Correct web address

We can now all be found at www.urbanhennery.com

Still Here, Just Busy

Wow, it's been a busy month! I've been gardening and biking and generally too busy to find time to attend to this blog. My apologies! I took a trip to Portland with girlfriends - we stayed at the McMenamin's Grand Lodge and had a "grand" time. We chatted, and knit, and went hiking at University Falls and to dinner at a great brewery (sorry can't remember the name) and to Powell's Books and Voodoo Doughnuts. To the Hillsdale Farmer's Market, a craft / arts fair and lunch at a fab bakery (again the name escapes me).

Mike went walleye fishing and got skunked. The dogs have been dogs. The cat has been spending more time outside. The girls are busy, we're reliably getting eggs every day. And loving every bit of it!

The news of most note is that I've finally reached my limit of blogger frustration. After much consideration I am relocating to Word Press. Starting now, you'll be able to find me at www.urbanhennery.wordpress.com. I've migrated all of my posts over there (including this one) and all new posts will be posted there exclusively. Hope you follow me there.

Florida Break

I've been in Florida since Sunday for work. We had a tradeshow to attend and then I hosted a live webcast this morning. Now I'm hanging at the Orlando airport as I booked myself a late flight in case things went long. While they didn't, and I was sick of Disney, and so here I sit waiting for my plane. Hmmm, what's news? No new pictures to post, hopefully some this weekend.

Jailbreak!

I just got this email from my friend that took Phyllis and the chicks. Had me laughing out loud at my desk so thought it was worth sharing!

***********************
H woke me up this morning to tell me there was a "chicken emergency". That woke me up, let me tell you! She was leaving for work, and as she was driving out she noticed she could see into the coop where we have Phyllis and the babies. As in, the door was wide open. So she got out to look for them, and they were hanging around the coop. So she tried to catch them... which of course made them scatter. She had also let the cats out when she left, so now there were little birds running in all directions and kitties all too happy to help catch them. That is when she came to get me.

It would seem that when I closed the door yesterday I swung the lock shut, but didn't notice it hadn't gone behind the metal plate to keep it fastened. The door sticks, so it stayed shut and I walked away. It must have fallen open at some point, and they decided to go exploring.

I got to start my morning by running around in the rain with a net trying to gather them all up. Phyllis was pretty ticked when I caught a baby (which I hoped would help me catch her... but unfortunately, no). Everyone is back inside and you better believe I am checking that lock from now on! I am impressed by Phyllis' mothering skills, though.. she was pretty good at keeping away from me AND herding both babies at the same time.
***********************

I can totally see this happening in my head! It's exactly what I fear will happen with Jake, Sam and the girls, except then it will be big bounding puppy and big squawking girls!

Local Resources

For anyone in the Seattle area with chickens, or considering chickens, here are some resources and groups you should be aware of:

Seattle Tilth:
The have great information posted on their site here.
They also offer classes for getting started. Upcoming events include:

• City Chickens 101 on May 19
• City Chickens Coop Design on July 14
• 2007 Harvest Fair on September 8

Chicken Lovers:
Seattle now has it's own meet-up group for chicken owners, wanters and admirers.

I'm a rock star!

In a totally non-chicken, pet or garden related post, I rode my road bike 55 miles today. This by far the longest distance I have ever ridden (by about 20 miles). I've decided that I want to ride the STP (Seattle to Portland in 2 days) this year, and I talked my dad into riding it with me, but I hadn't started getting serious about training yet. Then I looked at the calendar and realized it's only 3 months away!

So when Mike announced he wanted to go fishing on Fish Lake by Leavenworth today, I decided to go join the training rides being held by the Cascade Bike Club. Of course, they started up about 2 months ago, so they've already worked up to 55 miles. I figured, sink or swim, it was time to get going. And you know what? I did it. And I even had fun!

I'll miss next week's ride as I'm going to Orlando for work. So my next ride with them will be 60 miles! Wow.

today in pictures

Our collection of outbuildings on our 8,000 sq ft city lot. The coop, the shed and the shed roof off the right side of the shed for our wood.

The coop with new addition. I'm proud to say that I dug the 34" holes and sunk all 4 posts in concrete by myself! Wow was I sore the next day...

Penny's pretty sure that anything I'm carrying must be edible. Here she tried to grab the wrist strap on my camera. What you don't see is how peeved she was when she realized it wasn't a treat.

The first foray into the yard ever. They were out for a short 10 minutes today before I let the dogs out. I would have given them longer but based on Jake's howling I knew he couldn't wait.

