Friday, April 2, 2010

3 Chicks 1 Year!


Check out the girls all grown up over at The Occasional Chicken!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Occasional Chicken is where it's at!

Hello--if you're new to this site please start in the archive at Day 1 to see daily photos of the first two months of my chickens' lives.
[ navigation to the right --> ]

And if you're looking for current photos and updates on the 3cAd girls, come over to the new, less frequent blog:

See you over there!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

It's Over

That's it--two months--eight full weeks of chicken development.
And I'm done.

The chicks are pullets now, and they pretty much look the same every.

But wait, this isn't an absolute final type ending. More of a long-drawn-out-you-know-you-should-get-out-but-can't type ending.
Which is why I present
The Occasional Chicken
where you can see the coop right now.
And lots of other stuff in the future . . . just not every day.


I would like to suggest you subscribe to The Occasional Chicken so you'll know when there's something new . . . because it won't be everyday.
But there will be some different stuff, out side of the white box.

I'm also going to put together a 3cAd book (self publishing style) so I'll post that up here when it's done. And maybe some t-shirts . . . if anyone cares now without a daily Pie fix.

And perhaps most importantly for those chick lovers in the Portland area, we'll be having an Open Coop in a few weeks and I'm thinking of putting an open invitation up on the new blog . . . we'll see what type of response that generates (I have no clue).

OK, see y'all at The OC . . .




www.JoshuaJayElliott.com

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Day 56 -- Two Whole Months of Chicks!

Today marks eight full weeks of 3cAd -- photos of Noodie, Sallie and Pie every single day, no matter what.
I'm writing this out in the backyard, watching the girls free range. Their 'turbo boost' is pretty funny--when then augment theirs legs with a little wing power to run faster.
The coop and base are 99% complete--just need a couple latches for the egg door (the hardware store was out of the ones I wanted, and while they did have the even better solid brass ones, $40 for egg door latches is a little much in this economy).
Now for the run . . .



Noodle Soup: 1 lbs. 10 oz. serving
This one doesn't even need a caption . . .



Salad Sandwich: 1 lbs. 6 oz. serving
Look at all that tender white meat up front . . .



Pot Pie: 1 lbs. 6 0z serving.
Whoa, easy does it girl.
Actually, Pie is less of a pain in the butt as of late. Sallie and Noodie are a little closer with each other, but maybe Pie's just a bit more independent. When it comes to making sure she get's hers (food) there's no room for friends . . .


www.JoshuaJayElliott.com

Monday, May 25, 2009

Day 55

So it's getting kind of common to meet friends of friends, or especially co-workers of friends, who know the chicks from the blog. And everyone lo-o-o-ves Pot Pie.
I will say she's getting better. She'll run across the lawn when I come back out from inside. And she even let me hold her a big today.


Noodle Soup: Catch me!



Salad Sandwich--Seriously, that's a chicken, chickdom is over.



Pie is a big fan of Michael Phelps, this is her impression of him on the blocks. And she doesn't see what the big deal is about him relaxin' a bit at a party.




www.JoshuaJayElliott.com

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Day 54

They kept yesterday's new paper poop free for a whole day, which is pretty amazing. Actually two days worth of photos, but tomorrow's floor might not be as uniformly white. Oh well . . .




Noodle Soup stepped in Pie's mess on the way back to the cage, then decided to fly up on top of the cage and spread it around a bit.



Salad Sandwich keeps getting poop on her feathers. They probably all do, but you really see it on her. Makes her cuddliness a little bitter sweet.



Pot Pie, the source of Sallie's most recent discolorment. And the bane of my white-white studio.




www.JoshuaJayElliott.com

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Day 53

If you're thinking about getting chickens and building your own coop, I'd like to ask you to really think about it. Not the chicken part, the building your coop part. If you're into wood working and have all the tools, or you're retired or are really underemployed but still aren't broke, then go for it.
Coops aren't cheap--I didn't even pay for any of the wood for mine and it's still ending up above our first how-much-should-we-spend-on-the-coop guesstimation.
So just realize you're gonna spend money. And use a plan. I drew up a sketch of what I wanted and have spent a lot of time midst constructing figuring out what I was doing.
And most importantly I have someone who knew how to build stuff help me. And by "help me" I helped him build me a coop. And it's still been a ton of work.

Of course my coop is totally rad (The neighbors are mighty impressed-- "are those mitered joints? . . . very nice"), though not totally finished.
"How long could it take to stain a little coop?" --Everything is taking longer than expected.
But after Memorial Day we'll just have the last 2/3's of the run to complete.



Noodle Soup, who put her bosom down in some nasty poop in the back yard. I grabbed a wet paper towel and cleaned her off . . .




. . . and while I was kneeling down, holding Noodie to get the poo off, Salad Sandwich jumped up on my leg. She does not like to be left out of the chicken holding. She later jumped up onto my leg when I was squatting down to stain the bottom of the coop.



Pot Pie, who ate a little bit of wood glue I was applying, because she does not want to miss out on any food. I may have gotten some glue on her wing trying to push her way from the glue eating.
(that's not glue on her beak, just normal chick feed)



www.JoshuaJayElliott.com