The Requisite Moving Post

Here's why I haven't written yet: moving sucks. We all know it. So why come here and whine about how terrible it was and complain about something that was not only my choice, but the thing I practically begged of Capitol Hill home sellers for months?

Not gonna do it. Or rather, wasn't.

But see, as time ticks by and I ignore Bloglandia for another day without glowingly posting about culinary creations out of my new kitchen or perfectly dressed windows or newly organized closets, I feel increasingly lame. I love this house, and I couldn't be happier that we're here. That I know. But getting here? Awful. I think we know who deserves the blame on this one. 

I'm the brilliant girl who did the following:

• Thought the lead-up time to the move should be spent doing house renovations instead of packing
• Kept a long-planned OBX weekend on the calendar even though we didn't have time for it
• Told parents, in-laws, relatives, and friends that we didn't need help moving
• Thought hiring movers to do only the "big things" was a good idea
• Thought "the little things" that would remain were, in fact, little
• Believed we could do said "little things" with our relatively little vehicle

So yeah.

We worked our butts off in the house for ten days, painting and sanding and stripping and the like, and didn't pack a thing, meaning we were sore and tired before moving even began. The day the movers came, not a box had been packed. I was so unprepared I had them wait before disconnecting the Internet so that I could finish a work project. Once they got going, the movers only broke one piece of furniture, which we were actually pretty cheery about, given how horrific our last experience with movers was. We moved into the house that night with our furniture, and you know... the house seemed so great with just furniture in it, minus our pesky stuff. Have I mentioned we have a lot of stuff?

Friday we packed and moved all day long, fourteen hours straight. T rented a U-Haul intervention-style (thank God), and even with it we missed a concert and any chance at having a normal weekend. We were limping and bleeding. Really. By Saturday, we were existing solely on caffeine and willpower, and broke at different moments. My breakdown moment came in the closet (don't they always?), surrounded by clothes of three different sizes and facing a pair of pants that were giving me a particularly condescending look. That's when I announced that Saturday, April 23 was the worst day of my life. Take that, stupid pants I can't wear anymore. You win.

And then I felt guilty, and looked at the guy putting up with me through all of this, battling an explosion of my old graduate school papers, or shoveling dirt from my planters into plastic bins, or wrangling gift wrap, or some other ridiculousness of my own design.

"Okay, this isn't the worst day of my life because you are with me."

(Hug.)

(Pause.)

"But it's still a really shitty day."

"I mean really shitty."

We pulled away from our apartment for the last time at 1 in the morning. We had a plan that things would go in their rightful places as they came out of the thankgoodnesswehaditohmygodhewasrightU-Haul, rather than just anywhere. That plan had been thrown out long ago.

Contractor bags filled with clothes still on hangers... thrown. Suitcases of books so heavy they barely rolled... shoved. Random-ass shit that I don't know why in the world I still keep: basement. And so on.

By 3:00 a.m. Sunday, we were reduced to two lost souls on a dark streetcorner, covered in bruises and scrapes and whispering lifting and turning strategies, with an audience of stray neighborhood cats. It started to rain. But finally, we were done.

Three days later, to say that this house is "taking shape" would be vastly exaggerating the homemaking progress going on inside. Instead, this house is beginning to consider a process of thinking about taking shape. The truth is, we need some time to recover. Or at least one day to do nothing but sleep. Or a massage therapist to fix our broken bodies. Or a contractor to fix up everything we want fixed, simply by reading our minds. Those glowing blog posts about kitchens, windows, and closets... you're going to be waiting a while. So you know.

Moral of the story: don't try this at home, kids. Accept help. Know you're not Superwoman. Be okay with that. Pack up your too-small pants first, on a happy day. Or for pete's sake, finally throw them away, why don't you?

And that's all I have to say about that.

The only happy thing to ever come out of Moving Day... big love from me to the awesome person who identifies this brilliance:

One weird weekend

'Twas quite the weekend. We broke away from floors and walls and packing and headed down to the Outer Banks to stay in the inn where we were married. Amazing oysters bid us goodnight....

