Raising Pet Chickens ~ Phoenix Backyard Bliss

Those of you who know me best, know I love my pet chickens.

Chicken chow is cheap. They fertilize my grass and they eat every last bug they can find (There's no better scorpion predator). I love callin', "Here chick chick chick," in my backyard and seeing them come running. I love the fresh eggs they lay for me each day and I love how their care teaches my children responsibility and respect.

*our chicks at 1 week old


*Yes, even our hamster got in on the photo action this day.



In my opinion, pet chickens make great pets.


*Our chicks at 3 weeks old.

Since I did quite a bit of research on how to raise my hens in a blazing hot sub-urban Phoenix neighborhood, I thought I'd pass along what I've learned so others can partake in the reward of raising backyard chickens.

I have two hens. They each lay one egg a day, so I get 14 eggs a week from these girls! Both of my hens started laying eggs around 20 weeks of age. The eggs were small at first, but after a few short weeks the eggs became big and beautiful. My hens lay in the morning. You could probably set your watch to the time they lay their eggs.

My Chickens:

Oreoelle

1 Barred Rock Hen- Said to be the most heat tolerant bird. This type of chicken is an excellent choice for the hot climate of the southwest.

AND

Rissy: Short for Rhode Island Steve, named by my 5yr old son ;-)

1 Rhodes Island Red Hen - Also very weather tolerant and another great choice for any extreme climate.

We raised the chicks as hatchlings bought from the feed store.  I kept them in the laundry room, in a cardboard box (my make-shift brooding box) with a heat light until they were 3 weeks old. Here is a link with information to make your own brooding box. Then we moved them to the coop. I kept a heat light at night time in the nesting area of our coop until the temperatures were above 70s at night.

Oreoelle & Rissy at 22 weeks:





My eggs:

Both of my chickens lay brown eggs. They are rich and delicious and my bake goods have never tasted so fabulous. I found the cute tractor-green ceramic egg holder at Anthropologie. They had them in at least a half a dozen fun colors!

My Chicken Coop:

I purchased this coop from hayneedles.com

*Regardless of the manufactures description, it is my humble opinion that this coop is not big enough for more than two regular sized chickens. If you plan to keep your chickens locked up all of the time and not let them out during the day, then I would look into a larger style coop.



*Nothin' sexier than in investment baker building a chicken coop for his hick wife. Grin.


*The girls checking out their new home.

*This coop was easy to assemble. We had it put together and ready to roll in under 30 min!


**Important Tip** We put our chicken coop on pavers. This prevents predators from digging underneath and makes it easy to hose out each day (no mud!)

My Poultry Feeder:

This hangable feeder holds 11 pounds of laying crumble.

My Chicken Chow:

I buy Kelly's brand laying crumble in a 25lbs bag from the feed store. The feed is inexpensive and last me a couple of months.

My Poultry Water Container:

This water bowl holds one gallon of water. I have to fill it about once a week.

My Routine:

1. Let chickens out of coop to "free-range" in my backyard during the day.
2. Hose out coop.
3. Check food and water supple.
4. Collect eggs.
5. Lock the chickens back in their coop at sunset.

I live close enough to Camelback Mountain that it is necessary to lock my chickens up at night to protect them from predators, such as coyotes.

I'd love to invest in a bigger coop one day. So in case anyone is interested, here is my dream coop featured in Country Living Magazine:


My Sister lives on a farm in Washington state. Her husband has built what we refer to as The Chicken Cathedral, complete with skylight ceiling!

My sister raises French Maran chickens.






They lay lovely dark chocolate colored eggs.




I hope this post has inspired you to look into raising your own backyard chickens. Chickens are a rewarding pet for adults and children alike. I live smack-dab in the middle of one of the largest cities in America., but when I look out into my backyard, I feel like I'm back on the farm.

Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comments. I love to talk about my chickens. Grin.
Here's a video of me calling the girls ;-)

Enjoy,

~The Lemonista


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Halloween Mantle ~ Spooky Apothecary Mason Jars & Vintage Bottles

Perhaps it's all the Downton Abbey I've been watching, but lately I'm hooked on vintage pretty things. With that inspiration in mind, I started working on this years Halloween mantle decoration.

I love old bottles and jars with unique colors and shapes. I'm always trying to think of new ways to incorporated them in my crafts and decor.

I stumbled across a set of $6 handmade spooky apothecary labels on etsy and I realized what a cute addition they would be to my pretty vintage jars and bottles. 

To add some realistic flair, I filled the jars with the follow:

Bat Droppings: Chocolate covered raisins

Toad Oil: Olive oil

Vampire Blood: Red wine

Love Potion #9: Water tinted with food coloring and a dried rose hot glued to the neck of the bottle. 

Witches Brew: Water tinted with food coloring

The bat droppings have been quite a hit around here, but I must say that mommy might prefer the vampire blood :-)

I added an antique reproduction cast iron scale, found at Home Goods, one of my velvet pumpkins, and a couple of white pumpkins from the grocery store. Voilà--A spooky, yet vintage and pretty mantle. 

The center of my display is a black & white picture of our family in an antique frame, but you could substitute any vintage looking mirror with an ornate frame and get the same look.

View of mantle from my kitchen.
Love.

Enjoy,

~The Lemonista

This project is linked to Feathered Nest Friday

October Berries ~ A Fantastic Country Raspberry Pie

*This is my actual pie--Isn't she purdy :-)
With fall underway, I find myself missing the fresh berries of summer. There is one berry, however, that is harvested into October and continues to be readily and deliciously available at the grocery store-- The Raspberry.

