Birthday Girl!

Our little ZB turned a year old! What a sweet year this has been! For her birthday treat, we let her have her favorite snack *all by herself*. She was so excited about it, and didn't know what to do at first, since she always tries to stick her hand in messy foods, but we always insist on feeding her. So, here we go - a messy and fun start into her second year of life!






Time to clean off!

And try to catch some chicks ...

Now off to get ready for the weekend. We're having a little birthday party for ZB here at the house, and Clay takes off for Charlotte today for his OM competition! We wish him tons of luck - their skit is now perfected, and I think they'll do great!!

Nearly there

Oh my! We have a nearly 1-year-old in our house! She received a present from her Pop-pop today. So of course she had to spend a good 15 minutes wrapping herself in the packaging.
She finally realized there was more to the box than the fun air-pacs, and loved figuring out her new little birthday cake toy...
She's even hugging it - I think it's a winner - thanks Pop-pop!

Equinox

Happy Spring! We are super busy, and hopefully I'll get some pictures of all the busi-ness soon - but for now, I just have cute baby photos :)


Welcoming the Spring rain showers that are warm enough to play in...

Warmth

Short-sleeves for the family and outdoor field trips for the chickies - crazy warm weather around here!

Push me! One of ZB's favorite toys, for sure! This carriage was an early birthday present from her Sissa (B's mom). She loves pushing it around the house, and also climbs on in, expectantly waiting for a ride. Thank you Sissa :)

Chickies in their outdoor playpen/tropical cabana (complete with potted banana tree for shade :)

Fast asleep watching the chicks...

My Little Chickens

Our little chickies needed their heat lamp raised (they wouldn't get anywhere near the heat, so they were ready for it to not be quite so warm). I couldn't figure out a good (safe) way to raise it, without B drilling a new hole in the ceiling for a hook. So, we brought them out into the living room, where there already is an unused ceiling hook. It also lets them get more attention, since they are in an active area, and it's easier for me to take their waterer outside to clean it (which is pretty often now!).

10 days old - chirp chirp!
And here's the other little chicken in the house - this one was supposed to be sitting on her potty and decided to teeter down the hallway with it, instead :) Too cute to stop!

1 Week Old Chickies

Tuesday was the one-week mark for our little feathered ladies! They are still in their cute, downy fluff phase, and we really enjoy all their peeping and silly antics.
We love to get them out and play! Unfortunately, not everyone can play with the chicks - ZB obviously is too young, but she does love to look at them in their brooder box.

ZB took her first steps a couple weeks ago, but still crawls a lot. In these last couple days, she's started really trying to walk more than crawl, which is slow-going, but adorable none-the-less. She kinda looks like a cowboy with her wide stance walk. She can also push up off the ground to stand up by herself.

Our little lady also has started making her own sort of cute-baby-mischief, like figuring out how to get her diaper cover off!
Almost there!
Getting distracted to play with my squishy belly:
Got it!

Chicks!

Saturday was a fun day of talking with other chicken owners and picking out our own first set of chicks. We got 6 - 1 Ameraucana, 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 1 Gold Laced Wyandotte and 2 Rhode Island Reds. I outfitted one of our big storage tubs with their brooding necessities and it's setting in my ebay room for now. This week I'll build something bigger that can sit on the front porch, as they'll start making quite a bit of dust and want more space pretty soon.


These little ladies are 4 days old, and quickly found their food, water and a little roost:


And with only minor squawking and pitching a fit, they let the boys hold them. Here's Clay with his little Rhode Island Red he named Hot Sauce:

End in Sight

The coop is almost done! B is putting the chicken wire up now, and then just the little inside details are left (sand for the floor, boxes for nesting, a roost, etc). How exciting! And to ice that cake, we're going to a free chicken-keeping meeting this weekend, where baby chicks will also be for sale - hopefully we'll bring home some new friends :)