...and the ocean sunrise greeted us a good morning.

And so there was a long and late morning of lounging around in robes, drinking coffee, and overlooking our wedding location while reminiscing....

... and then a long walk on the beach in the chilly, serene weather.

Come afternoon, there was shopping around town, dinner with parents and cousins and my uncle, and finally, showtime!

Zoe was brilliant. Her voice!!! My favorite response was the school's vice principal, who said, "Zoe... you've got it going on, girl!" That she does. I was a proud Stage Cuz all over again.

Oh yeah, and this happened. Which was hilarious. T and my dad, twins!

After the show we were locked in the school due to tornado activity. We made the best of it.

We were locked in until 11 or so, and were turned back twice from getting back up to Duck to our fancy digs for the night. Trees, power lines, and housing materials from the storm were blocking the road. (Yes, there is one tiny road up to Duck. That's part of why it's so great.) Keep in mind that those of us humming along to jazz tunes in the auditorium had no idea any of this was happening outside. By the time we got out it wasn't even raining anymore.We finally gave up on the idea of getting back up to Duck around 1 a.m. and stayed with my family in Kitty Hawk for the night. So much for our incredibly restful Saturday night to prepare for the insane week ahead!

Ah well. At least the Sanderling had freshly made granola waiting for us when we finally arrived Sunday morning. I do love that place.

The bulk of the storm damage happened in two places I know and love: my hometown area, Wake County, and the area my family comes from, Bertie County. Thankfully everyone I know is safe, but I've been thinking about those in need quite a bit this week. Hanging out with my family instead of inside luxury bedding isn't exactly a burden, particularly compared to what some North Carolinians lost this weekend. As always, I feel lucky, humble, and grateful.

And so that's it. The movers come tomorrow, and wouldn't you know it... not a box is packed! This is the only way I know how to operate, apparently. Procrastinator 'til the end! Wait, what am I doing blogging right now, anyway? See ya!

Girl power, again (and always)

We're leaving behind ripped-up floors and ignoring our packing this weekend for a very important cause on the Outer Banks: three of the best girls in the world... my cousins!

I get to be Stage Cuz again and cheer on Zoe, who's starring in her high school's Thoroughly Modern Millie, as Millie (of course). I get to hear all about Sally's prom, where she stunned in the dress we shopped long and hard for. And I get to give Sophie a huge congratulations hug, because she recently decided to transfer not just majors, but colleges, and couldn't be more excited.

So. Well worth leaving behind a house that smells like polyurethane, don't you think? I'll also be borrowing some key items from my parents - a dolly and furniture cart. Yes please!

So these sore bones are headed to the beach... where if nothing else, T and I can at least catch up on some sleep. We're staying at the inn where we got married, so on top of all this family girl power, there should be a little bit of romance thrown in, too.

To girls! To family! To wedding locales! To rejuvenation! To sleeeeeeep!

Have a happy weekend, everyone! :-)

House Tour: The Great Outdoors

So as we know, urban yards are teeny-tiny. We lucked out with a house on the end of the block, which gives us a side yard - pretty dang rare 'round these parts. As you saw last year with my patio garden, I like to get my hands dirty and make things grow, and I have more than enough space to do so here, which is fantastic. I really like the challenge of gardening in a small space - not that I'm anywhere near ready to tackle a landscaping project at the moment. Here's the big, juicy bonus to our yard(s) - our cherry trees are in bloom! How pretty are they? Every mid-April, we get to have our very own Cherry Blossom Festival. Parade optional. I snapped these shots just this morning:

There are ugly hedges out there, a pretty random assortment of plants, and a lot of nothing... all great opportunities to make things my own, in my mind. That's the great news (alongside those fabulous cherry trees, of course). Are you ready for the not-so-great news?

