn's jimi hendrix t-shirt, one of the only things i purchased new just for him.  when he wears it, we ask him "where's jimi?"  and he pats his chest.  too much cute.

farmer Quinn

elmo slippers

one very fun thing about having three boys is watching a younger one discover something an older boy has outgrown. 

Quinn's apple

missing my girls and their beautiful eggs

a few photos of my hens and eggs that were not shared before. 

a new flock

it's official.  new baby chicks are coming!  i have ordered them (online, which i still think is weird)  and they will ship on April 16th.  i am already excited about getting the call from the post office to come pick up my tiny peeping box of fluff.

i am sad for my lost chickens.  and the night we found them i cried that i was all done.  if this was what raising chickens was about, count me out because this was awful.  finding venus stopped me from quitting.  now i am practicing being grateful for this chance to rebound. to test my strength and will.  to go again.  i am going to start my flock over.  it won't be the same but it will be good.

coop update

venus is doing great.  other than seeming a little lonely and begging for attention. she stole a pretzel from Quinn today, so i think her spunk is returning.  

she is also getting new feathers!  though right now they are just poking out and look like stubble all over her bare behind.  sort of gross.

bread!

as i type, my third loaf of bread in three days is baking away in my oven.

this is significant because bread-making has been on my list of do-it-myselfs for about a year.  and finally i did it!  there will be no negative self-talk about procrastination.  go me!  (next up: juicing.  ssshhhh  don't tell my brother i haven't mastered the juicer he gave me yet.  i have admired it, it is one cool looking machine.)

venus needs more friends

though i'm sure venus is glad for spring's company, spring will not venture outside of the coop yet.  so when i open the coop door to let her roam, venus has been spending a lot of time like a sad puppy dog, looking in the sunroom windows at us.  she's not a loner, this girl. 

a friend for venus!

finding venus alive immediately answered my question - will we keep raising chickens?  we have to!  we have venus, there is no decision to be made.  venus needs company.

the best pal for venus would be another hen, so i set out to track down a good hen for us in houston.  ironically, we moved out of the city limits but i drove to a feed store inside the loop of busy houston to buy a chicken. 

welcome spring!

spring is a new beginning.  a promise of things to come.  so a good name for this girl.

spring, the easter egger

reflecting

reflecting on the deaths of my chickens -

i've been amazed at the number of people who care.  thank you for loving me and my chickens by extension.

thank you, meena, for the flowers and friendship.

Venus lives!!

We are so happy to have Venus home!

She was found by the water company employees working next door to our home. They were surprised to find a chicken in the yard. She seems okay. She is missing all of her tail feathers and seems very scared. Hopefully a couple of days back in her familiar coop will relax her and bring back her curious nature.

Now the question of if I will get more chickens is answered for me- Venus must have friends! So we are now looking for grown hens to keep her company.

I'm still hopeful for Luna, there has been no sign of her.

goodbye clementine.

devastated

it's been a long while since i posted.  i hate it when bloggers say that.  

this blog is my "fun" and i always tell myself that i have to get my work done before i can edit and post photos for myself.   i've been doing a lot of work (photography -- my real work)  lately and it seems i am never caught up.  so my flash cards are full of photos of my life, my boys, and my chickens that have not been posted.  may i learn this lesson.

tonight seven of my chickens were killed by loose neighbor dogs.  we were out having an early dinner and we returned home to a back yard that looked like a massacre.  feathers and lifeless chickens everywhere.  

seven are dead.  three are missing.  tonight my coop is empty.

i am sad.  that isn't enough.  but it is true in its simplicity.  it seems silly to some people how much i enjoy my chickens.  so it will be silly to some how sad i am at their loss. i loved them in all of their chicken-ness (thanks joel salatin for that perfect sentiment). 

i worked so hard to educate myself about chickens, raise them from tiny chicks, make a home for them, care for them each day, nurse them through wounds.  i gave them a happy, simple, peaceful world to live in.  i am just devastated that they met such a violent end.  i let them down.  

tonight i lifted and carried each dead hen to her resting place.  through my tears i said "i'm sorry" to each of them.  and goodbye.  goodbye red.  goodbye flash.  goodbye lois lane.  goodbye isabella.  goodbye nico.  goodbye nellie.  goodbye singer.  we loved the time you spent here.

we have hope that we may find venus, clementine, and luna by the light of day.

at home today

venus

a few things from a sunday at home -

singer's first egg!

we found one pale blue beauty today.  singer's first egg.   i've been waiting for it.

a beautiful dozen

two weeks after finding our first egg, we had a whole dozen!  

i'm not totally sure which of the hens are laying - but it is really fun to judge the egg shapes and colors and try to guess.  (each hen is said to lay a characteristic shape, so keepers of small flocks do learn to tell them apart....my books tell me).  i think 5 of my 10 hens are laying now.

second egg

once i came home from mexico i did get the thrill of finding an egg in the nesting box.   i was so excited!  there it was. our second egg.  simple perfection.  resting there in the hay, a tiny gift.  a wonder really. 

our first EGG!

 

we have an egg! 

i am so excited!  of course, the chicken did wait until i was out of the country to lay the egg.  so i missed the thrilling moment of finding the first egg.  but asher was pretty happy to call and share it with me.

a huge thank you to my cousin Andra for caring for my kids, my cats and chickens while i was away.   and especially for knowing that the first egg is important enough to warrant a phone call and a photo text message to mexico.   it made my weekend :)

Quinn

Quinn loves being outside.  he loves it far more than my other boys ever did.    he has learned to say "outside" and today he tried to say "chickens" while pointing at the windows in the sunroom.  he is simply more content outdoors.

close call

we thought we lost clementine to a hawk. 

andy was working outside, watering plants.  i was inside, changing a diaper - again.  even inside i heard the commotion of alarmed chickens squaking, wings flapping, and large birds running through bushes.  andy came to tell me to get outside.  he knew he had seen the hawk, but he wasn't sure if it had gotten any of the girls. 

feeling old

i can pinpoint the first moment i felt old.  

it's easy because it just happened.  i don't know why, but it was sort of stunning.  i've always felt young.  actually i guess i've just never felt like a "grown up".  regardless of the husband, house, job, 3 kids.... in my mind i'm still a kid myself, just playing at these adult things.  i've joked "wow, we're getting old" dozens of times, but always with disbelief. 

it started with Christmas this year.

happy new year!

happy new year!  did you eat your black eyed peas for luck?  we did.  though i had to force three of my family members to swallow a spoonful, i'm pretty sure that still counts. 

today, the second day of the new year, i'm going to enjoy at home with my family.  this is our last day together before everyone starts back to work and school.  so far, we are still in our pajamas and the older two boys are logging hours in front of the video game they got for christmas.  i'm about to call a stop to it so i can take them with me to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for this amazing soup.  i made this soup several times last winter (which is short in houston)  but forgot about it until i was looking for something to make today.  of course, every one of heidi's recipes i've tried has been yummy.  this is unexpectedly delicious.   it's so good that i am willing to get out of my pajamas on this lazy day and go to the store.  you should probably try it.