Henny Penny's House, Est. Jan. 2012

The roofing crew came and finished putting the tin on the roof. We recycled the old roofing from the shop for the chicken coop. The tin was removed from the shop as the wind had damaged it in several places. But, the shop is much larger than the coop and we had undamaged lengths enough to cover the coop.

This is the final product. In the spring it will get the finishing touches of caulking, paint, window screens, a chicken door at the back and landscaping. We will be adding a fenced and covered run behind it, along the goat pasture fence. The additional space will be necessary as Keeli wants more hens that lay clean (AKA white) eggs and Tatum wants to try raising turkeys. 

 Inside it is warm and toasty, compared the to the rough living the chickens have had the past few months. They have several roosting options and these vintage tin nesting boxes. I found them on the curb as leftovers waiting for the second-hand store to pick up after a local tag sale.

 The girls - and Bob the Rooster - can also access the window for a view of the great outdoors, or at least a view of the goats wandering around the pasture.

Trouble with William

Rikard has been pestering us for about two years about wanting to switch his goat business from focusing on raising meat goats to raising fiber goats. Over the summer he met a woman who rescued some pygora goats and arranged to get these two - Trouble and William - at no cost. Maybe he has a future in business!

My friend Francine and I made a road trip over the weekend to bring these guys home. Currently our herd is seperated and these guys are settling in with the babies born last spring quite nicely.

William appears to be a standard angora. He is the biggest goat in our herd other than the billy. He is nearly 2 years old and was recently castrated so hopefully he and his horns stop growing.

He has 6-8 weeks of growth right now and won't be sheered again until early spring. His wool is a nice creamy white color and hangs in lovely ringlet curls.

Meet Trouble. Trouble and William are brothers, but not twins. LOL. Trouble is about the same size as our 2-year-old withers. He has a sweet little face and is a very gentle little guy.

His wool is straigher than a standard angora and grows straight out from his skin. He is like a big black/grey puff ball. He also has about 6-8 weeks of growth, but he doesn't produce as much length as quickly as William.

And, over at the hen house, we welcomed Lucy and Ethel. I found these girls listed on craigslist. They are urban chicks who lived a life of luxury sharing a big house and yard for the past three years. Their lease was up! They are slowly but surely adjusting to country life with a big family on Green Bluff.

Bob vs. Stubby

There is no love lost between these two competitors. When they enter the cage (aka barnyard) IT - IS - ON! Stubby gets her coyote face on, snaps her jaws, yips and darts at Bob. Bob doesn't even flinch. He lets Stubby take a couple of stabs and then he charges her. She takes off running, only to come back for Round 2, and Round 3 and Round 4. If we let them, it would go on from sun up to sun down.

Cheap peeps!

I feel like Count von Count from Sesame Street every couple of hours when I check on these little balls of fluff, making sure all eight are still there. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...wait, didn't I already count you? 1, 2, 3...hold still!

These little chicks are just about a week old and all should be pullets or laying hens. The only possible rooster is this little gold and black one giving us "the eye" in the photo above. It is a Buttercup. The bin was filled with straight run chicks so we took a chance. Either way, the adult Buttercup is a beautiful bird.

This little ball of light yellow fluff is a very friendly, laid back chick. We're calling her Glinda. She will let anyone pet her or pick her up. In all my years of raising chickens, I've never seen one that likes to be this close to people. She is one of three Araucana/Americana chicks in the flock. One of the others is below and the third is currently covered in dark brown feather fluff.

The flock also includes two Barred Rocks and two Rhode Island Reds. We try to take them out in the afternoon sun for a little stroll through the yard.

Sir Loin

He has been dubbed 'Sir Loin of Holestine" and he rules our little pasture.This happy guy is our beef steer. He is well fed, pampered and mostly just loves to keep you alert with his little horns. The kids have kept their distance from the pasture since he's moved in. They are used to their goats, but this guy is quite a bit more intimidating.

The goats like to pester him at feeding time because his feed is a bit richer than what they typically get. He gently nudges them away from his feed with his horns, but they aren't easily deterred when there is food involved.

Obviously he won't be staying to live out his years as a pet, but he is entertaining and has proven to be friendly and rambunctious