Allow me to introduce you to our backyard. Some call it The Blue Boat, some call it The Amphitheater, but all call it... the most bizarre deck ever created.

(Photos courtesy of sellers' agent)

That's right, folks. When you step outside our back door, your feet never touch the ground. Perhaps the blue paint represented "walking on water" for the previous owners? Perhaps they feared dirt? Perhaps they staged large Beer Pong tournaments that required stadium seating? (Okay, that is actually T's idea... and a brilliant one, I might add.) 

Regardless of their intentions, one thing is undeniable: this sucker is going to be a hell of a lot of fun to tear down some day after a really stressful week. And when that fine day arrives, I'm going to get out a lot of aggression. Anyone care to join our deck-smashing party?

But hey... at least the cherry blossoms look pretty back here!

So there you have it, the full House Tour. We've been busting our buns every night tackling some projects that are better handled sans furniture and kittenz, so hopefully by next week I'll have a thing or two to show off. Movers help us bring the big things over on Wednesday, and we have until next Saturday to get the rest of our apartment emptied. Tick tock, tick tock.

Hint, hint: For the eagle eyes among you, one of my completed projects can actually be seen in the first set of photos. Did anyone catch it?

House Tour

Living Room & Dining Room

Kitchen

Upstairs 

Basement

House Tour: Basement

Our house tour wouldn't be complete without the basement, now would it? After all, this was the part of the house that made us walk away, that prompted public ridicule, and that we had to ignore just to put in an offer on this place. The entry to the basement is right off the dining room, with the same original door and rackety old door knob that the rest of the house has. But once you start down those stairs, you realize something different is going on. Perhaps that's just your subconscious crouching pose talking...

As always, photos are courtesy of the sellers' agent. These photos are all just screen grabs off the agent's slideshow when the house was listed, by the way. I've been trimming his excited sayings from below each picture, but I thought since the basement was a special circumstance, we'd maintain the agent's proclamations. I think you'll see why.

"Wide-open layout flexible for everything except standing!"

"Technically you don't need to stand up straight to play pool or watch TV! 6'3" Man Of The House, this is your chance for air hockey!"

"No really, Lady of the House, you definitely won't feel like you're working in a dungeon if you put your home office down here!"

"Okay men, shhhhhh, here's the deal. This entire 6-foot basement thing is actually an elaborate ruse to get you out of ever doing laundry. Brilliant, right?"

So that's the basement. It's big, but not very useful for much except storage. T's looking to buy a recumbent bike. I can do Jillian down there if I keep my jumps small. But in the meantime, it's working quite nicely as a staging ground for all of our stuff. Which we don't have to give away since we can store it. On the bright side.

House Tour

Living Room & Dining Room

Kitchen

Upstairs 
Outdoors

House Tour: Upstairs

Thanks for the birthday love, everyone! T and I had fancy reservations, but after spending my day off happily priming/painting and coordinating with gas and tv guys, cleaning up to slip into a dress was the last thing I felt like doing. We ditched our plans and ate pizza and drank champagne on the floor instead - and then got right back to work! It was perfect, actually... when else will I spend my birthday like this?

We're getting a ton done over there every night, but I can't show our progress until I've shown the rest of the "Before," right? Getting back to our House Tour, then, here's the upstairs.

(Photos courtesy of the sellers' agent.)

The master bedroom is at the front of the house, which means early morning sun for two folks who love a late morning and a good nap. In other words, it's high-time I order blackout shades. That fan's gotta go, too - it sounds like it's ready to come off the wall when it's turned on (and that's the nicest thing I can say about it).

The closets need some big-time TLC, trust me. And do you see everyone's favorite kitchen linoleum in the hallway? Well, you won't see it for long! The original floors underneath are in great shape, thank goodness. Why in the world someone would live with faux bricks in their hallway in this day and age rather than lovely hardwood floors is beyond me. 

