Guess whjat I did today?

Helped SO build my chicken chalet. It is soooooo cute! I'll post pictures when he gets it finished.

chicken chalet? Can't wait to see this!!!

Hee hee. I'm so excited. It's the cutest little chicken chalet you ever saw. I hope he'll be able to finish it this weekend.

You'll post pictures when it's finished??

But... but... but we want to see it now!

Awww, c'mon... just one photo to give us a hint of the glory to come?

;-)

Ok, I want to see the chicken chalet, too. Thanks for your ideas on a homebuilt 'Egglu'-you're right, it sounds like you could adapt a Igloo dog house pretty easily. I'm slowly getting my DH used to my idea of the garden, he's accepted the compost pile, is adjusting to all the fruit trees, & when he gets home, I'll have a new lasagna bed for veggies & other stuff started along the fence. Think of 'Green Acres', only he's Zsa Zsa Gabor! He only cares about the lawn, while I continually want more plants...

Thistle, Do you run out side when DH gets the mower out to protect your plantings? I do that, he would cut everything down that was not marked with a pipe hammered into the ground. LOL

Hart, I have been reading about you and your chicks, wish I could have some but I live in town and they are not permitted. Do share pictures!

Please, don't remind me! I came home one afternoon & he proudly told me he 'weeded' the bed around the maple in the front, pulling out all the pachysandra procumbens I had nurtured over the last year & a half. I tried to contain myself, jumped in the car, ran to the store, bought another flat of procumbens & planted it immediately. I told him he was not to pull out anything without checking w/ me first!

Okay, I'll go out tomorrow and take some pictures. I really wanted to dazzle everyone with the finished product. LOL

Chris, I planted a Chinese pistachio tree out front a few years ago. After it got mowed to the ground a couple of times, I hammered a monster, tear up your mower if you mow here, stake next to it. What is it with men mowing down everything in their paths? My mom used to have the same problem with my dad.

Thistle, that pachysandra can't be killed. Just stick the stuff that was weeded out back in the ground.

Thanks for the laught guys! I guess most men come from the same mould, and then you have Ruby's John who is out planting her hill side, and moving plants for her. Some Ladies just get lucky I guess.

been there , had that done~~
hart~ looking forward to pics too.

Chris, maybe Ruby's John is only doing all that planting to give him more fodder for the lawnmower. LOL

LOL - thank goodness I'm the only one doing the "pullin' and weeding"...I have no one but myself to blame if it gets pulled in error. Heck, I've been known to coddle a beautiful plant that I "thought" I'd planted only to find out it's a weed...geez!!!

I see that you have been talking about me while I was absent. No problem, I love you guys. Anyway, well John does stuff here but it is a real trade off, believe me. We are both winners in this relationship. He is allowed to stay home and work for himself as long as some of his time is spent working for me too. ha-ha

The current many, many man hours with the lilies are not my asking. He has felt a bit obligated to dig up hundreds of the day lilies that his parents who were both master gardeners raised and sold locally before going to live in a retirement community. He spent most of his time last fall with his siblings closing out the homeplace to get it ready for sale. The gardens that his parents had were outstanding.

I was out in yard on Sunday and was able to weed the largest of my beds. Many of my perennials are popping up their heads. I always love that. I can't wait to see how things look later on when every thing is in full bloom. I derived so much pleasure from gardening last summer. Two Sundays ago I spent time shopping for plants. I didn't need any but just couldn't walk by the cannas and callas that I haven't had before. Each time I would see them somewhere last year, I would yearn for them. I need to try and get them in sometime this week.

I still have many, many packets of seeds that I will get to before too long. I have started about ten pots inside and need to try and find time to do some more inside. I plan to be outside today but the emphasis will be on downsizing my shed. A friend is coming to help get things ready to take to charity shop near by. A lot of the contents is stuff that moved with me three years ago. It seems that if I haven't brought it in the house during that time, a lot of it can be disposed of without missing anything too much. I hope that I am in mindset to clear clutter.

