Excited for fall!

My new evil eye necklace from Etsy.

My pumpkins are all turning orange! I only grew a few this year, next year I'll be too busy with the wedding to spend much time in the garden.

Our Labor Day! Shoprite has the best prices on steak and lobster. I guess there are some perks to living 15 minutes away from the World's Largest Shoprite! It's kind of our last little splurge before we start buckling down and saving more money for wedding expenses, even though there are still a few splurges I plan on making here and there!

Our neighbor's hen had chicks! The mother is a gold lace wing Wyandotte..the father is a mystery as of right now. Such a cutie! Makes me want to get a rooster for ourselves,if only I didn't love to sleep in! haha

Chai is getting so big! He's already 4 1/2 months old. He's calming down enough to snuggle up with us as night. I gave him a cold teething toy from the freezer to soothe his sore gums (he lost 4 baby teeth so far) and he settled right down and relaxed with us. We spent yesterday planning out our trails in the woods and Chai was right next to us in the woods the whole time. He's so perfect for our lives! We love him so much.

Our chickens enjoying some popcorn!

Our chickens always enjoy getting kitchen scraps and we have fun experimenting with different treats that they may enjoy. It took them awhile to get used to the strange texture of popcorn, but there wasn't a a single kernel left in their run at the end of the day. If you decide to give your chickens popcorn, just remember to use plain kernels with no butter flavoring or oil. Much healthier for your flock!

One of our Ameraucanas, Stewpot (don't worry she is our baby and will never go anywhere near a stewpot! :)

Our other Ameraucana enjoying the end of some Romaine lettuce. They love to fly up on my lap to see what goodies I have for them.

The Buff Opingtons below look up jealously :)

Our First Chicken Eggs!

Many of you know that we got eight chickens in the fall (two Rhode Island Reds, two Silver Lace Wing Wyandottes, two Buff Orpingtons and two Ameraucanas). They were around eight weeks old when we first brought them home. Well on our three year anniversary on February 4th they officially laid their first egg! We were so excited when we finally had enough to make a full breakfast. They taste amazing and I love that they're all natural and come from free-range, happy hens. Every day we go up to check the coop is like an Easter egg hunt! 

Treats for Chickens

Our chickens are getting bigger every day! It's so much fun to see them interact with each other, they all have such distinctive personalities. The little Ameraucana is always scratching in the dirt for worms, and the two Buff Orps are so friendly and docile-they're always the first ones to fly up onto my lap when I'm sitting out with them. Lately I've been experimenting with different treats and reading up on what they shouldn't have. So far I've found that they absolutely love cottage cheese, cabbage, acorn squash, and pumpkin. They weren't huge fans of carrots. Next I'm going to try some cooked pasta, I keep hearing they go crazy for it. It's so fun to watch them try something new. What do your chickens like to eat? I'd love some more ideas!

Here they are enjoying one of our leftover Halloween pumpkins

Our New Chickens!!

I still can't believe we actually have chickens! I'm a city girl so having chickens running around the yard is something I never anticipated. Bill and I have been researching and talking to people to get as much info as we can find. The people at Marzen's were incredibly helpful, as well as the folks at Country Junction where we finally picked up them up. We got two each of the Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and the Americaucanas (these are the ones who lay the pretty colored Easter eggs!). I love their funky green feet. 

This Silver Laced Wyandotte almost escaped! Chickens are a lot faster than I thought!

Bringing them home (9/21/12)

Exploring their new coop 

I threw a few crabapples in there but they seemed more interested in their feeder!