Here's the middle bedroom, which has even more closet issues than the master. These needed to be rebuilt 10 years ago. One easy option would be turning this room into my office so that we could just remove the "closets" and line the wall my bookcases - but I sort of love the next bedroom and feel like it should be where I spend my working hours.

This room is so cheery and sunny - it just screams "Maggie's office" to me. Which means our guests would have to deal with the awful "built-ins" in the other bedroom until we come up with a grand plan for them. Hmmmm.

Bathrooms are the one area we're having to downgrade from what we're used to. The brand-new condos we've lived in here and in Dallas know how to throw up gorgeous, huge bathrooms. The house has one full bath, which is pretty standard for rowhomes, and it's small. We're going to have to get creative with bathroom storage, no doubt about it.

I know the floors are classic, but I hope they don't interfere too much with my crazy-pattern shower curtain made from our wedding tablecloths. Also, notice how white this wainscoting looks. I can assure you that it was nowhere near a bright white without the use of digital photo brightening - but it is now! Oops - I keep wanting to skip ahead to our projects. Still to come on the House Tour: the great outdoors and the infamous basement!

House Tour

Living Room & Dining Room

Kitchen

Basement
Outdoors

Birthday chicks

It's this chick's birthday today, so what's more fitting than to celebrate a gaggle of other chicks' birthdays, too? I'm off to spend my birthday sanding and painting in the house, and I couldn't be more thrilled about it. To birthday chicks!!!

(Some background on Chicken Watch... Parts 1, 2, and 3)

The first-born (like me!):



Here's a video of the first-born just out of the egg. My sister is crushed that she wasn't home when her first chick hatched. Listen to my brother-in-law tell her what's happening on the phone... (which is hilarious if you know Will).

Baby #2!

Here's a video of the second chick hatching. It's long but worth the wait. Funny cameos of babies and dogs are a bonus.

Things got crazy for a while there... here's Baby #7!

Eleven chicks!

Ridiculous cuteness

No words.

This little guy has hair like my nephew.

14 out of 16 eggs hatched, and now they're out of the incubator and into their "brooder." Pretty sweet digs!

I tease.

Oh it is ON.

Chicken Watch: Eggs on Lockdown!

This is Part 3 of my sister Lisa's journey to be a "chicky mama," from finding a coop to hatching her own eggs. Catch up with Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

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April 6, 2011

Chicken Update: The 1st Set of Eggs is in LOCKDOWN!!!

 OHMYGOODNESS.  I am a nervous wreck!  As of 2:00 today my 1st set of 16 eggs are in the hatcher on lockdown!!!  What is lockdown, you might ask?  Well, for the past 18 days the eggs have been in my incubator getting turned 5 times a day at a humidity level of around 40% where they have been taken out and candled often.  If being hatched the old fashioned way a mother hen would be getting up to eat, stretch, and poop so having the eggs come out of the incubator for brief periods isn't that big of a deal.  But now, they have been moved into my homemade hatcher where there is a strict hands-off policy and the humidity level has been upped to about 65%.  Here they are!

And getting the silly eggs in the hatcher was not as easy as it seems like it should've been.  I've read a lot about folks using these pulp egg trays to keep the earliest chicks that hatch from playing kickball with the remaining eggs and decided it was the way to go.  I got lucky and scored a whole huge box of them off of craigslist from a super nice couple and will now be set once these eggs turn into my lovely egg-laying hens!  It also helps keep them more in the position they were incubated which will hopefully make for easier hatching.  Anyway, so I put all of my eggs into the pulp tray and then realized I was not going to be able to simply carry it to the hatcher and stick it in.  Visions of my perfectly developing baby chickens crashing on the ground went racing through my mind.  So plan b took much longer.  And much longer meant my perfectly heated hatcher got cold.  So from what I've read the eggs cooling for about 20 minutes is about the longest you really want to let them go.  So here I am watching the clock tick away, staring at the thermometer that is just not rising quickly enough.  15 minutes later I start to panic.  The hatcher does have an adjustable heating pad underneath so there is a bit of an adjustment, but on full blast it was not going to cut it.  So I ran upstairs, grabbed my blow dryer, and it only took about 45 seconds to get that thermometer up to 100 degrees!  It cut the humidity, but I knew my trusty froggy humidifier wouldn't have any trouble getting it up there.  Wpheeewwww.  It was right at about 20 minutes and I nearly had a heart attack!  But now, almost 2 hours later, we're happily at the perfect temp and humidity.

