Meet Cheeky!

Enjoying the shade under the apple trees

We finally got our laying hens and a rooster named Cheeky (he came with that name, in case you are wondering). Cheeky is quite handsome and is adored by his ladies.  They follow him around and he in turn keeps a vigilant eye on them. Having a rooster around has been very enjoyable, even if he crows at 4:30 in the morning.  We are very fortunate to have these chickens given to us.  They are an Ameraucana breed that lay a bluish colored egg.  We usually will find 1 or 2 eggs per day from the 3 hens. We let them free range when we are home, but need to keep them in a large fenced in pen to protect them from the various predators we have out here. We feed them an organic feed, which they barely eat due to their constant search for bugs, grass, seeds and our vegetable scraps. They currently are cooped up in the coop that was used to raise our meat chickens.  We are in the process of building a larger coop that will be attached to a garden shed.