welcome new friends

We welcomed 4 new chickens to our coop this week- full grown and laying ladies who are already socialized and were an easy transition into our 2 hen flock.  Jed more than doubled the run and added an extension for laying boxes onto the coop so now I can feel less guilty that they spend more time in the run than wandering free.  Unfortunately, the coyotes have taught me a painful lesson- the chickens cannot be outside their run unless we are physically downstairs the whole time and, double unfortunately, we're just not home enough these days to make that a reality.  I'm working on that last part, though, and I'm sure there's a post in the future about that.  In the meantime, it is so very nice to have fresh eggs again and to watch these sweet ladies get to know each other. 

welcome pasta

Though it took us a few more weeks than I had hoped, we now have a friend for Rosie.  The poor girl had been clucking and calling out for anyone to please come down and cure her loneliness.  She stopped laying and her appetite was less than usual.  We were stuck, though, because you can't combine a full grown chicken with chicks (well, perhaps you can but we didn't want to see the results if we were wrong) as they can be territorial and the wee ones won't survive.  So we came up with a compromise.  We would get a companion for Rosie and when we come back from Chicago (and Maine for mama...oh I can't wait to talk about that trip!) in a couple weeks we'll head out to the feed store for 3 or 4 baby chicks.

So, a couple days ago Jed and Nate visited a homestead out in Valley Center and picked up Pasta, our 7 week old Australorp.  She is just beautiful- black wings with a hint of teal sheen.  I'm curious to see how big she gets as she's already bigger than Rosie (which isn't hard to do), I'm thinking the same size as the Buff Orpington's we had.  The ladies are getting along beautifully. We're hoping for eggs in the next week or so...fingers crossed.

and then there was one...

We have been feeding the local coyote population healthy and organically raised chickens for the last few weeks.  In the course of 2 1/2 weeks we have lost 3 of our four chickens.  First Busty, our sweet girl who lay blue eggs, then Polly and finally her twin sister Buffy.  Our sweet Rosie is left.

 Nate and I were home when the last one, Buffy, was taken, we heard the alarm squack and, unfortunately, I was as far as I could be from the backyard when we heard it.  We ran as fast as we could, shouting and yelling all along, only to get to the top steps of the backyard and see the coyote bolting with Buffy in his mouth through the yard and over the fence into the neighbor's yard.  Because, yes, we are the smart family who decided to raise chickens knowing full well that a duo of coyotes lives in the overgrown bamboo thicket just 2 houses down.  

I think of the three of us, I'm the most devastated.  Nate is truly taking it all in stride.  I mean, if we're going to be honest here, he wanted to eat them along along too.  

So, now, I'm left trying to figure out if chickens get lonely and, if so, should we fork out $20 for a full grown chicken to keep Rosie company.  Chicks will take at least 4 months before they can go into the coop with her or else she'll kill them herself.  We'll be doubling our run size so that they can have more room to roam while we aren't downstairs and I'll be committing more time spent in our backyard so that Rosie can roam around and be safe.  

Life on the farm.  Ugh.