Hives of Activity

So the Bees are our new neighbors in the back. Cameron and Kamie and Cameron's brothers Chris and Matt and Father Tim came with the 3 hives from Knights Bees. It is quite a science, this beekeeping. Dale and I have a lot to learn. Cameron and his brothers and father all have had a year of experience in this endeavor and are willing to teach us. 

This is Cameron's brother Chris, a willing transporter. Those are bees in the screened frame. 

Personal Store

I went to check the nest boxes mid morning. Sure enough, one in the box. A warm glow settled inside me...I have  my own personal store! I walked back to the pen and threw my hens a healthy dandelion I'd pulled from the flower bed. Then I returned to the nesting box. Grandson Porter was there and he grabbed the egg (I flinched, hoping it wouldn't break) and ran into the house to show his mother, Emery. He looked like a running back with a football cradled in his hands. 

The boys count it a privilege to be the one to bring in the eggs. 

A Sip and a Chat

I want to plant flowers around the beehives as one would do at the front door of a white clapboard country home with porch and swing and a glass of lemonade enticing a sip and a chat. Don't you think the Bees would like that? 

It Will BEE so Sweet

The hives are set in the orchard by the west fence, under the tall old apricot tree. Richard put them on cement blocks lined up in a row of three white townhouses for all the world like a Park Place P.U.D. Surely they will entice the noblest queens and their royal families of worker bees. How could this not be the promise of sweetness to come? Saturday......Sweet Saturday....the day the BEES move in. 

The Little Red Hen

Having backyard chickens which donate fresh eggs, really fresh eggs for breakfast makes me think of the story of The Little Red Hen. I think my 4 little red hens (and one black and white checked Wyandotte who is a queenly fowl) are so smart and their eggs are so yummy. One hen lays an egg that is freckled....and all of the 4 to 5 eggs collected daily are a warm brown color...the color of rich melted caramels. I want to gather them in a special little basket and take them around to my friends and show them what adorably productive Little Red Hens (and one black and white Wyandotte) live at Gran E's Roost. 

Chicken Farmers

Ethan was glad to pose for this picture as he was checking for eggs.

No privacy in this hen house!

I want to get them...3 eggs this time in this one box!

EGGstra Special

This first egg was so remarkable! The hen laid right in the nesting box, just like it was planned. I feel like crowing! 

Cock-a- doodle-doo!

These pullets below are Araucanas. We had 5 to begin with. The black one facing the camera had pushed under the chicken wire and then was unable to free itself. In that precarious position it was attacked by the larger hens and died a few days later.

Nearing Completion

It Works!

Greg found some old rusty nails from the lot and these he has used as the pins to lock the nesting box doors.

I want to try too!

This is the famous Porter grin complete with dimples.

Greg has sided this coop from Grandpa Great's (Shirl Kemp's) old rotting fence on the south side of our lot. It was the fence just to the north of the property line fence that encloses the path to the irrigation ditch. Greg did a great job of staggering the more reddish stained boards with the more grayed and weathering boards. It is such a great way to showcase Grandpa Great's years of work on this homestead.

The chicken feeder

The feeder is hung from the ceiling by a wire so that it doesn't rest on the floor. That way, the chickens don't stand in it and doodle in it and rodents can't get it either.

This is the roost on the north side of the coop

The nesting boxes where the eggs get laid. One box on the north side of the coop and two boxes on the south side. We have the larger chickens in the south separated from the smaller chickens on the north. We found out the hard way (after we lost one of our pullets) that there is a pecking order. The pullet got stuck under the wire and the larger laying hens attached her. She lasted a few days and then died. 

Some Cute Chicks

Richard lifting a child, Jackson, Erin, and Kamie 

This is Erin and "Jack Jack" Tingey checking out the coop.

Gathering the little chicks 

Left to right is Lincoln, Riah, looking in the window, and Cadon Tingey.

The black and white checked hen is a Wyandotte and the red and white ones are Red Star Sex Links.  They all are great layers. We get 4 or 5 brown eggs a day from the 5 hens.

Prison Break?

Greg is cutting out the window so the kids can see inside the coop.

Jail Birds?

More Roost Raising

It has been a while since I posted and so much has happened. Here's the rest of the Roost Raising.

Siding is from the fence on the south side of lot.

Cameron helping Greg

The door before the window is cut out.

Kamie and Riah visit.

Making the pen.

Greg and Dale Cooped Up

The floor was painted grey with oil based paint.

Nesting box door cut on outside for easy access to eggs.

Greg is cutting the window on the north side so grandchildren can view the chickens.

The Ramp for Hen House access.

Cutting the window

Window screen