This year our bulbs came up early, and we already have lots of tulips :) Usually we don't have tulips until next month. We really enjoy spring because everything is blooming: tulips, hyacinth, grape seed hyacinth, irises, roses, pansies, snapdragons, petunias, viola, peach and nectarine trees and of course our citrus too!
Here is Karsen getting Elvis to sleep in his lap while he watches TV :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxGvJ3ynYD0
We also have Serama eggs in the incubator ... 21 eggs with babies in them as of today, day 10!!! Can't wait for baby chicks!!!
And, we have three baby chicks in the brooder from one of Ky's friends. They are 3/4 polish and 1/4 ameraucana :)
Here they are :)
The last week was busy :) We painted the coop, Kyle built a "poop" board for the coop, and we put shingles on the roof of the coop to make it more water resistant. We also found that putting sand on top of the poop board helps with getting the poop off later.
Yesterday Karsen and I went to the zoo after his doctor's appointment down town. We, of course, visited the tortoises, and he also wanted to see the rhinoceros horned iguana too. He's seen them before in his class when a reptile guy brought a bunch of reptiles in. We tried to go on a bear hunt too, but the Forest of Eco (or whatever it's called) was closed ... so no bear hunt for us. We also petted the sting rays and were at the leopards enclosure when he roared - too cool!
Today we took the chicks in to see Karsen's classmates. They are talking about egg development in his class right now. Evie and Gertrude were the stars of his class :). Maybe next year we will loan them the hovabator so they can incubate eggs in the classroom and watch them hatch.
The tortoises are up full time now too :) They are enjoying their weeds, but the chickens love weeds too. I don't think we will be able to keep enough weeds on the side yard to feed the tortoises all year like we did last year. Especially since some of that area is chicken free range area!
Last weekend we also had fun at Mom and Pop's house at the Mogen's in Mesa get together :) I brought my camera but forgot to take pictures :(. It was nice to see everyone! This is the first year though that Karsen didn't go swimming ... I guess he is finally old enough to realize the water really IS cold the first weekend of March!
Today is my daddy's birthday, so Happy Birthday Daddy!!! We will definitely get some good pictures of the party on Saturday.
Here are the tortoises enjoying their weeds :)
Here are the chickens eating their flax seed
Here are Clover and Blue Belle on their perch
Here is Karsen at the zoo
Here is the coop with the paint, poop board and shingles :)
One of the baby Mille Fleurs is getting intimidated by the bigger chicks and needs to be able to get to food and water better. So we decided to find them a great home, but then it would just leave one little one by herself in the brooder, so she will be going with the Mille Fleurs. Also then we will have a bathtub again, which is great for Karsen since he's missing his tub! A very nice lady that runs Piggie Poo rescue is going to get them on Sunday.
So ... we found two really nice 12 week old pullets, to round out the flock and we have a nice variety. One of the 12 week old pullets is a blue ameraucana, she is very pale blue, almost lavendar. Then the other 12 week old pullet is half ameraucana and half astraulorp, she is a darker blue. Both are super beautiful. We think we are naming the ameraucana, Periwinkle. And the half ameraucana / astraulorp, Cloud because she is all colors of a cloudy sky. Periwinkle is show quality, so we could show her at the fairs and other chicken shows ... so much fun!
Then yesterday we found out that Henrietta is really a Cuckoo Maran. So we will get chocolate brown colored eggs too.
We still have Gertrude the Buff Orpington, and Evie the Rhode Island Red.
Here's some pictures from yesterday of the babies sunbathing and acting silly in the coop. And some more from today with the official complete flock.
Also we now have daffodils and Iris flowers :)
