5-day-old Baby Chicks!

Here they are, just 5 days old! Percy, Penelope, Priscilla, Prudence, Laverne & Shirley!



Read more about our chicks here.

more bunnies!

Tonight we noticed even *more* bunnies in the garden!!

The Baby Chicks are Here!!!

We picked up our 6 new baby chicks yesterday: step 1 of the 2009 Worcester County 4-H Poultry Challenge!

Here they are: Prudence, Percy, Penelope . . .

Laverne & Shirley!

This is a pic that Tori took of the Ameraucana chick, Priscilla.
They were just hatched on Wednesday at the Cackle Hatchery.

Look at those cute, fluffy little chickie butts!!

These are the breeds we got: 1 White Leghorn ('Percy'), 1 Ameraucana ('Priscilla'), 1 Black Sex Link ('Prudence'), 1 New Hampshire Red ('Penelope'), and 2 Gold Laced Wyandottes ('Laverne' & 'Shirley').

[The pics came out all reddish because of the heat lamp!]

Click here to see a video of our chicks at 5-days-old!

Tomatoes & Peppers ....

I planted some sweet peppers and 3 varieties of tomatoes (Valley Girl, Striped German, Sungold Cherry) yesterday. I bought some locally-grown organic plants from Sweetwilliam Farm in Upton, and put them into a raised bed with some marigolds I picked up on Friday at Lowe's, on yet another trip back for more organic garden soil!

I can't wait until next year when we will have lots of our own compost, made mostly with composted rabbit, goat and poultry poop!! Speaking of poultry poop, our BABY CHICKS arrived yesterday, too!

Officially Certified Wildlife Habitat!

We rec'd our certificate last week, but the yard sign has yet to arrive.
Our yard is now officially certified as a NWF Wildlife Habitat! And yesterday I discovered some *NEW* wildlife in my new shady perennial garden:

BABY BUNNIES!

We've seen wild rabbits in the backyard and on the hill often, but since planting in the rockwall garden last month, I've been observing one rabbit almost daily, hopping in and out of the garden; last evening I discovered why!
Since the rock wall is filled w/compost along with the hay and droppings from under our rabbit hutches, it must have "smelled like home" to her and she decided to make a burrow and have her babies in it!

How cool! We really do have a Backyard Wildlife Habitat now!

A few weeks ago I took this photo of a nest with just one egg in it and now it appears to have been abandoned. Last year there was a nest in a neighboring bush which had better results!