I think their scratching and digging might actually be good for our struggling lawn. We'll have to let them out more often. They were easy to coax back into the coop with a little cracked corn in their cake pan.

Spring is here. The bartlett pear trees are blooming (2 trees).

So are the honey crisp apples (2 trees).

The bleeding heart, pink and white. These were bare dirt about a month ago and now they're almost waist high.

The pink and green hellebore.

One of my new clematis - I planted three on various fence sections this week.

And Jake, who thinks he too is a sign of spring...

Happy Friday!

He should have been named Marmaduke...

Here are some new picks of our puppy Jake. I remember how cute and sweet and little he was when we got him. He's still cute and sweet, still thinks he's a lap dog, but now he's pushing 85 lbs. The vet is predicting he'll get to 120 before he's done. Wow! We should have picked a "big dog" name for this one.

Jake's favorite activities:

- anything involving food

- head scratches

- belly scratches

- fetch with anything

- laying on your lap

- chasing the chickens from one end of the coop to the other

- wrestling with Sam

Jake and Sam (in front) sitting pretty for treats

Jake and Sam taking a nap on Sam's bed. Guess it might be time to get Jake one of his own...

Been too long.

So it's been too long since my last post. I've got to get better about this! I owe photos when I get a chance. So, here's the news.

Lucy started laying, so all 4 girls are now keeping us in eggs. Lucy's are a dark reddish brown.

Phyllis and the chicks went to Denise's house at the end of March. I heard from her the other day that the chicks are now bigger than little Phyl.

Pru's leg mites got bad enough that I caved and took her to the vet. Guess I should have done that a while a go. One shot of Ivermectin a week ago and she's well on her way to healing. She'll never have pretty feet or legs, but at least they won't hurt anymore. While we were there she got a thorough exam and generally behaved herself. She officially weighs 3 lbs. I feel kind of silly for taking her to the vet, but here in the city it's hard to find the farm drugs that you might be able to easily get other places. I knew from a book I have and from research online that Ivermectin was what we needed to finally fix this, but I couldn't get my hands on a small amount locally. Oh well. At least know we have a go-to vet in case of other issues.

The Dr. also observed that she was rather thin and asked after the others. I said I wasn't sure as I don't often pick them up. I came home and checked and yep, everyone was thinner than they should be. So wormer it is. I had to have Mike stop at the Bothell Feed store as Everett didn't have any Piperazine (sp?). They sell it under the name "Pig Swig". It's bright pink and fruit flavored. As if the girls care? Hopefully everyone will be feeling better shortly.

I got a bee in my bonnet and decided that since Penny and Lucy are so big, that they needed more space. So I sunk 4 posts and expanded their run by another 16 square feet. This section is outdoors, covered with chicken wire. So far it has been a huge hit! It gives the girls a place to dig for worms (they dig in their covered run too but I don't think there are many worms in there), feel the rain, spread their wings and chase bugs. To celebrate I gave them a spaghetti squash to eat. After 2 days they still hadn't figured out how to get through the shell, silly girls!, so I cracked it open for them. Wow! That was pretty entertaining to watch. Over 3 days they ate it all, shell and everything.

But now, no big treats until everyone puts some weight on. I've been spoiling them with lots of greens and cracked corn. But no more, only very limited treats until they fatten up. Shocking how much more layer feed they've been going through since this policy was implemented over the weekend. Apparently I've been a bad chicken mamma without even realizing it.

In other news, I've been putting new plants in and doing a lot of pruning. My pick rock roses took a real beating from all the snow this winter. I'm pruning them all the way back to the bases (leaving about 12 inches) and hoping they grow back. They've got about 4-6 weeks to show an inclination to grow and then I'll have to dig them out and replace them.

We're gearing up to build a two-car garage. We found a firm in NY to design it for us. We got the preliminary plans today and once we approve them, they'll do the final drawings for us. They look great, but I forgot to show them to Mike before he fell asleep so we'll have to wait until tomorrow night to approve them.

I think that's it for tonight. I'll try to be better about posting at least twice a week. Look for photos of the improved coop/run and Pru's pretty legs plus Jake the Marmaduke puppy and the new plants this weekend.

And they're here

This post is delinquent - it's been a busy couple of days. On Thurs (March 8) the two eggs both hatched. And they are the cutest little things! Phyllis is a very dedicated mamma and everyone seems to be doing well. I've posted a couple of pictures below.