I have a sweet little hen, her name is Chickadee. She is the most spoiled chicken in town. She originally belonged to my neighbor but she hopped his fence every day to roam around the block and lay eggs in my yard. She often pecked at my door for treats and water and spent many summer afternoons cooling off under my cucumbers.


In July, she disappeared. The neighbor thought a dog got  her or something but after about a week, we spotted her and returned her to her yard. The next day, he told us she was gone again and another week went by and we found her two doors down, very muddy, thin and laying on a pile of rotten eggs. She had been brooding and she made a nest in someone's front yard bushes.



We tried to return her to her yard again but her sisters pecked and chased and didn't let her eat or get in the coop since she had been gone for so long. The neighbor asked if we wanted to keep her and of course, I said yes. She got a bath in my kitchen sink, which was interesting for all of us and we immediately went to the farm store for food, a waterer and I began googling chicken coop plans. 

With some scrap wood that we had and a sheet of pretty blue sheet metal that I found on clearance at the hardware store, we built her a pretty little coop with an attached run. The kids and I painted it and Pj insulated it for winter and built her a nesting box and roost inside.



Every day after the kids get on the bus, I go collect her pretty little egg and let her out into her separate big run for the day so she can scratch and peck and run around. Sometimes we sit on the front porch and she rolls around in a dusty corner of the garden on her back like a dog. She loves a dust bath so we put one in her run so she can fling dirt into her feathers to her heart's content.




She chatters through the fence at her sisters and I call "tuck tuck tuck!" when I flip over a brick and there are tasty crickets to snack on. She doesn't make a lot of noise except on occasion when she lays an egg, she calls loudly "I laid an egg! I'm amazing!"  In the evenings, when the sun goes down, Olivia puts her back in her enclosed run for the night so she's safe from the big raccoons that come over from the riverside. She is amazing at helping me weed the yard and turn our compost.


I'm looking for some no-nonsense winter boots that I can slip on and trudge through the snow every morning to the coop and this weekend, we're finishing up winterizing her coop and run so she can have lots of things to keep her busy. I found some instructions for growing sprouts in mason jars, which is a good special treat for chickens in the winter and I think I'll like some sprouts on my breakfast avocado toast too.




Today I wore my favorite new headband that I knitted from this free 1960s knitting pattern. Its done with a popcorn stitch,. which was new to me but with the help of youtube, I figured it out! I love it so much, I picked up a mustardy color yarn to make another. Its very warm and can cover my ears this winter but I often wear it around the house when my hair is dirty and I just don't want to deal with it. I think I have a pale pink yarn that would be pretty for this headband too!





tee shirt- Target
pants-thrifted
belt- Unique Vintage
vintage cape- thrifted
headband- knitted by me, this pattern