My Heart's on Fire for Elvira

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I decided not to put the chicken wire at the bottom of the coop because I'm building a new enclosure this weekend and it seemed like a waste of effort to put the wire along the chain link and then put wire along our cattle grade fence. So I skipped the chain link. I've seen the chicks pop out of the chain link, but they pop right back in when mom calls them. Soon they'll be too big to get though it and then when that time comes they'll be in the new enclosure so it won't be an issue. They stay right with her though. They forget how to use the ramp and try to jump into the house instead of just walking up the ramp, so the cheep and peep and go nuts until she walks onto the ramp and tells them how to do it. Its hilarious. I'll try to get a video of them! They follow her around though, she digs stuff up and they go into where she has dug and they eat whatever they find. I scatter food on the ground for them so they get some food too while they're foraging. I never realized how maternal chickens are but they really are and my hen has proved to be a good mother! I'm so glad.
Its raining here and cold today, but I put a tarp over the chicken coop so its stayed dry in there. She has those chicks out with her though, they just get under her if they get too cold. Its so funny to see. They're just little lively babies and its so good that they're so healthy.

Oh okay, so I'm trying to talk my husband into buying this car when we get to PA in April. Its a 1967 Chevy Impala. Its beautiful, I'm totally in love with this car! I want it so bad! Google it if you don't know what it is!

Ellie seems to like her cabinet. I've been feeding her in there and I put her greens in there, so she knows that its a good place. Her potty habits seem to have improved! haha. Hopefully they'll continue to get better.
When we go to PA in April, I'm going to leave her cabinet door open but put an x-pen up so she can have "her" half of the kitchen, but not get into the other half. I don't want her to manage to get into my cabinets while I'm gone and get into trouble because no one is watching her. Plus, if she decided to go potty crazy, she can just do it on that side of the kitchen and not the whole kitchen. It will still be a large area and she'll be happy in there with access to her cabinet. I've thought it through pretty well and it makes sense to me! haha.

I wanted to also say that she isn't eating as much now! I put a whole cup of food in her bowl yesterday, just so I didn't have to fill it multiple times. She barely ate any of it. I wonder if its because I moved her food bowl into her cabinet or if I fed her more greens yesterday? She also really loves this new oat hay. So I was wondering if maybe she was filling up on the oats of the hay instead of her pellets? Its strange. But oh well. I'm still going to switch her sherwood, once she eats some more of it, so it won't take me like a year to use all the sherwood up. She still has another few cups left to get it to a good transition level. lmao.

I'll take some pictures of her later and post them later. Also I think my son is going to stay with my dad tomorrow afternoon and then tomorrow night, so I'll be able to get a bunch of stuff done; like the chicken coop and the shelves in Ellie's cage. YAY for grandparents. My dad is going to take my son to the motorcycle show in Charlotte, so AJ should have a blast. He's walking around in circles right now, dragging around my robe string, so he likes just about anything! haha.
 
OMG i love those little chicks!! Now i want chickens. Nick is determined to buy a farm and us be able to be self reliant. He wants to raise cows for meat and chickens for eggs and plant our own veggies and milk cows...the whole 9 yards. I think he's crazy but he swears we are going to go through another Great Depression and not have grocery stores. I swear hes crazy. But I want chickens just so I can see the babies hahaha And my goodness has Ellie grown!!! She is gorgeous and I love her little cabinet cage! Hmm, maybe I need to talk nick into building one hahaha
 
Fresh eggs are definitely the way to go! They're so much better. I'm not sure that I could kill one of my pets to eat, but if I bought birds specifically for eating I think I could do it. I know that sounds harsh, but I am also trying to be more self reliant. I'm planting a huge garden this year and hopefully I won't have to buy anything from the grocery store other than meat. I hope that I get a good amount of hens and they'll start producing a lot of eggs! I totally get wanting to be self reliant, it makes perfect sense in my mind. When the zombies come, I want to be super prepared! I think I should start hoarding toilet paper, because if the end of the world happens that junk is going to be like gold! lmao. *says the person who has been out of tp for about a week and using paper towels.* I keep forgetting. LOL

I just can't wait for summer time! I can't stand this cold wet crap. This is terrible.
 
