Almost half grown

Chickens will start laying between 16 and 24 weeks.  Our big chicks are 9 weeks old, and the little chicks are 6 weeks old now.  Its amazing to watch how fast they grow and to try to figure out who their mothers are!  Mama hen, Salt, has decided her babies are big enough to be on their own.  She laid her first post-broody egg last week, and that night she slept up on the perch with the other hens and Fred again.  Leaving her babies in the nest alone.  Since that night, she and the chicks ignore each other completely.  She will chase them away from a yummy scrap of food instead of calling them over to share.  I didn't expect the transition to be so sudden!  But the chicks don't seem to mind.  They are big enough that they can't all fit in the nest at night.  They keep together in a group, just as the big chicks do.  Both groups forage around the yard separately.  Sometimes they mix together with the hens too, but they pretty much keep to their own age group.

The bigger chick on the left is Buffy from our first clutch of eggs.  The other chicks are from the second hatching.  They don't have names yet

6 of the 7 older chicks.  From left to right; Breech, Dorothy, Junior, Amelia, Flower, and Tiny.  So far we're certain that Breech was fathered by Dodger, the Americana rooster we didn't keep.  If she is female, she will be called an Easter Egger and her eggs will be blue, green, or pink!  I'm also pretty sure Amelia is a rooster.  No crowing yet, but her (his?) tail feathers are growing in long and curved and a brilliant blue/black

A strong foundation

One thing we are learning on this journey is that good community is priceless.  When Chris had the footing forms ready to pour cement, he called a few friends.  His boss, Lynn, came over with his tractor and cement mixer attachment.  Friends Louis, Youssef, and John, lent their time doing the dirty, heavy work too.  My dad, Steve, spent many hours helping out too.  Together they all spent a very full day, working past dark, to pour the cement footings.  Lynn came back the next morning to finish up the last bits.  Many hands certainly makes the work go faster!

Lynn driving the tractor, Chris down in the trench

Its hard work

My Dad helped put the pieces of rebar in the frames before the cement was poured

Lynn on the tractor, John at the top of the hill, Louis at the base of the homemade chute, and Chris on the left.

The homemade chute did the trick....for a little while

The next step once the cement had hardened was the block work.  Chris's dad Adrian, a bricklayer by trade, came from Saskatoon to help with that part. As Chris says, "After all a parent should do their best to give their children a good foundation!"  Row upon row the walls rose out of the ground.  Its nice to be able to see the actual scale of the house.  To see the size of the rooms.  To show the kids where their bedrooms will be.  To see your dream coming alive.
 

The side door on the West wall

The back wall looks imposing, but I've been assured it needs to be that high!  Once the floor is in, the block work won't take up so much of the height

Adrian laying the blocks on the South facing wall

Cutting the blocks was messy, dusty work

They cut out the centres of the top 2 rows of blocks to lay rebar in and fill the channel with more cement

The last block!

Parging the outside of the blocks

The last batch of mortar!

Job well done

Well, not quite done.  After Adrian left, Chris and my Dad mixed the cement in the smaller mixer to pour into the top 2 rows of blocks.  Chris made hundreds of trips up the hill with a bucket of cement to pour into the channels

Rough work on the hands

Now moving on to water sealant, drainage, foam board, and back filling.