Here's a quick look at the rest of my eggs in the incubator.  I'm down to 4 Cochin eggs of which I only think 1 really stands a chance at hatching and 7 blue Ameraucana eggs of which ALL are developing nicely!!!  And although I am very sad about my Cochin eggs I am happy to say that I contacted the seller and they refunded me for the eggs.  So at least there's that!  I've decided to see how these hatches go and then decide if I want to try again with another set of Cochin eggs - this time from a more reputable source!  Here they are!

And just for fun as I was laughing at myself and how I've totally gone off the deep end obsessing over chickens and staring at my thermometer and hygrometers, I thought some of you may have wondered, "How exactly does one incorporate a chicken hatcher into their decor?"  So here she is! 

Will is truly a tolerant husband.  Never did he even blink at the idea that I was going to move my huge aquarium-turned-chicken-egg-hatcher into our family room.  Now that's love. 

Here's to what will hopefully be a very exciting next post!!!!

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Maggie again. How exciting is this process?! Chicks are coming into the world right.this.minute... I can't tell you how much I wish I was home to cheer them on! As soon as Mama Chicky can step away from her new babies, post some video and photos and write an update, I'll post it here!

Chicken Watch: Incubation!

This is Part 2 of my sister Lisa's journey to be a "chicky mama," from finding a coop to hatching her own eggs. Catch up with Part 1 here.

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March 21, 2011

We Have EGGS!

Wooo Hoooo! The chickens are officially on their way. Last Friday I received my 1st hatching eggs! They got here at noon and to my surprise the wonderful seller sent me 8 EXTRAS!!! Here are my eggs straight out of the box! I stupidly hadn't thought to save any egg cartons so I used what I could find in my excitement. Or should I say... EGGcitement!!!!! Haha - I know, I'm a dork.

And here they are "resting" on top of my awesome new incubator to let the air sac settle in the fat end of the egg after shipping. Shipped eggs can be troublesome so here's hoping that they're going to be ok.

And Saturday at 7:00 into the bator they went!!!

 So in the photo below from left to right are the following eggs: 3 Black/Lavender Orpingtons, 6 Welsummers, 3 Coronation/Light Sussex, 4 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, and 4 French Black Copper Marans!!!

My incubator is doing a fantastic job and I have high hopes for my eggs. However, remember all of those great big fluffy legged chickens I showed you pictures of?? Well... they were supposed to get here at the same time and all the eggs were going to incubate together. However, those eggs were delayed and just shipped out today!!! This creates a big problemo for me. I had to set these eggs so they wouldn't get too old. BUT, the last 3 days of incubation you have to go through a seperate process than the rest of the incubation period, which I can't do with younger eggs in the incubator. SO, I decided to try my hand at making a homemade hatcher. Here's what I've come up with and as of today it is holding both temperature and humidity PERFECTLY!!!!! We'll see how things continue, but I've got 16 days to get it just right. Here she is!

This hatcher is set up in our family room so even though it was a bit of a pain it will be more spacious for the little chicks that hatch and will be very convenient for hatch watching! Oh, I hope they hatch! If all goes well we are looking at baby chicks starting to hatch the weekend of April 9/10!!! Whoooopppppiiiiiiiiieeeeee!!!!!

Oh, but not a lot of progress on the coop this weekend. Too much darn basketball. But, I did manage to get together a nice sketch and materials list and priced out some things at Lowes. We neeeded to figure out our roofing and a few other things. So not a total loss! But HELLO, we have chicks on the way at this very moment! We need a coop!!!!!!

