Our Man is Good for Something . . .

Captain, our rooster, has been proving his worth.  The other day the hens were free ranging when they suddenly started scuttling towards the coop, and Captain began making the most awful noise I have heard him make so far - and believe me he makes a lot of noises!  It sounded kind of like this:  Bock, Bock, Bock, Bock, BABOCK!  When Madi and I investigated we found a . . . CAT . . . snooping around on the other side of the fence.  Captain stayed there until his girls were safely back in the coop before he made a run for it.  We were very impressed.  I have also seen him "call" them when he finds something yummy to eat.

An Egg A Day . . .

Our hens are now reliably laying at least one egg, sometimes two, per day.  This morning they were free-ranging in our yard, when suddenly Mate abandoned the others, and rushed back to the nesting box, where she began frantically perfecting the nest in preparation for her forthcoming arrival.  Captain proudly announced it to the world, and we promptly collected it.

We can even tell the difference between the hens' eggs.  Mate's have a thicker shell and are rounded.  Babe's are smaller and pointy at the top.  I think Mate's taste better, but Madison has a preference for Babe's eggs.  We can all agree though, that they are much better than store bought!  I conducted a taste test yesterday and the kids could easily distinguish between our eggs and the store-bought kind.  

Our chicks have all settled down and are doing well.  Misty is very sweet and flies to us whenever we open the coop.  Honey is still very shy, and our original chicks love to free-range nearby the coop.

A Few More Feathered Friends

We stopped by our local chicken store to find out if we could trade a suspected rooster for a hen, but found a few birds too cute to resist.  We will soon have a substantially larger flock . . . and we are welcome to trade our young cockerel in anytime :)

I would like to present . . . Honey and Misty (okay, so I felt sorry for Misty):

 and Neptune and Venus

We also bought a pair of quail - have you ever tasted quail's eggs?!  There is a quail in the background of the picture of Misty, but they are shy and tiny and difficult to photograph.

Even chicks have a pecking order!  Ours is slowly (and somewhat cruelly from a human point of view)  becoming established and it is obvious who the VIP's are.  The male duck is getting the worst of it from the young rooster so I keep them separated as much as possible.

Meanwhile our laying hens - yes they are BOTH laying now - and rooster, Captain, enjoy free-ranging in the afternoons.  Captain has the dogs firmly under control and they do not dare bother his hens :)

Tractor Trip

Marco and I went to order some compost from Green Systems - a local recycling company that collects garden residuals and pallets to recycle into compost and mulch.  Turns out unsifted compost is substantially cheaper than sifted so we went to inspect it.  We were told that the pile was on the far side of the lot and offered a ride . . . in the tractor bucket!  Marco was in heaven.

We ended up with six yards of compost and also ordered enough lumber to build three more 10' by 3' raised beds.

 My toenail got ripped off today (don't worry, no photo) so Marco made us a delicious lunch of tuna salad, crackers, sliced tomatoes and broccoli florets.  The kids nursed me pretty well but I don't think Madison will be our doctor - she paled and gagged at the sight of blood.  

The kids are back on target with their chore charts now that we are back in Nassau - dishes, check; laundry, check.

My Birthday!

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday.  It started off with a brunch of crepes made by the kids all by themselves with a selection of toppings including homemade chocolate spread, freshly squeezed lemon juice, brown sugar, agave nectar, honey, confectioners sugar and chocolate chips.

I opened a present from the children - a hammock!

We built an addition to our chicken coop for the chicks and created a new garden bed which we planted with a mahogany tree, a pigeon plum tree and banana trees.  The day ended with dinner with all of my favorite people at Seafront Sushi!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!