It's Spring! Kind of...

Well the official first day of spring has come and gone. Sadly, the only thing that really lets me know it's here is that I've now mowed the lawn three times! Other than that...it still feels like a dreary Seattle winter around these parts.

I'm not sure if you had a chance to catch up on our trip to Napa...if you haven't, get on it! :) Either way...we've been back now for over a week, but it seems like months ago that we went. It's amazing how your life can jump back into it's normal routine and feel like you never left.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook...you know that something happened right before we left for Napa...

Cock-a-doole...YUP. I'm a rooster.

My wonderful little Miracle chick started crowing! I sat down on the couch at about 8 AM...going to do my French lesson...and he was sitting on the perch in the run and let out the most beautiful COCK A DOODLE DOOOOOO! Not once...but twice. So I put on my shoes...grabbed him and took him to the crate in the garage. I had to make and unexpected trip to Monroe Farm & Feed...lol. I'm so happy that he crowed before we left...I would have felt horrible if we were gone for a week and the neighbors would have had to endure the crowing! **phew**

Besides that we've had some pretty exciting things going on around here over the last week or so! The day after we got home from California I had a doctor's appointment (my darn sinuses are acting up) and then I made my way to Port Orchard to get some hatching eggs! It feels so good to be a mother hen again! My Brinsea incubator only holds 7 eggs if I'm going to use the automatic turner...but I got 8 eggs from the farm so I decided to forgo using the automatic turner for the first week. Compared to the last hatch...this time I felt so much more involved in the first week of incubation. Without the turner, I had to go in and turn the eggs by hand 3 to 5 times a day. After candling the eggs again on day 6, I realized that one of the eggs wasn't fertile. The lady had warned me that her Blue Laced Red Wyandotte eggs were at about a 50% fertility rate...and she was right. 1 out of the 2 BLRW eggs were fertile.

We are currently on day 9 here, the egg turner is in the incubator and as of last night all 7 eggs have developing chicks inside of them! I can't even being to explain how I'm starting to "nest." LOL. Thank God my husband loves me! I have these eggs incubating right now and I'm already thinking about the possibility of them all being roosters again. So last night I told him that the place in town will have chicks right around the time mine hatch and that maybe I should get one or two of those as backups. LOL. I feel like if we ever move to the country this will be me...

(I do not own this picture...fyi)

Speaking of moving to the country...recently I've started my search for property. I don't know if Michael is truly on board with this...but we've always talked about having a "hobby farm" of sorts. Or as I would call it...a chicken hoarders paradise! :) If we do find a place...I think that Michael will take away my rights to all funds that way I can't buy any more chickens! LOL. :) So yea...we are semi-looking for a place. We did go and see a place that had 5 acres...and the pictures were great...but that house was sad and tired. There really wasn't anything redeeming about the house. If only we could pick our home up...and drop it in the middle of a 5 acre piece of property! :) Oh the dreams I have!

But back to my chickens. I've been itching to hatch more eggs ever since last fall when I hatched all my roosters! :) Now since we are back down to two hens...I need to build my flock back up to 3...yea...that's it...3 hens. :) I am also in the process of setting up the brooder in the garage. I'm super excited because this time I won't have to use a heat lamp! I purchased a Brinsea EcoGlow Brooder for Chicks or Ducklings! I've been eying these for a while, so when I finally had the chance to incubate eggs again I jumped on getting this. The great thing about these is that it recreates a more realistic start to life for the chicks. In a farm setting the chicks aren't in a temperature controlled environment for 6 weeks...they crawl under the hen when they get cold, and then go out and explore when they want. Also, there isn't the risk for a fire...since it uses radiant heat! I can't wait to use this, and I'll definitely let you all know how it works!

Well I should really get my butt in gear, I have some housework to do. We also have our nephew spending the weekend with us, so it's a bit more active around here right now. Currently he's slipping and sliding on the wood floors flying his stuffed puppy "Bubba" around while yelling and making all sorts of noises. LOL. Kids. :)

Hope everything in your world is going well! And when it gets closer to the hatch date I'll be putting up the Chicken Adventure page with a link to ChickTV! :)

Until next time...Keep Cooking!