So this chicken naming thing can really consume a lot of one's mental energy. As I so often do with pets that I have to name, I picked a theme for these gals. I figured why not go with some rock n' roll chicks I like? Sooo...Please meet:

Stevie Nicks (because she has pretty hair, and she's a softy)

Kim Deal (because her colors totally ROCK and she's a bit of a heavy drinker)

Joan Jett (Cuz she's the leader of the pack and well, she wears all black)

PJ Harvey (She wears all black too, but she's HELLA CRAZY. Seriously. Fitting for the Cuckoo Maran, eh?)


And and older photo of Rickie Lee Jones. She was too off doin' her own thang for me to get a good photo of her today.

This one here? Well folks, I'm afraid this one is a boy (black chest feathers on faverolles). So for now, we shall just call him Francois. Francois the Faverolle.

Last night we transported our beehives home from Josephine,TX, about an hour outside of Dallas. I also set up two hives at North Haven Gardens in the large vegetable production garden.

Here are a couple of shots of our home hives. They've expanded so much that they'll be getting honey supers put on them today. I'll also put their sugar feeders on. I'll post more shots later as I inspect the hives so you can see what goes on inside them. So exciting!

Went out to the bee farm this past weekend to check on the status of my hives. Here are a couple of shots of me going through my brood boxes (I have 4) to look for my queens.

Beehive frames
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Here is a shot of one of the brood boxes. After about 2 months, they've managed to build comb and lay brood on about 4 frames. It shouldn't take them much longer to get to the 8th or 9th frame, at which time I'll put on a honey super.

Leslie inspecting her beehive brood box
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Here's me opening up another of the brood boxes. While the hat and netting are a must, I think I'll be losing the gloves pretty soon. They are just too cumbersome, especially when trying to pick up the heavy brood frames gently so you don't drop them.

Now I'm checking each frame to look for the queen. At this stage you want to make sure the queen is healthy and laying brood properly. Unfortunately, one of my hives was missing their queen. Something either happened to her due to weather or health, or the hive killed her. They were already raising multiple new queen cells, which is bad news. So all the new queen cells will have to be killed and a new queen introduced to the hive this week.

Checking a frame for the queen
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Babies first time outside...April 2nd...The canine girls are most curious...Photos of the girls at 1 month coming soon..

After only two weeks the babies had already started filling in their big girl feathers... (Photos taken March 26th-Apr. 2)

Silver Laced Wyandotte...Still the smallest of the bunch

Salmon Faverolle...they have the prettiest coloring.

Silver Cuckoo Maran...starting to look very similar to Barred Rock.

Ameraucauna

Barred Rock...So far, this little gal is not only the tallest, but most curious and friendly of the bunch.

Ok, I've been remiss in posting ANY photos of the new babies! But it is spring...and it's crazy. So I'll post a retrospective of them now that they are a month old. Boy do they grow fast. Here are a few shots from their first few days...(photos taken March 16th)

Silver Laced Wyandotte - this one is a total sweetheart

Salmon Faverolle - I have two of these babies...they are so cute with their feathered legs.

Silver Cuckoo Maran...This one might get named Cybill..she's the most skittish of the bunch!

Naptime is always hilarious with baby chicks...they run full steam ahead and then plop to a dead stop, face down...too cute.

First strawberries are ripening...super yummy!

and one lonely fig....

Just a highlight of a few blooms popping out in the new front bed. It's a work in progress...It's the only pre-existing bed at the new house- a crecent shaped bed that sits in front of a concrete circular drive. It's really the main feature of the front landscape. It was full of Bermuda grass, some dead zinnias, groundcover junipers in poor shape and a large row of 30-40 year-old yaupons with trunks the size of large trees! In January, I ripped out everything in the bed, amended with compost, expanded shale and some humus...and started planting. Here's what's pretty so far...

Right now the bed is planted with chard, spinach, cilantro, dill, strawberries, rosemary, rain lilies, roses, tomatoes, echinacea, daffodils, violas and more...even have baby tomatoes on the 'Sapho' plants already.


Daffodil 'Delnashaugh'

Another split corona daffodil...blanking on the cultivar at the moment

Rose 'Easy Does It'

Rose 'Pat Austin'

Even after the harsh freezes and ice in January, the strawberries are blooming and fruiting their heads off...