Molly is Here

Our Molly is here!  We've spent the last 24 hours or so getting acquainted, going on walks, and showing her around. E is absolutely in love, N can't get enough, and I'm having a hard time adequately expressing my gratitude to Erin (her first owner), adding her to our family is better than I could have ever hoped. Aside from the mandatory walks, my life hasn't changed much and that's a pretty good thing...I'm officially at capacity (in a good way). She even did great upon her first introduction with the chickens in the backyard. I can't exactly say the same for them; they all flapped around causing a great scene and then went up to hide in the hen house. But she was like a rock, and really only paused to look at them once or twice, then was off again to explore the snowy backyard.

Introducing:

Daisy, Ivy, & Clover

Thanks to all who participated in the poll, can't wait to see these gals grow!

Bathtime

No, you don't usually need to bathe your chicks.  But this one in particular is having some 'elimination issues,' shall we say?  I've tried all sorts of methods for clearing this little behind problem of hers, and this has just worked the best:

1. Fill a bowl with fairly warm water
2. Gently dunk bottom half of birdie in, rest there for a while (the chick will love it, seriously she'll let out contented little peeps intermittently)
3. Take chickie out, gently dab bum with paper towel (she may not like this)
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all droppings are gone.
5. Gently wrap chick in clean paper towel and hold for a few minutes (she'll love this too, it's like swaddling a baby; emulating the womb, or in this case shell).
6. Once she's not dripping wet, immediately place under heat lamp to dry completely.
7. She'll soon start preening to get her fuzzy feathers back in order and pecking around
8. Watch for pasting up in following days, when it happens once it's likely going to reoccur before she grows out of it.

Welcome Home!

I simply could not resist putting the new girls into our dollhouse this morning. It's probably because E and I just finished reading the greatest book, but we set up their brooder in our living room when we brought them home yesterday, and the dollhouse was just sitting there aching to be explored this morning. I may try and pop them in there in a week or so to gauge how much they're growing. Our most prominently featured gal has been prematurely named Clover as she is decidedly E's favorite (clearly the prettiest) and the name is leading in the polls by quite a substantial margin. The yellower of the two others is a Buff Orpington and has affectionately been named Daisy to go with our flora names. N has taken quite a fancy to her, so that leaves the white fuzzy unnamed sweetie all to myself!

Name the New Chicks!

Good Day All!

We are excited to announce that we're expanding our chicken family today, and adding 3 new babies to the mix.  2 will be Araucana's and lay eggs with bluish or greenish shells (thus the 'green' names) We would like your help in naming them, please cast your vote in the poll located at the top of the collumn to the right.  Thanks, and the top 2 names will be announced one week from today!

Cookie Time!

Yup, E's troop is selling them, talk to me if you'd like some!

Biker Boy

N loves his little push trike that Mabel is lending him. He hasn't yet figured out the peddling motion, but is taking his job very seriously. Not at all like his older sis, who was so distracted by ringing the bell that she'd slip off! N holds on for dear life! We've taken advantage of the break in the drizzle to do our quiet Mama/Son loops in the neighborhood, and can't wait to add our Molly into the mix!

Cinnamon Hearts

We went to my sister's house to make up a few of our (now) traditional special heart cinnamon ornaments. Everyone helped, and the house smelled so nice. Happy Valentines!

4-H

E joined 4-H today! A new group has just formed and we're taking advantage of it! E will be working on showing poultry. It was a crack up to see all these city-farm girlies with their hens and rabbits today. We all me at the leaders home in the Wallingford District, received instructions on how to show chickens, what judges will look for, and what judging is like. It was so fun!

Here is E with our Blue Laced Wyandotte, Petunia (iPhone pic's sorry).

Are the Horsies Awake?

Since the move to his Big Boy Bed, mornings have gone a little differently.  N can get up and out of bed on his own. Even before the switch his little internal clock was set a little bit off of what we prefer.  6:20 was his usual waking moment and D and I swapped getting up with him in the mornings so the rest of the family could get their sleep. Now that N and E are in the same room, an interruption is inevitable we just wanted to lessen the blow.  Enter the horsies.  I strung up some lights with plastic horses attached (A birthday gift to E from Ben Brubaker) and plugged them into a timer. We talked all day about waiting until the horseies 'wake up' before getting out of bed, we even did a few trial runs and E of course was happy to oblige as the 'sleeping kid waiting for the horse lights to pop on.'  The first night I set the timer for an earlier target so that N could see the process play out, and could feel successful.  It worked!  The lights actually came on before we was even awake, and he promptly called out, "All done!" The next morning I changed the timer to just 5 minutes later. Success again. This idea has worked so well; providing a visual cue for what is acceptable makes him feel good and a few extra minutes of sleep on my end.