Stay tuned!!!!!!!

March 28, 2011

Quickie Chicken Update

Well... not a lot to report. Just a bunch of turning eggs, candling them just for fun, making coop plans, etc. However, I did totally score with a Craigslist find!!! ALL of this treated lumber was FREE!!!!!

Reusing materials and spending less money are two very good things!

And then, here's our last set of eggs! They just arrived today and will go in the incubator tomorrow. Aren't they purty!?!?

These are 7 beautiful pure blue, black, and splash Ameraucana eggs. And I am so nervous about them! This stupid freezing cold weather that they've traveled through, combined with a Sunday stay in postal never-neverland has me a bit worried. They were really cold to the touch when they arrived. I hope they hatch!!!!!!

And last bit of progress - I ordered my organic chicken feed today! I've decided on using Countryside Organics (www.countrysidenatural.com) after reading nothing but wonderful things about their products and luckily there is a supplier right here in the area - Horseshoe Bend Farm! I have my order in that will hopefully last through our first four months of chicken raisin'!

Well that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have exciting coop progress to report and then less than two weeks till my first batch of chicks is due!!! Oh boy!

April 4, 2011

Chicken Coop Update! :-)

We have progress! With lots of help from Lane and Nicole (my brother and future sister-in-law) we made some headway this past weekend! All of the posts for the run are up! We have a trench well on its way around the run to help keep the run from becoming a muddy mess when it rains, and big pile o' gravel to fill it up with. Here's how it's looking!

Impressive, huh!?

So as far as our chicken eggs go we have both good news and bad. My first set of 20 eggs is down to 16. Not bad! Those 16 are looking good and will be going into "lockdown" in my homemade hatcher in just 2 DAYS!!! And their big hatch day is Saturday! Could be earlier, could be later, but somewhere around this weekend we should have baby chicks!!! Woohoo!!! My next group of eggs is my Cochin eggs. Started as 17, then down to 14, and now down to a little old 8. And of those 8, I really only feel like 3 of them have a chance. All that we cracked open showed no signs of fertility. I'm pretty bummed about them, but it seems this is the way it can go with hatching eggs sometimes. We'll see how many healthy chicks hatch in total and then I'll decide if I'm up for trying another round of cochins or not. My last set of eggs are the 7 beautiful blue Ameraucana eggs. And I'm happy to say they are all looking good so far!

Now off to AgriSupply with Will. We're going to make the most of this gorgeous day and get a little done out there! Wish us luck!!

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Maggie again. Isn't this exciting?! Next up: eggs on LOCKDOWN!

Chicken Watch!

I'm interrupting our house tour for a pretty exciting development in the family... we're about to have chickens! Let me back up.

My sister Lisa in North Carolina has always wanted backyard chickens, and she decided to go all out and incubate her own eggs first. She's been blogging about the process on Facebook and at this very minute, is watching the eggs "pip" (start breaking their shells). By the end of the weekend she should officially be a chicken mom. Her story of how she got to this point is fantastic... so much so that I wanted to share the journey here. Here's Lisa telling the story from the beginning... I'll run her posts today and all weekend, and will share photos of our new family chicks soon!

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February 27, 2011

Coming soon to our house --- CHICKENS!!!

Yay! So before getting pregnant with Liam we tossed around the idea of getting a small flock of egg-laying hens but got a bit sidetracked for obvious reasons. But now the time has come!!! A few weeks ago with the help of lots of family we acquired a great old coop for FREE off of Craigslist! Getting it from the other side of Jordan Lake back to our house was not easy. * Thank you Mike, Lane, Grandpa Miller, and Dad! * And anyone who saw us driving that wide load through town definitely thought we were crazy. But we got it here in one piece! It needs lots of fixin up and we have to build a big run so it'll be a while still before we actually get any chickens, but as of today we have made progress!!! Will (with a lot of help from my dad) cut down probably 6 smallish trees where the run will go and got them all cut up for firewood! We've still got more clearing out to do and building the run is not going to be that easy but I love to see progress! Oh yeah, and we still have to somehow roll the coop from its current home right beside our driveway down to the edge of the woods where it will live. That is not going to be easy at all! I am very nervous about that part! But I have faith we will get it there - and then the fun coop renovation can begin! I have big plans for my little coop and cannot wait to get some little chickies to join our family! If any of you fb'ers have experience with chickens feel free to bring on the suggestions! I will keep y'all posted on our progress!