LMAO! My Nana hoards TP! HAHAHAHAHA!
Ouch you're using paper towels? Painful!

Okay, I saw the chevy impala....it looks....like the car from ummmm....ahh yes Training Day! Is that what he drove? hmmm. Oh and on "the other guys" the Dwayne johnson cop and the other cop, they had one of those right? So basically... you will look like a badass cop hahaha! YAY! with AJ in the backseat! OH YAY HOW COOL! xD

I am so glad Ellie is liking her cabinet! Just keep putting enjoyable things in there and she will associate it with HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY things!

LOL! I laughed so hard when you said that the chicks forget how to use the ramps hahaaha! Poor little things!
 
I had to laugh at you using kitchen roll.. I remember when we were kids and ran out of TP we had to use newspaper...that was ouch lol. And at school we used to have TP which was like really hard...things have improved since then thank goodness.

The Chevy Impala, isn´t that the car they have in the Supernatural series...really weird as it´s on the telly this morning and they´re driving it...great car but I love those old american classics, they are so classy. But I like Katie´s idea better of you being a bad ass cop haha.
 
I like her cabinet !! Nice handy work!
 
Lol, I'm at church (hasnt started yet lol no worries im not being bad during service!) and they have "Muscle Car Sunday" and on the TV they are showing a car and yours is on there!!!! Lol!
 
Aww YES! I love that car! And yes Chris, its the one from Supernatural. The one I want though, is a blue color. And amazing. Its my dream car.

So its pretty late and I don't have pictures to upload, but I'll do that tomorrow. I just wanted to stop by and share my weekend. We did nothing! Except I broke a window. lmao. It was really early in the morning Saturday morning and I had just come in from feeding the chickens and doing a chick head count. I was trying to close the back door and take my boots off at the same time, so I was pressing pretty hard on the door. I thought that I was on the actual wood, UNTIL my hand went through the window! haha. It was great. Just went right through! I cut my hand and wrist, like two little scratches. My husband was coming in the front door as this happened and I was like "uhhhh...baby? I just stuck my hand through the window?" He was like "what? you did what with the window" and he walks into the kitchen; "what happened? you stuck your hand through the window! OMG!" Then I started laughing, because it was hilarious. So this man is a genius, he was like "well, we need to cover it, its cold out there! Oh I know, I'll get this box." As he holds a beer box up to it, I was like "NO! We aren't THOSE people! No beer box!" So we grabbed a pizza box and cut it to size and he scotch taped it to the door. Yes, scotch tape; like for office supplies. lmao.
We got the new glass today and my mom came over before we fixed it, we were walking out the door and she was all "wtf happened to your door? Is that glass broken? Was it a bird?" I stopped what I was doing and scratched my head and was like "...a bird ma? A BIRD?! Did you really just ask me if a bird broke through my window in the door? No! I stuck my hand through it trying to multitask at 7am without any coffee. It was an accident." She was like, "well, a bird could have done it..." then wanders into the back yard. I just wanted to punch myself in the face.

One thing that I wanted to share a few days ago, but didn't was about my husband. Sometimes he just baffles me. You know how when you get up in the morning, you always have to pee? Well either Thursday or Friday morning we wake up and he was like "I have to pee SO bad" I was like "oh me too!" This man jumps out of bed, throws his side of the covers onto me and presses me into the bed with both hands, takes off running down the stairs like a kid(giggling the whole way, mind you) and yells "HA! I GOT THE BATHROOM BEFORE YOU!" I was in total shock! I didn't even make moves to get out of bed, it wasn't a race(only a race with himself) and he assaulted me to get out of bed before me! I went downstairs and I was like...really? wtf just happened? He's a nut.

