Can't believe its been 11 days...

since I last posted...time fly's...Everything is going well at Coop De Ville, the residents seem to have settled in very nicely. Still have some exterior work to do on CDV before I will declare it complete, well really, it probably will never be "completely complete", there will always be room for improvements! The four-leggers seem to be more tolerant of the new residents, however, I am far from letting the chicken's live a "free-range" lifestyle yet, that would certainly foreshorten their lifespan...

Not much more to report, the grass and the garden are growing at warp speed, which we feel blessed about, well at least the garden part. The problem with the grass is if I cannot cut the entire property at least within a few days, it is like starting over again...arghhhh...but we are getting so much free water (from rain) that we will not complain!!!

To say the mosquito's are abundant this summer would be an understatement, it is now second nature to spray your legs, arms and neck before you venture out, so tomorrow morning's garden trip will be an adventure in anti-mosquitoism...but most definitely worth it!!!

Until tomorrow...Peace R Dean

Sunrise series...it just doesn't get any better than this!!!

Russell Crow and his girls...

Pecking around in the morning while a four-legger loiters outside!!!

New 2 gallon waterer for inside the coop...

A look from inside the coop...hmmm...scary looking shadow, kinda looks like Freddy Kreuger!!! YIKES!!!

Tussle time...the four-leggers doing one of the three things they do best...play, the other two, eat and sleep!!!

Nitschke standing in a bucket of water to cool off...he's a nut case!!!

A jam packed garden and still growing...

Garden variety sunflower...

Reaping the rewards of our garden...

The residents of Coop De Ville...

After over a year and a half of dreaming and talking about owning our own chickens, the dream has come true!! We have CHICKENS, thanks to our friends Steve and Karen who brooded a batch of chicks and held on to some extra's for us until we were ready for them!! On Sunday, we went to their farm and picked up seven Rhode Island Red's, six hen's and one rooster! So, Coop De Ville is almost at full occupancy!!

Nitschke, waiting patiently for the chickens to come out and play...NOT!!

A new resident peeking out from beneath Coop De Ville...

One of the girls checkin' out her new digs...

Inside Coop De Ville...

The residents...

Hey...what? Chicken Butt!! Only Small Farm Girl will get that one!!! ;-)

Outside Southern facing perimeter with field stones placed on top of one foot of chicken wire positioned horizontally on the ground to deter predators...and three feet of chicken wire placed vertically, on top of the livestock fencing to "hopefully" deter a predator from climbing over the fencing...

Western facing perimeter with a surplus of field stones....and some of the "residents" in the background...this is where their roost is located...

Nitschke's week in review...

The week started out like any other week, get up, take the four-leggers out, throw the ball for Nitsch, throw the ball for Nitsch, throw the ball for Nitsch, drink coffee, walk the property with all the four-leggers (Mag, Mol, and Nitsch) and check on the garden for any "ah ha" we have veggie moment!!

It's me, Nitschke boy...

Fast forward to Thursday...and as noted in an earlier post, turned out to be "atypical", Nitsch found a skunk...and long story short, got sprayed!!! I have yet to find a skunk on the property, but we did however invest in some very good "skunk spray" treatment at Mill's Fleet Farm, it is called Nature's Miracle...see picture below. I have to say it works, I bailed out of here fast that morning of the "spraying" using the "I have to get to work" excuse, so Jan REALLY did ALL the dirty work of getting him back to "dog odor" from "skunk odor", so she deserves ALL the KUDO's, I just bought the stuff, but he smells like a dog again...

Available at Mill's Fleet Farm...this stuff works!!!

Last night, it got even better, well not really! Nitschke was chasing his favorite ball, and when he was bringing it back, he slipped and crashed head first into the step on our deck!!! OUCH!!! Poor Nitsch!!! I have to say, he acts like nothing happened, but truth be told, he lost two teeth...and made a sizeable gash in the wooden step!!! So, that is Nitschke's week in review...we have one more day, but I'm hoping nothing notable or bloggable happen's!!!

Those two white things with red on them are Nitschke's front two bottom teeth and the mark on the right is the "scene of the accident"...

Until later...Peace