Just Dreaming

And Then There Were 7

Yesterday was a bit of a sad day over here.  We had to give away two of our chickens that turned out to be roosters.  I posted an ad on craigslist, and someone came the same day to pick them up.  I talked to him on the phone and asked him to please - if he was planning on eating them - to not say anything in front of my kids (FFA we are not).  The boys were sad but they understood that they had to go.  Ella was fine too until she saw the man take the box and leave with them.  She has been talking to me a lot about it, and she insists the other chickens miss their "friends."  I was sad too.  I can't help it, but I love having these chickens and I felt the tug inside when they were taken away.  Now poor hoppy is the smallest and she has no-one to keep her warm at night while all the others roost.  Last night I found all the chickens in the coop except little hoppy who was still on the ground - cold - by herself.

Here is Funky Chicken.  Isn't he weird looking?  I was calling him Fried Chicken, but every time I said it Avery started crying so we changed his name.

Funky chicken and the Feather Footed Bantam.  It's so funny - three of our chickens have 2 names and the other 6 have no name at all.  We are just so random over here :)

Chicky Chicky Poo Poo

I thought I would give an update on our chickens for all those following the chicken fun.  Our chicks are now 7 weeks old!  We are finally getting a coop today.  Thankfully, we were able to purchase one from a local farm store.  Dave is just working too much to build one so we found a walk in coop that has plenty of room for the chicks.  The store also oversold the coops so we ended up getting it $50 off which was great.  We should be able to move it around our yard so one spot doesn't get destroyed by the chickens. 

In other news, we think one of the chickens is a rooster.  Right now they are in the basement in a refrigerator box.  We have our laundry room down there as well, so I am constantly running in and out of where they are.  I will be doing laundry and I will hear this tiny crackly cock-a-doodle doo over and over again.  It is pretty funny and I am sad we are going to have to give the chick away.  It is a beautiful feather footed black bantam.  When it gets a little bigger I will just give it to one of our friends out in the county or give it away on craigslist. 

The chickens are really ready to go outside.  I hate to say it but they are super stinky!  The laundry room is also where I keep my soap.  People (used to) joke that we had the best smelling basement on the block because of the rows upon rows of drying soap.  Now every time I go downstairs, all I smell is chicken poop.  No more lovely soap or laundry detergent or anything thing else.  It is very smelly down there.   It is not warm enough for them to spend the night outside yet, but I hope once we get the coop today that they can spend most of the day outside - stinking up our backyard!

Hoppy - the first day we had her. 

Hoppy today.

All the chickens day 2 or 3.

As they look today.  The one in the back is a Rhode Island Red.  We have three of those and they are the biggest of all the chickens by far.

Hoppy and Steve the turtle are now the same size.

The Chickens Weigh In

  So I have been learning a lot about chickens since we have had them.  I have learned that the bigger they get the more they poo (I should have been a rocket scientist, really).  I have learned that they are instinctively very afraid of us.  Every time the kids run by their cage (and by cage I mean cardboard box), they all freak out and run to the other end.  They have started to perch on the edge of their cage and today we found one walking around our living room.  We are moving them to a new cage today (and by new cage, I mean a bigger cardboard box).  We had some fun with weighing them today and they are all getting bigger.  I am having 25 people over here for Easter and I am kind of afraid my house will smell like a barn even though I clean the cage daily.  Chickens poo alot - did I mention that already?

Pics from the weigh in - all the weights are in ounces :

Hoppy is getting so big!

One of the Rhode Island Reds - they have gotten HUGE!

One of the Barred Rocks (for you Kim!)

The Three Amigos

Our turtle Steve playing with Hoppy.

Steve being very patient with me and wondering when I am going to stop playing with the chickens and get him some romaine lettuce.

Hello, Beautiful

Guess what we got today?

(the only reason besides Christmas that I would leave my house at 7:30 in the morning)

Hello, Beautiful.

Where have you been all my life?

You will be well loved here.