We are still in the process of moving, which is to say that all of my mental (and other) energy is being consumed by the picking up of things and looking at the things and determining if the things are essential and putting them into boxes and wondering why we have so many non-essential things.
Here is a front view of our soon to be new-to-us home.
Here is the view from the front porch.
Look! No neighbors to grinch about hearing our children laughing on the trampoline after dinner or leaving their bicycles in the driveway! (I wish I were making that up!)
In the distance, past the van in that last picture you can barely make out what will be our future hen house. If anyone has advice on keeping chickens, LAY it on me. Ha! Get it? Lay? LAY? Laying hens?
And here are some bonus photos of cuteness. (Thanks to Aunt Ginny for these photos!)
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Oh your new home looks wonderful. Look forward to more photos. Love it!
But that last photo……oh my! That just takes the biscuit. Absolutely fabulous.
Love, Anne x
Congratulations on your new to you home and BEAUTIFUL family! My heart skipped a beat when we saw the van. We just graduated (through adoption of our 5th child) to being a family of 7 and I’m BEGGING my husband for a Sprinter Van!
Congratulations Smockity Family! Your new house is beautiful!
Your home is the same one I keep picturing in MY dream. Have fun!
It looks wonderful!!! We can’t wait to come see it and YALL! Happy fall!
the house look gorgeous, but the family is far better looking
WE have laying hens, I’m not sure where you live and what are the weather conditions, but I love in the maritime in Canada, so we have long cold snowy winters and cool spring and fall and a short sometime warm summer. So here are my tips (you may not need the winter stuff is there is no snow and cold night)
1. if you buy chicks it will be like 20 weeks before they start laying and maybe 6 months before they are laying at their full capacity
2. certain breed lay more then others, but in average 1 eggs per day is the norm.
3. if you have grass, they will eat grass, worm, bugs that will help with cost of food (they will also eat table scraps), for food a laying hens mix will make sure that the shells of the eggs are strong. If eggs shells are too soft hens will tend to eat their own eggs and that is a very hard habit to change. But if you catch them before they do give then a high calcium food to increase to thickness of the shells. (we use dry eggs shells that we powder in the blender and mix it with their food)
4. chicken fight, make sure they have plenty of room to eat and move around, sometime they will pick on one hen and get so bad that they can kill it, their is a product liquid drop to prevent cannibalism if that happen.
5. if chicken are let loose in a un fenced area then will return to the hen house at night, but if their is predator you might need a fence.
6. hens lay their eggs at the same time each day, they like laying hens box (somewhere private)
7. light if day light are getting less and you see decreasing of eggs/day a light in the hens house will helps.
8. for very cold night a heat lamp may help
Ok this is a long comment if any question send me a email LOL
Have a great day
Renee
Welcome to your new home! I pray that the wide open spaces will bring more joy to your days…were children can run and play {and leave bicycles in the driveway and laugh gleefully as they jump on the trampoline}!
Because of Him ~
Love it! Okay, I’m jealous. Would so like to have chickens, but our neighborhood only allows horses and calves. Apparently, we discriminate against chickens, goats, and pigs:(
Ah, rude neighbors– no wonder you didn’t like the city. Good reminder how blessed we are.
We had chickens. My advice is to buy twice as many as you actually want. They die for no apparent reason, or sometimes because of a very apparent hawk, which will be a quick lesson for your children in brutal violence. (I wish I was making that up!) lol
Congrats on all your beautiful trees!! Mature trees are the greatest! (Reminds me– make sure when you have trees trimmed that the trimmer men know your kids like to climb the trees. Learned that the hard way too. {eyeroll})
Great photo of your kids
I am so happy for your move, I am so looking forward to that for us! Regarding chickens……. there is a whole article – *Happy Hens: choosing & keeping backyard chickens* in the June/July 2010 edition of Organic Gardening. If you cannot find it online I would be happy to mail you my copy!
Love the trees. It is so good to look out of the window and watch the changes of the seasons in trees.
We’ve often thought about chickens but foxes are a real problem in urban England.
