Monday

The weekend can be summed up in just one word: Rainy.  

On the downside of that word would be the fact that little to nothing was accomplished outside; 

on the upside - the garden really needed the rain and I won't be watering it now for a few days,

 although I will now be knee deep in weeding it :-)  

But, today I awoke to a sunny Monday morning, and I smiled.  It's so easy to smile when the sun is shining, isn't it? 

The chickens were so happy to see the sunshine and Lucy (our sweet Buff Orphington) ran right out onto the grass, along with all the others.

They're all growing so quickly now, 7 weeks old today and their feathers colorful and beautiful
(Barred rock next to Welsummer)

This lady "Nicola" seems to have shades of red, brown, black

The verdict is still out on her being a "speckled sussex" - I'm not so sure anymore

It's amazing how much they've grown in just a few shorts weeks - Check out how they looked just 3 weeks ago Chickens at 4 weeks 

They are really looking like little hens now
In the photo below, you can see some of the many colors in our chicken flock-
(Golden buff in far back - we thought she was a NH Red, but she proved otherwise; 
Dominique - who we thought was a Barred Rock - but her comb came in and she was clearly not a Barred Rock; 
Lucy (Buff Orphington) on left side
and in Front - Golden Laced Wyandotte (1 of 2 we have)
I love the contrast of the golden feathers against black

In this photo you can just see the moveable fencing kit I made last week so that our chickens can move about the yard to graze on fresh grass daily (when it's not raining).  This is the first step to free-ranging them completely, which we'll do once they're fully grown.  In the meantime, this provides them with safety and keeps them in one area while I'm working outside in the garden each day.  We have also been introducing them to the baby chickens (now nearly 4 weeks old) each day in the moveable enclosure, soon the babies will be moving into the coop with the rest of the flock and we would like these big girls to be nice to the little girls.

The guineas are also growing up and have lost their neck feathers so they look like 

we colored their necks with purple magic markers, but I promise this is just a teen phase and no markers were involved :-)

The barn in well under construction now and we got the first 2 trusses up on the roof late last week, we hope to have it finished in the two weeks and then all the chickens will have 4 times more space than they do now.  After the rainy weekend, I'm so glad we decided to roof the entire coop and barn (even the open air enclosure areas) and put in the sky light panels.  Despite still being young, the chickens were able to get outside all weekend because the coop enclosure area is roofed.  During the downpours I saw them happily munching on grass, dusting and just enjoying the fresh air.  The roofs also make it very easy for me to tend the chickens in bad weather, once I'm in the barn door I can access both coop areas to feed, water & clean up.  Even though it is taking us a little longer to finish the barn and enclosure,  I can see now that the roofs are  going to keep everyone happy during rainy days and especially during our long snowy winters. 
I'll save the barn pictures for another post since this post is already lengthy enough. 

Finally on this sunny Monday, Blackberry flowers in bloom - 

We have loads of them - 

It's going to be a great crop this year - 

I better find more jam jars soon! 

Off to the garden, 

Napa cabbages, spinach, mustard greens & white radishes are ready for harvest;

 oregano, rosemary, lavender and mint ready to be picked, tied and dried, 

wild strawberries ready to be eaten while working :-)

See you back here later this week