Rachel Segal

So…someone figured out how to fly up on top of the chicken coop.

Let me rephrase for a second. That’s actually two Americaunas who find their way up there.

But by the time I made it down the stairs to grab photos (see, we knew they were doing this but up until now there has not been photographic evidence)…there was one.

What ensued was rather surprising given how flighty and uninterested in human affection this little lady happens to be despite my repeated pleas to “JUST LOVE ME AND CUDDLE WITH ME AND SNUGGLE IT WOULD BE SO FUN.”

A loooooooooooot of frontin.

Chicken attitude all over the place. Left and right, up in my face, and most definitely not concerned at the camera capturing every minute of it.

Scott really needs to finish the rest of that enclosed run.

Finally, Miss Kokanee decided on her own terms it was time for grab a last minute snack, sip of water and then head off to bed.

I had no idea there would be this much personality housed in such a small chicken coop.

Remember that time Louie went exploring in our neighbour’s living room? While a loud barking dog was clearly somewhere nearby? And we couldn’t exactly squeeze through the same fence for a quick kitty retrieval?

Right, yeah that’s the story we’ll tell one of these days.

You can’t quite see him, but here’s Louie, checking out what’s new and exciting over in the yellow house behind us. His sauntering around the place lasted for, oh about…ten minutes. I was on the phone at the time and had to quickly end the call with “OH GOD MY CAT JUST-I HAVE TO GO-CAT-GONE-HOUSE-NEIGHBOUR-BYE“.

The photo and angle isn’t the greatest because I’m squeezed up between trees and fence trying to stop laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Meanwhile, Scott had already run down the street and around the block to get to their place. Right about the time I could see his cap and plaid shirt through their glass filled front door (thank you, Bowen homestead’ers for all of your windows)…

A cat emerged.

Still laughing, I tried to call over the fence…and house…to Scott who was still trying to figure out a way to nab the cat without actually entering their home. He did catch a glimpse of that barking dog though – terrier.

While Louie settled back in, I continued to try to get Scott’s attention through a house, all the while wishing that in his haste to retrieve my dopey cat he’d grabbed his phone. Eventually, he returned…and when he did, Louie was there to say howdy and hello.

Maybe it’s a good thing the house is being sold…I’m not sure our snoop of a cat would have done much to help us get to know the neighbours at this rate.

Favourites?

I don’t have a favourite.

That you would even suggest there’s a favourite hen in this coop. Well…

That’s just crazy.

Naturally I love all the little chickens equally. How could I even think of picking a bestest from the rest…est?

It’s just simply not true. Though…if pressed…and I absolutely had to make a choice…well…

Alright, it wouldn’t be a tough choice.

I heart you, Stella.

This was a big day for the chickens. And us. Today, the chickens learned all about the great outdoors…and we got our house back.

Don’t get me wrong: they are adorable. We love them dearly and have had a lot of laughs and fun with them cozied up in the house. I already miss the little late night purring you can hear as they’re settling in for a snooze.

But it was time. The weather is just about warm enough (maybe still a little chilly at night, but Scott installed a special door for them to keep the hutch extra secure and toasty) and the shavings well…yeah, it was time.

Everyone settled in pretty quickly once the house was situated securely next to the garden toward the back of they backyard. Even though it was getting a little late to install the entire chicken run to go with the coop, we did fashion a makeshift run so they could scamper about a bit.

Yes, chickens scamper.

Beans and Harley made sure the place was secure (sidenote: the chickens are rather curious/not at all worried about our raccoon sized pets) and I proceeded to take a gabillion photos of their happy little faces prancing about the new abode. Yes, chickens prance too.

In between scampering and prancing, there was much cheeping and snoozing to be done. We hope you like the new digs, ladies.

More photos:

How could you not love this place?

Of course, such a view came after a lot of trekking and trudging up hills. Lots of hills. And more hills.

Not that I complained about the hills at all during this nature walk.

Right, so I complained a little bit. And may have become a little blame-y and sulky along the way. But as soon as it turned into this…that melted away pretty quickly. The delicious still warm Cornish pasties helped too.

All in, a great walk that transitioned into picnic-ing, starfish searching and mountain gazing. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday. Harley mostly agreed, although I think there were a few moments where he started dreaming about us getting a lab for this so he could go back to sleeping on the couch.

I can’t get enough of everything ombre, much as my budget might protest. It’s weird that tights could be the catalyst for me to do something maybe a little bit drastic with my hair colour when joining the ranks of Lauren Conrad and the like previously seemed downright…laughable?

SO PRETTY.

Ok, the hair move is likely still a bit far fetched at the moment (I’ve quite enjoyed not having to think about roots and colour upkeep over the past couple of years) but in the meantime I want this scarf in every shade.

Work brought us to Vancouver but choice brought us to Bowen Island. This week we were faced with yet another set of decisions to make…our amazingly wonderful, laidback, couldn’t be nicer landlord is going through a nasty divorce (the irony is not lost on me, thank you very much) which has brought about the decision to sell this beautiful house. Lots of details regarding timing, price tags and whether or not we’ll stick it out while a real estate agent tromps through the place with prospective buyers remain to be seen. But the big question for us right now is whether we explore other places on the island or make our way somewhere else…somewhere less out there…somewhere closer to people.

Beautiful scenery and calming everything aside, that’s the one thing we really don’t have on Bowen. People. As two outgoing folks who thrive in social settings, the island can make for a tough balance that ends up skewing more toward isolation than conversation.

So, what’s next? The next few weeks should give us a better idea. And in the meantime, it’s almost time to get the chickens set up in the backyard and plant some zucchini.

It didn’t take long for the girls to get settled and start to feel more and more confident about their surroundings. The bin that a few days ago seemed enormous compared to the confines of their little brooding box at Buckerfield’s is now a bit of a tight fit given their adventurous tendencies.

Harley keeps an eye on them and in typical little fluffy dog fashion is not in the least interested in nibbling on their legs but would probably be open to jumping in their temporary bin home and snuggling for the night.

Out of all the little muffins there’s only one that seems semi-interested in humans and hanging out.

Stella will jump up onto the edge and chill on your hand or shoulder depending on what you’re offering. Here’s hoping the others start to come around and accept our cooing and petting…otherwise Stella’s going to have a lot of coddling to look forward to.

There are no words to adequetely describe the cuteness of everything these little munchkins do. Skip to 0:50 to see why Stella is our favourite. Don’t tell the others.

After much discussion, debate and anticipation…Scott and I are now the proud parents of four adorably fluffy (albeit skittish) ten day old chicks.

Meet the girls.

Because we like beer, not because we intend to have beer can chicken (well, with these chickens. Sorry, guys.) they are named from left to right and then below Guinness, Kokanee, Stella and Chimay.

Let the backyard chicken keeping adventure begin.