Hope the move goes smoothly!
Love your house! And I know about the grumpy neighbors…
About chickens: we had 23 layers and 1 rooster (the rooster was supposed to be a hen, but he was not).
~ We had what is called a “chicken tractor” (you can google that easily) and we moved it each day. There are many different ideas and ways of doing this. The eggs and chickens will be much healthier (and you’ll need less feed) if they get grass and/or bugs each day. Having your chickens be “free range” really is the best, if this is possible. And living in southern TX, this shouldn’t be a problem year round.
~ If you don’t want your chickens in a house, and there are no predators to worry about, chickens will return to the place where they roost come sun down. Just leave the door open and they will come in on their own.
~ Chickens will usually lay at the same time each day, in the same nest. You’ll find that one or two nests will be “the favorite” for most of them.
~ If your chickens are in a house and you find that they are becoming aggressive, most likely they are needing more space. To stop such behavior, it works best to do two things: separate the one that is being attracted (for once the other chickens get a taste for blood, they will peck the injured one to death. Even if the chicken got hurt from some other source, it will be killed if left alone.) and try to find out the aggressive one. If you watch them long enough, you’ll be able to pick them out. Also, if your chickens are in an enclosed house, putting a red light in there will cause them not to see the blood and it will stop the “thirst” for blood.
~ Chickens need calcium in their diet. If they are “ranging” chickens, they will get most of their needed calcium from the bugs and grass that they eat. If they are not, or you see that their egg shells are soft and/or they are eating their eggs (which is a really hard things to get them to stop doing!), giving them crushed oyster shells work. Keep a small dish (like a pie plate size) full. This can be found at any feed store.
~ In the nesting boxes, make sure there is plenty of hay for the eggs to be laid in. If there is not, the eggs can break and that starts them eating the eggs. If there is enough “softness” for the eggs to land in, you have a better chance of them not getting eaten.
~ There is a definite peaking order with chickens. Try not to feel bad for the lower ones and don’t hate the higher one(s).
~ Chickens like the same things. Try not to change your feed (outside of getting the feed for young ones, then once they start laying, getting the feed for layers).
~ If you get the right chicken for your climate, they will do just fine outside all year. We live in northern WI (1 hour south of the Canadian border) and our chickens survived just fine throughout the winter. Putting your chicks outside at 8 – 10 weeks old will be just fine. Only don’t let them go free at this point. This gets them used to the sun coming up, going down, temp. changes, weather, etc. Wait until they are bigger, about 2 months old, before you let them be free range (if you will do this at all).
Hope this helps!
This is so excitiing! I am happy for you – sounds like a dream come true, really.
I have no chicken advice…but the kids are adorable.
This website has tons of information on chickens. It also has A LOT of pics of coops in different sizes and styles.
http://www.backyardchickens.com
ps… I am not affiliated with the above site at all. Just appreciate the information they offer
I am so happy for you guys! Like I said before, trees and shade in Texas is more precious than gold!! I’m glad to see you picked this house! It fits you guys! May God pour His blessings out upon you all in this beautiful new home! Also, I wanted to recommend “The Encyclopedia of Country Living”. It has been a tremendous resource as I look forward to country living myself! I love the writer’s style and treaure of info in this book! It’s worth the 15.00 I paid at Sam’s Club! Happy Moving, Smockity Family!!!
Dear Connie. Wonderful place. Now you just need to make a whole new series of how you live
The pictures are so cute of your family!!. Love the new house. I have always wanted a big family. We only have two kids and the hubs did not want any more which I am fine with. My daughter had a birth defect so I do not know if it would be a good choice to have more.
my middle son was born with birth defects that took his life at the age of 3 1/2 months, I have had a daughter before and a son after, both healthy, I no longer have kids I am from a family of 11. I would love to have a large family.
Due to my son’s birthdefects I had tubes tied. My son unfortunately died. Yes you can have children that are healthy after, but the chances are higher that you won’t.
I wish you luck. New to this frugal life.
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