Chicken Love!

Well, we went and got more chickens today. Why, you may ask? Well, when you have a bunch of chickens, a few more don't make much difference. How did I get talked into more chickens?

Well, last summer, I met this very nice lady through freecycle. She came by my house to pick up something I had posted, and I, strangely enough, was watering my cardboard boxes in the front yard. I was expanding my garden and was laying down boxes to smother the grass. Well, the boxes have to be watered. It looks kinda strange. Anyways, she was very kind and tried to hide her astonishment and we struck up a conversation and I explained WHY I was watering boxes in my front yard. We said our polite goodbyes and went on our way. She emailed me and invited me to join her book club who was reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver (very eye opening book btw). Well, after reading the book, and giving Daddy the highlights throughout, we decided to buy some land to try to be more self-sustaining, and give us some room to breathe. My friend is a fledgling gardener, and very impressed with our seemingly hasty move to the country and was super excited that I was raising chickens and I told her she could buy eggs from me. She asked if I would foster a chicken for her for eggs. I said sure. We found a hatchery (yes, that's what they're called) and drove there this morning. Well, once we see cute baby chicks, there is no purchasing just one chicken. We brought home 8. I got three Americanas, that lay blue-green eggs, and R picked out an Ancona which is black with white splatters on it. My friend and her kids picked out 4, one for each of them. They are very excited about all of it. I invited them over to see the chickens and play for a while. R had such a grea time with all of it. She named her chicken "Ariel." Hmm. My friend's kids named their chicks "Fiona" and "Arthur," yes "Arthur" is a hen. He was very adament about that name. We told him that we'd name a rooster Arthur, and he could come up with a girls name for his chicken, which he is convinced is a boy. Anyways. They had a blast with the chickens today.

We also let the original chicks out to play last night in the grass while we cleaned out the box. 25 of them weren't sure about it. But 2 of the Reds were ready to run! No sooner had we set them down had they run around back into the garage. And FAST! Woo! So that was fun last night. Lots of fun with the chickens and they are getting big! Can you see the little tail feathers coming out? And look at those wing feathers! Amazing that they are only a week old.

That's all the chicken updates for now! I'm going to the Allergy Clinic tomorrow to get tested and get some meds so I don't have to wear a mask around them. I refuse to give up my chicks!