Karla's Cottage

Winged friends

Things are going well with the Ladies.  They are feeling enough at home that we can leave their doors open all day, and they return to the coop to lay their eggs. 

We have 8 boxes for them, but there are only two or three that they like.  And they deposit the eggs together in the same nest all day. The next day they might use a different box, but all will use the chosen box of the day.

The Rhode Island Reds are about as lovable as a chicken can be.  All run up to me when I step outside. I'd like to think its genuine fondness, but I think they are just greedy pigs and  wondering if I might have a treat.

What surprises me about hens, is how soft they are. And that some of them actually seem to like to be petted. 

Our other four ladies, the Americaunas and Red Stars, are not nearly as friendly, but I hope that changes. They are much larger, louder, messier, and squawk at me like I have no right in the coop.  I am kind of wishing I'd stuck with just the Rhode Island Reds, since they are so sweet, adorable and act like they are thrilled to see me.

I guess its time to tell the big, noisy, messy birds that  they are too juicy and fat to not at least pretend to like me.  Because I love fried chicken more than I love hens who act like I am an annoyance in their lives...  No, thier eggs are too pretty to give up on them.  Sugarwings and I enjoy the blue eggs they produce.

Don't forget, we are having a Faerie Book Swap!  Scroll down a couple posts for details. I painted this fairy as a possible part of the collage for the cover, but I'm not sure I want to use it.  I think I'd rather have a more vintagey looking fairy.

What do you think?

 

Welcoming the hens to their shabby chic chicken coop

The ladies seem to be adjusting to their new home and are happy to be here. They came from a larger group of chickens, and I think they will like their extra space and room to roam.  Ariel appreciates the mirror.

They've been up on their perches too, and even like the chandeliers. I'll have to get a picture of them on one.

Sugarwings tends to think of the coop as her playhouse, but it hasn't been covered in poo yet. 

Soon, it will be much less appealing to hang out in.

Ariel, Small World, Unicorn, and Mator don't use their nesting boxes yet, though. The eggs (yep, we already have egg production starting the first day!) are nested under the table holding the boxes instead of in them.

We started with 4 Rhode Island Reds, and have room for lots more, so will pick up a variety of different kinds of birds later on. We found these on Craigs List for six bucks a piece, and the farmer met us halfway from his place in the country to drop them off.

I'd really like to get some that lay those pretty blue/green eggs.

And I look forward to the time when I can let them have the whole yard to play in and find bugs. For now, they are penned in till they adjust.

The other animals will need some adjustment time too.  Twinkle and the cats have been pacing along the fence trying to find thier way in to properly greet the new arrivals. I have a feeling that Twinks will need to be locked up whenever the ladies are having a promenade around the yard. 

Or the birds won't be surviving very long. I'm not sure about the cats.  Can a cat take out a hen? I know they want to.

We were told that our coop could hold 50 chickens comfortably, but we aren't interested in doing that. Maybe 10-12 at the most.   I don't want so many that I can't get to know them!

Happy Mother's Day!

When I got back from California, there was a delightful surprise waiting for me as a  Mother's Day gift! Our Gypsy and Dewdrop completely cleaned up my studio and garage from the chaotic mess left behind from Birdsong!

She even took photos of them at work for me.  And it looks like they turned the day into a party, drinking ginger ale from the plastic wine flutes I'd bought for the event. 

Before I left on my trip, I was drained and exhausted from the prep and work, and excitement of Birdsong and I just wasn't up to cleaning up before my flight.  Then, I was even more tired from a week of fun on the trip and dreaded facing the rooms as I'd left them.

It was the best gift ever to get home and see how thoughtful my girls are!!  They cleaned, swept, and put all the furniture back in place. I don't know how the two of them managed to bring  the big dining room table from the garage to the studio on their own.

Not only that, but she saved up some floor sweepings while she worked. Its funny because when Beth and I cleaned the room to get ready for Birdsong, Beth told me that there was enough detritus on the floor to make a whole project.  And after the party, there was apparently even more.

Because that is just what our Beloved Gypsy did! She used the feathers, glitter, moss, ephemera, ribbons, lace and beads to create a wire wrapped fairy for me.

Now, that is a true souvenir of the weekend! And one of the sweetest Mother's Day Gifts ever.

But that isn't all, today is shaping up to be quite the Mom's Day.  My family made an early morning run to a farm to buy us some hens!  Yep, the ladies are finally here.

I'll have some photos of Ariel, Small World, Unicorn, and Mator soon.  (guess who just got back from Disney and was full of great names for the new pets?)  But for now, I'm off to enjoy my special day and hang out with my loved ones.

I hope that your day is a special one too.

A home for the hens

Everyone around here is excited about the rehab of the chicken coop!

This old building has been through many transformations, and as good as I can guess, this will be its third time to serve as a home to a flock of birds.   Its also been a woodworking shop, an antique store, a dog run, a hang out for my Jr High school age boys, and lately, a storage shed..

Now, back to being a chicken coop!

When I used this for an antique store, we ran electricity out to it, put on a new roof and painted it all a barely there, blush pink. I think the ladies will enjoy nesting in that flattering color. They will feel so pretty in the ambient lighting and soft pink walls.

(we still need to hang the feeder, right now, its just sitting under the bench.  If we tried to feed them there, they would argue over access to the goodies. And it needs to be hung up so it doesn't get pooped in as much. They will be pooping in it no matter what, but higher is better)

We've provided a couple of mirrors so they can check themselves out. I hear that chickens enjoy looking at themselves. 

There are also lots of roosting materials, an old lawn chair, and branches screwed to the walls all around like a jungle gym.

The old painting on the wall is simply for their enjoyment.

A couple of chandeliers that no longer work were hung up for more roosting, and for lighting, I hung a ceramic lamp with a cracked base that was laying out in the shed.

The bench we built  to set the nesting boxes on is just the right height to store bales of straw.  They slide right under it, and don't leave space for the hens to roost (and poop) on the straw.

No ETA on when the girls will be moving in. But we are set and ready to welcome them to their new home.

The building has two sides, the long, narrow one that the ladies will be calling home, and a big square room next to it that the cats like to hang out in.

This side is where we keep lawn furniture in the winter, supposedly. But other things tend to accumlate too.

I've valiently tried to not let things pile up in here, but I'm glad I let a few things slip, because this is the place I raided to find the pretties for the coop. Nothing nice, just some old beat up stuff too nice to toss and I'm glad it had piled up there for me to dig through!

I'll let you know what the girls think of it all when they move in.