My mom and I both enjoy a gem of a magazine titled COUNTRY. Not to be confused with COUNTRY LIVING and other decorator magazines, COUNTRY magazine is simply an organic look at true country living. Real people on real farms send in their stories, photography and recipes and I study each page like a kid reading a holiday toy catalog!

I enjoyed some farm fresh raspberries on my parents farm in August. I also enjoyed one of the best raspberries pies I've ever tasted.  I came across this Very Raspberry Pie recipe in a summer issue of COUNTRY, and the moment I saw it, I knew this pie was going to be special. Kathy Jones of West Winfield, New York submitted her Very Raspberry Pie recipe made from the raspberries she picks along a 130-year-old train track. The flavors in this easy pie are pure, fresh and delicious.

Quite frankly, this one knocked my socks off! Hope you love it to.

Very Raspberry Pie
by Kathy Jones

Raspberry Topping:
6 cups fresh raspberries, divided
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Cream Filling:
1 pkg. (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup whipped topping
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 graham cracker crust (9 in.) *I use the recipe on the graham cracker box.

1. Mash about 2 cups raspberries to measure 1 cup; place in a small saucepan. Add the sugar, cornstarch and water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Strain to remove berry seeds if desired. (I skipped this step). Cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

2. For the filling, beat the cream cheese, whipped topping and confectioners' sugar in a small bowl. Spread in bottom of crust.

3. Top with remaining raspberries. Pour cooled raspberry sauce over top. Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.

4.  Store in the refrigerator. Garnish with fresh mint if desired.


~The Lemonista

Shades of Grey ~ French Farmhouse Chalkboard Tutorial

Don'tcha just love chalkboards? There's something so vintage and nostalgic about them. Chalkboards have lovely shades of grey that fit the rustic elegant farmhouse style popping up in so many magazines and catalogs. You can reinvent your chalkboard design daily, so no worries getting tired of the look. And with the new chalkboard paints on the market, they're an inexpensive way to decorate just about any wall. . So if you have wall space that you'd like to give that vintage feel for cheap, listen up, cuz I've got the project for you!

This chalkboard is made from a slab hollow closet door bought at the Home Depot for $28.  I had a large wall to fill so I bought the largest closet door available. It measures 80" x 36". Like I said--BIG.
Since I used a slab door, there were no pre-drilled holes to worry about, so this door was purchased prepped and ready to paint! Yay! Here are the paints I used:


The paints cost $10 each. I used three coats of magnetic paint and then two coats of chalkboard paint.
I found the magnetic paint difficult to work with, and honestly, I wouldn't bother with it again. The chalkboard paint, however, went on like a dream!


Working in my art studio, aka the garage, I elevated the closet door on a couple of drink coolers (yes folks, it's pretty high tech around here). I used a foam roller to paint and I followed the directions on the cans for drying times between coats.


Once the paint had dried I brought my new chalkboard into the entry hall. It had to cure for a couple of days (per directions on the paint can) then I needed to rub the entire chalkboard surface with white chalk . Now my chalkboard was ready to rock!


Using a stud finder I screwed two large wood screws (about 3" long)
into studs on either side of the wall. Then I mounted D-rings on the back of the chalkboard, using plastic anchors, since the door is hollow and I didn't want the little screws pulling through from the weight.
Finally, I hung the D-rings on the back of the chalkboard on the screw heads mounted into the studs.

The chalkboard looked nice just like this but I couldn't resist a little more flair.

I added two antique reproduction cast iron Fleur De Lis soap dishes found on etsy by Alacartcreations. Aren't they the cutest chalk holders you've ever seen! Since my chalkboard is made of wood, I just screwed them right into the board. Grin.


Better, but it still needed more pizazz.
I thought about topping the chalkboard with some type of molding, sort of like a crown, and came across the perfect wall plaque at Ballard Designs.

The Pruvost Plaque was exactly the shape I had in mind and it even came in an 80" width! But at $269 plus shipping, the price was a little more than I wanted to spend, so I did the only thing a girl could do--I searched the net for knock-off blog tutorials to make my own plaque.

Here is the best tutorial I found:
Ballard Wall Plaque Knock Off Tutorial

Then I drew a pattern on brown craft paper. Once I had the design I wanted, and my instructions in hand, I knew it was time to solicit my retired father for help. Grin.


I printed up the knock-off tutorial above and shipped Dad my pattern. Next, I explained to my Dad that I wanted the wood to have a weathered grey look, so he stole a few of my mom's boards from the horse pasture fence, tee-hee (sorry Mom).
*Weathered boards from old wood pallets would also work well to achieve this look, or you could just stain some new boards. Wink.

When I got my wall plaque back from Dad, I was almost speechless (almost). It turned out even more fabulous than I could have imagined and added the perfect finishing touch to my new chalkboard.


I am in LOVE with my chalkboard wall!


I find myself doodling new pictures and messages all the time.




The best part is you can re-create this chalkboard and decorate a LARGE wall on a budget!
Slab closet door: $28
Chalk board paint: $10
Mounting hardware: $6
Cast iron soap dish: $21 each

Wood plaque: Cost of materials (which was free for me since we used boards from an old fence).




Hope this post inspires you to give a chalkboard project a try.

~The Lemonista

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