The girls get a new guardian....

Oh the girls are not sure what to make of the new Guardian but he really likes them and wants them to play with him. He is a 13 week old Great Pyrenees/Black Lab cross puppy. A 42 lb pound puppy.

He is the sweetest little thing in the world...truly a gentle giant. However, his natural guardian instincts are surely asserting themselves. He has alerted to a fox and a stray cat being outside.

The girls themselves are doing well but they are ready for the cold weather to be gone. They want more outside time...preferrably warmer outside time.

Long overdue update on the girls...

On November 10th we lost Lilly our light brahma and head honcho. she had a heart infection and succumb to heart failure. It was a tragic day for the household because she was such a special girl. She was our growling chicken. We miss her terribly.

Then on the 25th we lost Fancy, one of our little Salmon Faverolles. She was attacked by the other girls and lost all of her tail feathers. Then 2 days later when she back into the coop, they attacked her again a day later. This time she was hurt badly and an air sac was ruptured so she passed during the night.

Meanwhile, everyone is doing well. We will see how the winter goes and keeping it warm enough inside for them with only 2 heat lamps.

They are in the Keep of Eggtopia!

The girls are all in the Keep...all 32 of them. That was no easy task. I will get pictures of them in it tomorrow but here is the update.

The red paint was applied, the hardwire cloth was added to the outside of the two windows, chicken wire was put around the outside bottom of the coop itself, a small temporary separation wall with chicken wire was made to house the babies separately from the big girls and the move was begun. The big girls and little girls spent their first night in the coop last night and all three groups are inside tonight.

The medium girls when put in with the big girls had a couple of hours of uncertainty. The big girls immediately began to express their displeasure and display their dominance, especially Maggie and Holly. They went right after them. Speckles bothered no one unless they got to close and then she sent them packing. Sandy was very pouty and threatening in her posture and Lilly just plain ignored them as did Molly for the most part. We spent a lot of time inside with them and scolding the older girls about their behavior and by bedtime, everyone had settled nicely for the most part. The two bigger groups are still sticking to their groups but there was no tustling going on between them and that was a good sign. The laying did not cease either...we got 5 eggs today from the 7 that are laying so I was pleased about that. We will see what happens tomorrow now that the new girls were added.

Here are some updated pics.

The first coat of red paint on:

The Flooring before the wall and shavings was added:

So, the next step is to build them nest boxes and finish the run. there are some minor things needing to be done like added the lined curtains, an extra heat lamp, a new weatherstrip at the bottom of the exterior door and finish the sign and interior Pop door. The exterior door is in place with double interior latches so they are secure.

More pics tomorrow...

Long overdue update...life keeps getting in the way...

The little girls are gorwing up a storm and are now 9 weeks old:



Our big girls are well...big! They are laying and being very spoiled of course. This is them attacking leftover grits:



And coop construction has begun and is nearly complete. They have a 12' x 12' fortress that has been named "Eggtopia".



Hopefully, they will be in the coop with a completed run for them by next Thursday, Friday at the latest. They will be happy to get out the hot tub and the garage where they currently are. They come out everyday in their tractors but they will enjoy having their own place to come and go from during the day.

The paint inside is a beautiful pastel blue with a darker brighter blue trim...



The outside will most likely be barn red with white trim or grey with white trim. I think the barn red has won but we will see. A couple cute pics:

Luna following me around:



Ginny fascinated by the camera:



More later....

We have suffered our first loss...

The new little girls came home and all seemed good but late that night one of the Salmon Faverolles began showing signs of not thriving. So, the special care began. Hand feeding her every hour or so, then ordering infant vitamins and we struggled for 3 days but she passed away. We had named her "Miracle" because we were really praying for one.

We took her over to our new house (we are moving this Friday) and buried her under a beautiful shade tree.

New Fuzzy Butts are here!

Well now our chicken total is up for sure. We have our 6 spoiled girls, 5 black australorps that are about 6 weeks old and now 22 day olds. They hatched yesterday in Ohio and arrived here in Oregon this afternoon. What a crew. All doing well and eating, drinking, sleeping and being cute.

The girls are growing...

Our 6 girls have been joined by 5 unexpected newcomers. 5 little australorps. they are about 6 weeks old now and still not liked by our girls. So, everyone is separated right now. I can only imagine how they will handle the 21 new girls coming later this month. It is going to be interesting.

Lilly has gone through her leg healing and is doing well, but I do not think the girls will ever let her have feathers on her legs. :(

More pics of the girls soon. Still no losses and all are healthy and spoiled rotten!