Anyway, it is so good to have all of you good people to share with. I love coming here to read what everyone has been up to. I can always count on feeling better after having made a trip to Daves Garden. Thank you so much Dave, Terry and others who keep us up and running.

Ruby

Ruby, it's good to see you back. You've been mighty quiet lately.

John is such a gem. I know you know you're one lucky lady.

Chantell: I know what you mean about coddling weeds. I had an especially hard time with garden phlox -- to me, they look like weeds until they get big. So I'd either coddle the weeds that look like phlox, or pull out the phlox. This year I am trying to be very careful in my labeling! And now I put a piece of yarn on whatever looks like an unknown weed, and wait a bit to make sure I'm not making a dreadful error!

Hart!

Where are the pics? You promised!

Elf

Okay, here it is. Still a lot to do.

Another shot.

One more.

that's going to be really cute :-)

Critter, you'd better get your heinie in here and admire the heck out of this hen chalet. LOL

but where do they store their little skis when they come off the slopes?

Ooooh... aaaahhhh..... ooooohhhhhhh!!
Seriously, that is a wonderful design! ROFLOL at Sally's remark... I was picturing chickens on skis when hart first mentioned the chalet!

I like the hole in the middle... is that for sweeping, er, chicken leavings into a nice little compost bin underneath?

Did you say you're planning to fit 4 chickens in there? Will you be building nest boxes, wiring for heat, etc? (See, and you thought my curiousity would be satisfied with a couple of construction pics. LOL)

I was eyeing the baby chicks at Southern States -- apparantly gazing with great longing, as 2 different salespeople came up to ask me if I needed a box to hold my choices! Alas, we are not zoned for chickens... and my back yard neighbor (who only loves grass in a landscape and hates my yard) would definitely tattle on me.

LOL! And LOL Sally. Guess we'll have to add ski racks. Little ski racks.

The hole in the floor is for a door. There will be a long door along the side that doesn't have the side on it yet, straight across the center of that side, that I can open to access the inside for cleaning and so forth. The nest boxes will be on the ends. No wiring - this is waaaaaaaay up at the back of the back yard, probably 300 feet from the house. They don't need heat. If it's a really, really cold night I can put them in a cinderblock shed that's attached to the garage. There's electricity out there if they need heat. The roost will run down the length.

I'd like to have about 8 or 9 hens. There's plenty of space for that number. I ordered 10 with the assumption at least one chick won't make it. That will give them well over the 2 square feet per chicken recommended.

The space underneath is for part of the chicken yard space and will provide them a nice shady area.

Sounds well thought out... you are going to have a flock of happy hens!

Do "we" have updated chickie pics? Hmmm....maybe it's on another thread...I know i saw a couple of those cute babies a few days ago....going in search of now....

Dinnertime

Little Miss Chipmunk Leghorn

Love the beards on the little Ameracaunas

What's out there?

These aren't brand new but the better ones I took the other day. I'll take some more in a few days.

Chipmunk Leghorn how cute are they?! Now I can't get Foghorn Leghorn out of my brain. I say, I say... Son.

They are going to be happy chickens for sure!
-Kim

When I had chickens before they were white leghorns and the rooster was, of course, Foghorn. He did do a fantastic job of keeping the damnIsaydamnyankees out of the yard. At least I don't recall seeing any around when he was here. LOL

Stop already, I will have to go download more leghorn sayings. Just thinking of him saying them makes me laugh. I say, I say. Guess we know how old I am!

OMG!!!! Diane....THOSE babies are SOOOOO cute!!! Great pics!!

Foghorn Leghorn and Daffy Duck both just crack me up. Guess we know how old I am too, huh? LOL

Chantell, I fell in love with these chicks on first sight. They are beyond adorable and everything they do just tickles the daylights out of me.

it's great to find joy in every day little things!
i've been watching some of the birds watching my dogs...too funny
& we may get two male mascovoy (sp) ducks soon....i'd much rather take them than let them go up on freecycle (has it's place for things, but i hate seeing it used for animals)