More Chicken Pics

Trouble

This post is mostly for my friend and chicken breeding partner Cindy, to see how the Buff Orpington babies are progressing.

Trouble was hatched Feb 27 and I'm hoping she's a she.

Trouble's brother

trouble's brother

Trouble's brother is definitely a he. ;-)

Nosey & a baby

Nosey had to jump up and check out the babies as I was looking at them.

chick hatch 3-6-14

I have two chicks that were hatched March 6. Again looks like maybe a pair.

hatched 3-6-14

Besides the Buff Orpingtons I have other breeds of chickens, Love the look of the Black Copper Marans which lay very dark brown eggs. Debating over keeping either of these two boys. I have lots of younger boys growing out, although none of the bloodline that this first male has. I like his balance and coloring. His comb is a little big but not too awful, his wattles could be smaller. I wouldn't hesitate to keep him except one of his eyes is funny and I don't know if he'll out grow it.

black copper marans hatched 11/18/13

his eye has a blot

Oops didn't get a good shot of the slightly younger fellow. But I'm pretty sure he's going to go away any way because he has too much red on his chest instead of it being nice and black. There are more chic pics to sort through but I"ll save them for later. Right now I need to go do chores.

Around the Garden

front yard bed with iris and dwarf peach

A few pictures from around the garden taken last week that I didn't get posted. Spring is here and rapidly moving into early summer temps!

A bearded iris, rose and my dwarf Bonanza peach.

Granada rose

My $2 rose bush is still alive and blooming; for the story of planting it see the post from Oct 30,2011

Green Globe artichoke

a couple of artichokes have survived

snapdragons

Some snapdragons along the hillside

Florintine Iris

The photo did not pick up the delicate lavender of this iris. This is the Florintine iris, also known as Monet's because it was planted at his home in Giverny. This iris is also known as Orris root because the dried roots are fragrant and are the orris root used in potpourri and perfumes.

backyard veg garden

The backyard veggie garden has been a big neglected; some green onions, elephant garlic and some carrots are in there along with a lot of weeds and Californa poppies.

Tombstone rose

A Tombstone rose, aka Lady Banks. Here is an article about the famous original, listed in the Guiness book of records as the largest rose bush in the world.  http://www.examiner.com/article/world-s-largest-rosebush-tombstone-arizona

marigolds, sunflowers, bush beans

I've been working on the new garden space along the creek where the chickens were before. The marigolds are putting out new blooms, the sunflowers and purple bush beans I planted are sprouting up.

tomatoes in

I got all the tomatoes planted along their arches; the lefthand row has some more marigolds and I randomly poked in some nasturtium seeds.

The far end of the right hand row I planted some Luffa sponges. I have room for one more row, about 12 feet long, which I"m going to work on today.

Buff Orpington Chicks

Nosey, left, Whopper, right

Well Claire and Henrietta, the big beautiful Buff Orpington girls have gone home to Cindy for the summer. Two young cockerels have taken their place here. These boys are the oldest of Claude & Henny's babies. These were hatched and started by Cindy and are about ten weeks old now.

Nosey is a tad smaller than Whopper and is just that really nosey! When ever I'm feeding the other babies Nosey is behind me pecking at my pants and shoes, trying to see what's in the bucket and generally being a nuisance. Whopper just hogs the feed trough and runs off the slightly smaller and younger Black Copper Marans chicks in the pen.

Trouble

Trouble is just that, big Trouble! Always trying to escape and then getting stuck in a corner somewhere! Trouble is a Claude & Henny chick hatched here on Feb 27 so almost six weeks old.

Trouble's hatchmate

trouble's hatchmate

Trouble's hatch mate is bigger and is getting red wattles. I am thinking perhaps this one is a little roo and Trouble is a pullet, but time will tell.

Look at how wide he is!

Chicks hatched 3/13 and 3/22

More siblings growing out, the ones from the 3/13 hatch are hitting the dinosaur stage, the little one laying down is from the 3/22 hatch

Bianca & chicks

In other news Bianca's eggs hatched today and she readily took on the 6 Buff Orpington chicks that also hatched this morning. A couple of her eggs were still working on hatching when I checked on them this evening, so I won't know until tomorrow how many chicks she has for sure. The silkie chicks are so tiny, they are half the size of the orps.

Transformation

pulling coops out of the pens

On Sunday my farmer girl helped me start clearing out the empty chicken pens by the creek. (which is really a dry wash that only runs when it rains)

from the other end

Two of the small coops were were able to move; the larger one was too heavy so I left it for now. Will probably just store plastic pots and such in it for the time being.

coops out, time to dig!

Once the coops were out it was time to start working on garden beds. I had to take my farmer girl back home Sunday afternoon, but she's looking forward to coming back in a couple of weeks.

1st double row ready to plant

I lucked out with having Monday off so I worked on the garden some more and got the first double row ready to plant. More pics in a day or two.