New Addition to the Coop

Big D put his manly skills to use today and built the ladies a roost for the coop.

Making Room for a Few More or When "A Few Chickens" Becomes 32!

If you've been following this blog, or self-indulging rant about my chickens, you know I got the idea to get a "few chickens" from a book about being self-sustaining. Well, a few chickens quickly became 20 chickens when it came time to order my baby chicks. My theory was that if I ordered 20 and "lost a few" (read as accidentally killed them), I should still have about a dozen for this really cool coop I got. Also, when  started comparing breeds, I couldn't pick one, so I narrowed it down to four and ended up going with three when it came time to place my order. You know, better odds that I'd get at least a few of each breed that survived the brooder!



There's my girl! The Buff who always wants the most attention.

As fate would have it, I only lost one. And, no I did not kill it. It barely made it a few hours after we brought it home. Even I couldn't mess it up that quickly. Thankfully though, all of my other ladies have made it thus far. I say thankfully because I have become rather attached. I have my favorites of course, specifically the ones who run toward me and not from me. And, the big Buff who not only comes to me, but likes to be held and petted. She, by far, is my most favorite. I haven't named them yet, but I'm sure they will all have a variety of names. Of course, to Little D, they are all Thomas. I've had lots of other name suggestions from my corny friends: Fried, Baked, BBQ'd, and Extra Crispy, are some of the most frequently mentioned.

 I'm not really worried about getting too attached to my hens because they are layers. Their only purpose on this homestead is to lay eggs and bring me lots of joy aka be my friends! (Some of you know what I'm talking about!) As I mentioned in my last post, I'm now at 17 lovely hens, having adopted two out.

Now comes the tricky part - in more ways than one.  The call came today that we have to pick up our 15 4H chicks in two weeks. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about them. What's so tricky about that? Well, let's do the math first: 17 + 15= 32! Where am I gonna put 32 chickens? The other tricky thing is, the 4H chicks are meat chickens. Yep, these chicks will be fried, baked, bbq'd and although probably not extra crispy, will be in a stew pot.

Little D said to me yesterday while scarfing down chicken nuggets, "You know what's funny mom? Chicken nuggets rhymes with chicken!" Oh if he only knew.

Movin' On Up!

The coop

The ladies have moved out of the protection of the garage and into their coop.  Of course, it's not totally ready for them, but they simply outgrew the brooder. We still have to stain the outside and build the run, but all the rain lately has made it impossible. The backyard of the Homestead is more like a swamp than a yard. But, with help from SG and Little D, I got the inside of the coop set up yesterday and the ladies all settled in.
At first, they huddled close together, unsure of their new space, but it didn't take them long to start running around - like chickens! They are fully feathered now and can handle being without their heat light. I actually unplugged it in their brooder about a week ago.  They seem to have adapted well to their new home, they definitely like the new feeder that can accommodate all of them. There are 17 of them now. I adopted two of them out to a friend's grandson.
Now that they're in the coop, Little D thinks it's time for them to get busy laying eggs. He has no concept of time, so telling him we won't see eggs from them until September really means nothing.

Chicks Gone Wild!

Well that does it, everyone is just going to have to come over to the Homestead to see my wild chicks! I have been trying for the last four days to upload video of their crazy antics with no luck. They are just so funny to watch. Of course, the Wyandottes think they can fly, and they're getting pretty good. One actually flew out of the brooder the other day when it heard my voice. The Australorps want to grow up to be Wyandottes, so they are trying to fly, and the Buffs just run around trying to figure out what all the fuss is about.  So, I have all this great video that you can't see unless you come on over. But then, you can watch the wild chicks live!

The most curious of the Buffs. She is always the first chick in front of the camera!

By far the Buffs have the prettiest feathers.

These Wyandottes also want a piece of the action.

Some day the Australorps will catch on, I hope!

Speaking of live chickens, check out the link below for a live chicken web cam. The really cool thing about this cam, if you have kids, is there is a story book about the chickens, "Tillie Lays an Egg." Very cool.