And now onto Ellie. This small animal has decided that she wants to dig at my floor...constantly. She is making me insane. I know its hormones but come on! I've tried to block her from this one spot, but she can weasel her little body back there and dig, now its just muffled. Its next to the fridge between the fridge and the wash basket. She just digs and digs and digs! AHHHHH! I won't even have to cut her nails the way this is going, she's going to grind them down to nothing if she keeps at it like this!
BUT she likes her cage! She's getting used to it, she stretches out in her box and because its small only her back feets are in the box and the rest of her is out of the box. Its quite funny, maybe I'll be able to get a picture. She isn't digging at the cage anymore, she seems pretty content in there. Didn't put the levels in like I wanted because it rained all day Saturday and we didn't do much. Then today, well...I'm not really sure what happened today. We slept in till 10 and threw the whole day off and I took a nap and the rest of the day was shot. Glad the house was clean!:)

Pictures to come tomorrow! And the chicks are doing well, they'll be a week old tomorrow! Still 12 and still adorable. Maybe I'll get some good pictures in the morning when I feed them and I'll be able to post some good pictures. They stay out of the house now, the hen keeps them out. Even when it was freezing cold and raining Saturday she had them out of the house. It stays dry in their run, but still it was pretty cold. So she spent a lot of the day sitting on 12 chicks! I don't know how she does it. :)
 
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Hahah morgan your window story reminds me of when i was a kid. My dad got drunk and forgot his key so he just decided to punch a hole at 3 am... Next morning everyone woke up and was like OMG wtf happened did someone break in?!? And yes, we also had it taped up with cardboard for a while :p

Rabbits can drive you insane with hormones. Try like an animal repellent spray in that spot that she's going into... It's called shoo or something.
 
I'm glad you didn't cut your hand any worse! Yikes!!

Little Ellie sounds like the crazy teenager she is :) what a character.

Glad the chicks are doing well. I'll watch for more pics!
 
Morgan, you´re such a tonic on a lousy Monday and you have brightened my day once again....I laughed at the window..not the same but I was cleaning one of my really nice wine glasses the other week and I got some kitchen roll to dry it and it came apart in my hand, last one I had of the set.

And your husband racing you (well himself) to the bathroom....that has to be a man thing yet again lol.

And Ellie, well she´s a sweet sixteen year old now and showing it. She´ll soon be in Australia the ways she´s digging....or out with the chicks. Looks as though they are doing so well.

Yes, please, more photos of everything.....sounds like you´re having a great time over there lmao.
 
Here are some pictures of Ellie in her cage. I was letting her out for her to be free, and I took some pictures of her as she was getting ready to get out.
I got a pine cone from her from the yard, she seems to like it. She chews it and throws it around. Its a little pointy though, so I worry a little, but I think she'll nibble the points off.
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I'll go out to take some pictures of the chicks later, its cold and dreary again today! I'm so over this terrible weather, I need constant sunshine! I'll also take some more pictures of Ellie out of her cage, maybe some action shots!


On a side note, I starting watching this show called Bob's Burgers. It comes of Fox normally, but I don't watch regular tv so I've only heard about it. Its hilarious! Its so stupid but its so funny! I've been laughing so hard at it because its so dumb.
 
She is so adorable and her coat is so shiny. I´m sure she´ll be Ok with the pinecone and the elephant is so cute. She´s looking really settled in her new home.
 
I don't know how you can capture action shots. I try and try to catch Roo doing a binky, and the best I've managed to capture is a really crappy picture of her butt. By the time my camera snaps the picture, she's already zipped off or landed her binky.

A few of my buns really love pine cones. Pip loves to roll and toss it around her cage. She'll even try and flip it over her back, hahaha. I think she just likes the loud clanking sound it makes when she does it. Zeus likes to toss his in the litter box, for some strange reason. Then a few of them like to chew theirs. You may want to try and find her one that is more dried out and opened up. It makes it easier for them to chew on and toss around. You just don't want to give her the ones that are still green at all and sappy. The more dried out and opened up they are, the better. If you have any willow trees nearby, you can make chew rings from the soft branches. They're super easy to make, then I'll leave them to dry for about a month, but they can also eat them fresh. Even Zeus who won't chew on chew sticks, loves willow rings.