So here's the coop as it is now and a not-so-friendly visitor that came to check it out today. I think it knows a little too much. It goes without saying that predator-proofing is at the top of our list for the coop and run!!!

March 17, 2011

***Chicken Update***

Oh yes. There is a lot of chicken related excitement at our house!!!!!!

First off, we've spent the last few weekends working very hard at clearing the spot for the run. This involved clearing quite a few trees, years of brush and piles of leaves, and of course briars. Grrrr. But we had fun doing it! Will bought a burn barrel so we could safely burn lots of the brush which was very fun for some reason and Liam became our rock collector carefully removing a dump truck full of big ol' quartz chunks! And we got it done! It looks great! Our future chicken run is all laid out and ready to go. Well... kind of.

Next bit of excitement --- I bought an incubator!!! Why just buy chicks when you can hatch them from eggs!!!! This way I'll be their little chicky mama from the very start! And, with such a small flock they will never need to be vaccinated or fed medicated feed and will be fed with organic feed from the very start! But I have to say, the excitement of getting to hatch my own chicks is overtaking all the smart and healthy reasons at the moment! Anyway, my super awesome incubator came in yesterday and now my eggs are on the way! So, my first try at hatching eggs will include the following breeds: Large Fowl Cochins (all different colors!), Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, Welsummers, Black Copper Marans, Orpingtons, and Sussex!!! And, possibly a couple of Silkies as well - we'll see! See pics below.

Oh no, the excitement doesn't stop there!!! Today - MAJOR PROGRESS!!! With the help of Lane and Dad we moved the coop into position!!! And they did it the old fashioned way. Using 1 log and 2 round posts they rolled that sucker down our yard and into its new home on top of good ol' cinder blocks. And I think it shocked all of us just how smoothly it went! I am so excited! Now we can get moving on fixin' it up and building the run. LOTS, LOTS, LOTS to do but we are well on our way. And we better get moving, because in just a few weeks, we'll have CHICKS!!!!!! They'll have to be in the house with us for a while until they're big enough, but it won't be too long 'til they'll be ready to go out to their new home! So we better get busy!!!

Our little helpers

Yay! My coop!

The coop and future run.

The crew

And now... THE CHICKENS!!!!

This is a Gold Laced LF Cochin.

A Silver Laced Cochin. So pretty!

 

Look at those fluffy butts! Not pictured are blue and splash Cochins, but you get the idea. They are great big fluffy chickens with feathery legs and are known for being very sweet and friendly!!!

This is a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte. Gorgeous!

Black Copper Marans - famous for being great layers of very dark brown eggs!

Orpingtons. Big fluffy chickens also known for their wonderful dispositions. Mine will be black and/or lavender (depending on what hatches).

Welsummers. Really great egg laying chickens that also have nice, dark eggs!

Sussex. Mine will be either Coronation, Light (shown) or a split of the two. Aren't they beautiful!?!

And a silkie. Not sure if I will be adding a couple to my batch yet but aren't they the cutest chickens you have ever seen!?!? Haha - I think I just need to have one for the fun of it. This is the only picture not from the actual breeding stock of eggs I will be receiving.

Next update will be the eggs goin' in the bator and *hopefully* progress on framing out the run!!!

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Maggie again. You're hooked now, aren't you? Also, don't you think my sister needs to start a backyard chicken blog? Just wait until you see the eggs!