Recycling--it's for the birds!

After researching various options--and fantasizing about building my own coop--I decided to "build" a coop in the spirit of my original goal with this project. So we're recycling! :-) I stalked freecycle and craigslist for a free structure and ended up with this:

It's a plastic Little Tykes style playhouse, which came to us in pieces. After reassembling the parts, I realized there was only a half-door, so I covered the top of the door opening with a heavy duty rubber welcome mat that happened to be handy. I stapled chicken wire over the widows and added hook and eye closures on each one and the door as well.

This morning I moved our new trio--Amelia, Bertha, and Pat--into their new house. I'm on the lookout for a small shelf for them to nest in, but for the meantime I've put a banker's box in there. They seem to be enjoying themselves so far.

I also need to add in a perch and a light, but I think this is a good start . . .

Wow, can they fly!

These birds have personality, intelligence, shock value, blue eggs, are beautiful, weird and, wow, can they fly.

Alan Stanford, writing about the Araucana

Um, yeah. I found that out last night when I brought home our three new birds. No, I haven't given up on hatching--our lone little egg is still kicking away in the incubator as I type and has now been joined by seven other little hopefuls. In the meantime, though, we were offered and I accepted three Araucana from Jen, the lady who provided our first set of eggs. Our readers may recall this is set from which I dropped the lone surviving egg and killed it. (There was blood. It was awful.)

So now we've come full circle with more eggs from that original flock and three actual birds . . .

The larger girl is 14 months and was being picked on so Jen separated her from the flock. Since chickens are social animals and don't do well alone, she came with two three month old birds. One is definitely a girl. The other we're just calling Pat. When I brought them home, the other three month old made a break for it into the wild blue yonder (of the kitchen) so she's now Amelia. The 14 month old who was being bullied by the mean kids is Bertha. :-)

Last night they were being stalked by dogs, cats, and two year olds and weren't too happy about it. They were also very, very hungry. As soon as I figured the last part out, they were much happier. :-)

Down, but not out

The 10 Little Indians that I set on October 28 were scrambled by the post office. Not one grew, which was very disappointing. I did not, however, give up. At this point, though, I think perseverance has crossed the line into obsession, which is what kept me from posting. :-) I ordered another set of eggs on Ebay. The new Little Indians (again, there were 10) went into the incubator on Friday, the 13th, which is a lucky date for me. My daughter was conceived on a Friday, the 13th, after all.

And now for the good news and the bad news:

This egg is still kicking--literally--but it's the only one. I am, however, thrilled. :-)