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I looked and looked for open pine cones, but I think its too early in the year for them to be open; I think they open in the spring and summer to let the seeds out. I'll be able to get better ones then. I only have like 3 pine trees and they're all really old and huge and I don't think they make as many pine cones any more or the squirrels just take them. The rest of my trees are black walnuts and thats it. It kind of sucks because every year my whole yard is covered in these huge walnuts. They're such a mess to husk and they're so irritating especially when the whole 1.5 acres we have fenced is nothing but walnut trees. Its a lot of walnuts. How many times can I say walnuts in one paragraph? haha. Obviously a lot!

I don't have a willow tree! But I'm thinking about getting one. I really love them and we have a pond so it would get a ton of water which it would love. I think I would have to cut down a few walnut trees to make room for it, but thats just fine by me. Plus I really love willows! They're so pretty.

My mom got that elephant for my son but he didn't play with it and the dog chewed his foot open, so I put it in the kitchen in my 'need to sew because the **** dog' pile and forgot about him. Then I tried to give it to Foo, she didn't want it; then I got Ellie and she looked so lonely in her cage so I gave it to her and now she loves it. She grooms it and it has to be right near her little box house or she'll pull it to her to make sure its close.
I actually got a good picture of her grooming it that I'm going to post in just a minute.

Jenny, I can't really get action shots either. Its hard, they're so fast! My camera also has the slowest shutter time ever. But sometimes I can get a good one, today I was not so lucky. But I did get a few of her periscoping for some craisins. They're her weakness.

Pictures in a minute! :D
 
I love willows too. They're such a nice tree(and handy to have around for bunnies :) ). I think one would be perfect for your pond! What you do is when you are out driving around, if you see a willow tree somewhere, then just trim a few branches off of it, but maybe not if it's in someone else's yard, haha. Old parks and cemetaries will sometimes have them. Luckily I've got two near a diversion pond just outside our housing area, so I've got a good supply for my rabbits chewing needs.

Even dried out pine cones will close up when they get wet. I know this for sure after Zeus dunked several of his in his water dish. You could probably just bring in a bunch from outside and set them near your wood stove(you have one right?), and I'll bet they dry out pretty fast.

And just another bit of info in case you ever decide to take Ellie outside to play. I'm pretty sure black walnut is poisonous to rabbits, so it's something you'll want to keep her away from. I've got black locust out where I let my rabbits play in the summer. I know the seed pods are poisonous, so I'm always watching my rabbits to make sure they aren't trying to nibble on them, and of course they try to.

Ellie is so cute and so big! How much does she weigh now? I just love the one of her grooming her stuffie :) I think I took a hundred pictures just trying to capture an action shot of Roo binkying. That's when I finally caught her butt, haha. Nice huh!

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I didn't know Roo's butt looked like that! How cute! haha. I love it.

The way our yard it, the trees are all along the edge and around the fence line so there aren't any trees in the middle. We cut a few down that are IN the yard too, so if I put her directly in the center of the yard, she probably wouldn't be able to get to anything walnut. Yes, walnut trees are pretty poisonous to everything, chickens and other plants included. Sometimes I have a hard time with grasses near the trees and I've lucky that my chickens have never showed an interest in the walnuts themselves. The squirrels seem to do just fine though!

See, I just don't think she's that big, maybe because I see her all the time, she just seems so small! She's always going to be small rabbit, but its weird she just seems itty bitty to me. She weighs probably between 2 and 3 lbs. I need to get a scale for my chickens, so when I get one I'll weigh her. I don't think it would do much good to weigh her on our bathroom scale since its from the 50's and it can barely weigh us. Its like 10 lbs off in either direction on any given day. haha. Its bad, I don't ever know how much I weigh, it could be a good day and I'm like "YAY! I lost 10 lbs!" or its a bad day when I'm like "OMG! I gained 10 lbs!" *throws self off cliff*

Hahaha. I think that sometimes there is something wrong in my brain that makes me think the way that I do. Like, there are some things that aren't firing at full capacity in there. hahaha. I'm glad it brings you guys enjoyment though! And no, I'm not special, I actually test really well and high! haha.

OHHHHH! I got accepted into the poultry workshop to become a NPIP tester! YAY! I'm so excited to go!
 
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