Here we are chatting with Dede (far right) and one of her farm assistants. Root Down Farm is located in the beautiful Cloverdale Valley in Pescadero, CA.

Soon after arriving, we climbed in the back of Dede’s truck and rode out to the pasture to get the chickens. It was my first time riding in the back of a pick up!

The sun was setting so most of the chickens were in the their coop, settling in for the night. Dede said the evening or early morning is the easiest time to “catch” a chicken.

Here I am, ready to go into the coop with Dede and pick out my hens. This was my first time ever holding a chicken! She told me to be sure to hold their wings when picking them up and then hold them near my body, like a football.

Here’s one I was able to get a hold of. Out of the six hens, I think I only picked up two, it all happened fast. Dede is a much better chicken wrangler than I am! I originally wanted three Delaware’s and three Chantecler’s but she didn’t have many Chantecler’s left so I got four Delware’s and two Chantecler’s.

Their first day on the homestead! I spent some time in the orchard reading some of my homework so they’d get used to me. They spent quite a bit of time checking out their coop. I soon realized this coop and run was WAY too small for them so we’ve started building them a new coop and run!

One of the Delaware’s exploring the orchard.

They loved my overgrown rosemary bush!

This one was very interested my cup. I wonder if she would’ve been upset to learn I was drinking chicken broth 🙂

Another one of the Delaware’s, I’m still having a difficult time telling them apart since they all look so much alike. As soon as I have them figured out, I’ll post pictures with their names!

Another Delaware, this one has the most black feathers.

One of the Chantecler’s, this one had been hen pecked so it’s feathers were still growing in.

The other Chantecler

My first egg was laid on July 29th, only two days after picking them up!

Here’s the hen that laid the first egg!

I found out they like tomatoes!

This one was so curious about my garden bed, she jumped up to check it out while I had the gate down. I think she was eyeing that almost ripe strawberry!

August 4th was my first two egg day. Shortly after, I got three and then four, then all of a sudden I was only getting one or two eggs for several days in a row.

Then this happened! I walked out about an hour after letting them out of their coop, and I found a hen with an egg in her mouth! I looked down that there were two more eggs hidden in a bush.

I took a walk around the orchard and found this hidden nest in the planter box of my rosemary bush. There were thirteen eggs in this pile!

After finding all their hidden laying places, thankfully they decided to return to laying in their nest boxes!

Ever since we brought them home, we thought the hen pecked Chantecler was “different.” It was much taller, had a longer neck, really long legs and huge feet! As it’s feather’s started to grow in, we became suspicious that it might be a rooster, especially since some colorful feathers were growing in. Then this happened…….