Busy Busy

I've been very busy but not with anything interesting to show you.  Here's a general overview of what I've been up to this past week.  

I've been trying to get back into a regular exercise routine.  I often wish I was more active, but now that it is getting colder and I'm not able to work on as many things outside, like gardening, I definitely need to find something active to do.  I've started using my crazy collection of exercise DVDs.  I just started Rockin Body.  It's actually pretty fun so far.

Even though it has been cold and I don't want to be outside, my husband and I have still needed to do some work with the chickens.  We are still working on figuring out what we should buy to keep the chicken's water from freezing.  We also believe that some of the chickens have gotten bumble foot, so we have been cleaning their feet and attempting to treat them.  Not fun.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner the holidays are officially here.  My husband and I actually already had one Thanksgiving meal with his family yesterday!  Although I hate the holidays because of all the stress and obligations that seem to come with it, I can not resist all the decorations and glitter that also come along.  Hopefully I will soon have some diy ornaments and other decorations to show you.

Until then... Happy Thanksgiving!  Eat some pie for me!!!

Winterized Coop

I took some more pictures of how we have winterized the coop.  Here is the light we installed to lengthen their days.

The ceiling.  I hope to paint it in the spring.

The window covers from the inside.  And you can see the thermometer sensor hanging on the wall.

We also insulated the floor, not pictured.

The pop door closed at night with all the chickens snuggling inside.

The door open.

So we are finally done!  Well aside from some painting in the spring, and I'm sure there will always be repairs and improvements, but for the most part it really is done!  We will no longer be starting from scratch!  So exciting.

Winterizing

My husband and I have been scrambling to get the coop winterized.  And it snowed last night!!!  I don't have any pictures really.  We put some insulation and a ceiling in the coop.  I hope to paint clouds on it in the spring.  We covered the windows with insulated box inserts, and we put vents in those so there would be proper ventilation.

Window inserts.

We have put a light in the coop that is set on a timer to extend the chicken's day time so they continue to lay eggs.  We have placed a thermometer that sends a digital reading to a display that is inside our home.  This way we can check on the temperature and humidity of the coop with out leaving the comfort of our home.  And we have also installed a coop door that is set on a timer to automatically open and close.  Opens in the morning so the chickens can roam around in the run during the day, and closes at night to help keep the heat inside the coop.  I finally got it to work yesterday evening, and haven't even had the chance to take pictures yet.

While we were working on the coop the chickens, of course, got out to walk around in the yard.  They have discovered that they can jump up into the raised beds and eat all the kale and lettuce they want!

I also made them a treat.  Oats, lentils, and sunflower seeds.

Yum.

Escape

We were cleaning the chicken coop and the chicks hatched a plan to escape!  One by one they all jumped down except for one.

Ginger took a good 20 minutes longer to figure out how to get out.

Finally she made her way to the ledge.  Then took a leap.

Success!

Then they all explored the yard.

I was entertained just watching them scratch around in the grass, looking for things to eat.

I'm sorry these videos are such bad quality.  I was just playing around while I was keeping an eye on the chickens.  Hopefully they work!

This one is some of the chickens scratching around for food.

This one I call Chicken Run.