A post to update the break in the blog.

I haven't posted anything in a while. That goes without say really. Life gets busy, and hobbies and such sometimes take the back burner. My Air Force carreer will be comming to a close soon (which is great). I'm raising five kids still and it has progressively been more chaotic. All is well though and I realize how lucky I truely am to have such.a wonderful family.

So...the chickens. Wow, what an experience it has been. I recommend it to everyone. Chickens are incredibly easy to care for and maintain. The eggs they yield are delicious and aid in becoming more self sufficient.
The hens have made incredible pets that my children (and I) have enjoyed immensely.

Everyday, each chicken produced about one egg. Due to the varying breeds my family was raising, our chickens laid a few different colored eggs. Some brown, some had a pink hues, the rest were white. One of the hens had genetics that made her produce enormous double yoke eggs.
They arrived in her nesting box every few days. Unbelievably large and dimpled across the exterior of the egg. I can't imagine how it was laid. It was a thought that sent pangs of empathy down my spine. All were incredibly tasty. The yokes were darker colored than store bought. Also, the flavor is very rich.
It is a joy eating the food you're own efforts and energy produced. The lessons my children learned were invaluable. My children have a healthy perspective on survival, self sufficiency, and how working hard can produce amazing results.

Chicken Run

The Chicken run is on its way! Using reconstituted lumber, and old chicken wire, we have begun to build their home. I hope the chickens like it. They are growing fast! If we don't hurry, they'll outgrow their current home. I think we might have a rooster on our hands as well, which, in the city is not good.

Chicken feeder

So I used the bottoms of plastic juice containers to feed my chicks. Everytime I would check on them they seem to have pooped in their food containers and seem to have scratched their food out of their plates. After WAY too much wasted food, I though of this:

I cut the bottoms of two milk jugs and taped them together. Then I cut holes that would compliment the shapes of the chicks heads. And POOF! Feeders that help keep poop out, and food in. Next is a "do it yourself" water feeder.

Here is my family

My wife and I:

My youngest two:

My Daughter:
And last but not least, my oldest two boys in a choke hold:

New seeds have been sown

Today I laid down squash, pumpkin, and cucumber seeds. Wish me luck!
As soon as we can get soil for our planters in the main garden area, i'm going to plant carrots, peas, and whatever else my wife and kids would like.
Here are our jalapeños and tomatoes up close.

Chickens you say?

So I read an interesting article online about keeping chickens in an urban environment. Unfortunately the website escapes me right now but Google will prove an easy search is available for the subject matter. So i watched a handful of videos online and learned that they are remarkably easy animals to both care for and receive EGGS from!!! Not to mention great pets. So, I read further, did a few searches on craigslist and the next thing you know I brought these little buggers home!

Unfortunately for them they are confined to one of my many rubberized plastic storage containers while they grow. I need to get to work on their chicken coop and run because they have grown A LOT in the past three days.

These little guys cost less that $3 a piece. The feed and water containers are cut from the plastic bottles our juice comes in, dug out of our very own recycling bin. The feed is this:

It cost around $12 and should last at least a month with less than six chicks. I am still suprised at how inexpensive they are to raise and maintain.

I plan on fencing this area in with chicken wire to provide them with a chicken run, free from predatory danger.

Here is a really bad idea of what it will look like in Microsoft Paint. I used this to explain to my 7 year old about the chickens future home design. No insults intended. :)

Another idea I had was to skip the Coop part that you can see above that is in red and instead, cut a small door in the back of the shed that is already there and put their coops in here:

This would be cleaned of course and the shelving would be walled off with chicken wire and easy access doors to collect eggs. The shelves themselves would have ramps leading up to them, dividers to accommodate the 5 hens, and hay for comfort, warmth, and egg laying.

More to come as things unravel...

Here is my backyard

Here is my backyard as it sits right now. This first picture is looking at the back of my tool shed. If you look at the ground you can see an outline of wood that is defining my soon to be chicken run.

Next is the first of my garden boxes. Soil is a must right now because I'm loosing more and more of the growing season with each passing day.

The last two are of the main area in my backyard. If you look next to the shed in the background, you can see the opening to the are where the first two photos were shot. Along that fence i planted (but haven't sprouted yet) squash, pumpkin, and cucumber.

In the clay pot is a patio tomato plant and in the black planter is a jalapeño plant. You have to start somewhere right? :)