Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Chick-er-doodles

Our chicks got here today!!!


We have had chickens for about a year now, we just love them. The eggs are pretty great too! ;) I have been buying a couple of hens at a time, mostly on Craigslist. The Man and our neighbor Lisa built a way cool chicken coop. It is more like a house really and we started out with 5 hens and a Rooster. They sleep in the house and at that time had free run of the yard. Well, someone that lives around here (I have yet to find out who they are) has a dog that had a taste for fresh chickens. Within about 2 weeks of getting them we lost the first hen to this rouge dog. If I knew where that dog lived, I would have left what was left of my girl on his front porch...anyway, we have lost a few that way and my Rooster, Captain Jack, got sick and died last Fall. I have replaced the hens but it's not possible to replace my sweet boy. Anyway, we currently have 4 1/2 hens and get 3-5 eggs a day. I say 1/2 because one of them is a Bantam hen and she is about half the size of the other ladies (so are her eggs). Her name is Gloria, isn't she adorable?

So we opted to buy some babies this winter. I ordered them in January with a ship date of March 21. They got here today. I had to take 2 of the boys to the dentist this morning and the post office called while I was there to come and get them. By the time they were done and I did a few errands, we picked em up about 1:30. Got em home, popped open the box and...lookie there...


We had cleaned out the garage this weekend and set up a brooding pen for them. They need access to an area that is between 90-95 degrees so we set up a heat lamp and fresh food and water and tossed them in there.

They are a mix of  at least 4 different types of egg laying breeds. I also got a couple extra 'easter eggers', I just couldn't pass up chickens that lay green eggs. ;)

7 comments:

Shay said...

They're so cute! I had chooks years ago (cant have them now with two dogs and two cats )

Cant wait to see pictures of the green eggs (I have Dr Seuss running through my head- Green Eggs and Ham ...)

whimsyfox said...

Awwww....

I remember when I was young my grandma had a chicken. And I remember a few chicks once or twice.

I also remember her chopping the chicken's head off and tying it's legs together and hanging it by the doorknob....but we wont get into that. LOL

I'm assuming you mean green shell?

Kelly Pidd said...

Super duper cute! And Jaydin looks sooo happy! What a cutie pie!

Elizabeth said...

So fun! So, so fun! Those little chickies are really cute. You've got quite a little brood. You'll either be eating a lot of quiche and crepes or you can start selling your eggs (lol). A little extra money for fabric wouldn't be such a bad thing, now would it?

Sorry to hear about Captain Jack, though.

So, a story about eggs. I was making a cake a few days ago and I had a double-yolked egg! I've only ever heard of these mythical eggs because they usually get filtered out from store bought eggs. But this one was regular egg size and inside was a double yolk. It was a fun surprise.

xo -El

Erika S said...

Wow! They ship chickens at the Post Office?!! Awesome!! They are soooo cute and fluffy!

Wendy said...

Hens that lay green eggs? Sending chicks through the post?!? It's a whole other world!!

Myra said...

Awwwwww... sweet chicks! 8-)