The farm life

There is an urban legend that our house was once a chicken coop. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that or who to ask but that's a thing! There is a weird mysterious door in the garage....so that could be something. Anyway... After taking a stab at raising farm animals...(probably not the best use of words)...and once Nelly moved to a new family, we felt ready to proceed with our dreams of raising chickens, which I believe was only a dream since last November when we watched our friends' hens over Thanksgiving and everyday was like an Easter Egg hunt. But seriously, we eat a lot of eggs, and I can see a lot of benefits in having my kids raise and work with animals. We weren't sure when any of this would happen, We toyed with the idea of building our own coop, buying a new one, or finding a used one to fix up. If we were going to raise chickens we kind of wanted more than 2 (I got a lot of hungry boys to feed over here) and coops for more than 2 chickens get pretty expensive. Building one from scratch seemed like it would also get expensive and I just wasn't seeing any used ones that I liked. After spending one morning with my friend, Marie (who owns the chickens that we fell in love with) I picked her brain on all aspects of chicken care. and shortly after going home, it dawned on me that we have a large shed on our property right next to our deck that hasn't been used in years because it had a family members stuff in it and was rat infested. Max and I both realized this may be the opportunity to clean it out and fix it up and temporarily use it as a chicken coop. Thankfully, the owner of the items was able to pick them up shortly thereafter and totally cleared out the shed.

Another semi exciting part of this story (ok, I know this is probably boring to most people, but I like going through my whole thought process) is that Charlie was incubating chicks in his Kindergarten class and they were going to give the chicks to families that wanted them after they hatched. I wanted to say "pick me pick me!" But I didn't know if we would have a place for them by then...(this was before the idea of the shed/coop had dawned on us) But then his teacher sadly announced that none of the chicks were developing and asked if any families from any of the kindergarten classes had chicks or chickens they wanted to bring and share.....Now, this very same thing happened to me in 1st grade and the disappointment of having the chicks not hatching is still so real to me that I HAD to get chicks at this point. (someone was able to bring chicks into my 1st grade class and I still remember that day!) I wanted to be that person since we were planning on getting chicks soon anyway and the shed/coop was finally underway. There are places you can order live chicks (and get them in the mail) or farm stores sell chicks in May and September (I knew this from buying pig food at the beginning of May) Anyway, When I saw that our family member was clearing out the shed, it seemed more realistic for us to get chickens soon. So Memorial Day, we made our way to the farm store and came home with 6 chicks! ( and just in time, because our friend went 2 days later and all the chicks were gone.) And they are living in a bin and are just over a week old and have been growing super fast. They have been an awesome pet, I planned on putting their bin in the garage but I like them so much that they've been on our kitchen table. We are working on the shed repairs, making it rat proof, water proof, and a great home for chickens. But in the meantime, we've been enjoying these tiny little birds. The boys love them, Edwin grins and says "Chicky" when he sees them. They are so fun to hold.
When they were less than a week old, I got to take them to Charlie's class. They were pretty popular and all the kids in 3 kindergarten classes got to hold them (minus a couple kids that weren't interested) I was impressed with how careful most of the children were and how they gently passed the chick onto the next person.

  They fall asleep like this! When they were brand new, they would just fall asleep standing up and it was hilarious to watch because they got pretty wobbly.

Getting bigger at just over a week old.

 So, if you made it this far, you must really like chickens. We are hoping they are all hens but there is still a possibility that some could be roosters. It is illegal within the city of Portland to own a rooster so we will either have to send him to a farm....or our deep freeze. Which may be sad but I also like the lessons my kids get from where our food comes from. But in the meantime we named them so read on if you want a little bio on each chick.

 Dot: (Dottie or Dorothy) She is the tiny one of the group and generally likes being picked up and held. So she gets held the most. She is a Golden Laced Wyandotte

Priscilla: Prissy. She is a Light Brahma and will be bigger than the other hens. She likes being picked up as well. This breed has feathery feet.

Daisy: Daisy is basically the same as Priscilla, and I actually mix them up all the time. She likes being held too. When one of these chicks is in the box and the other is being held, they chirp to each other. Notice her "hairy" foot. 

 Pearl: Pearl has really pretty markings and she is a Silver-Laced Wyandotte so it will be lovely to see her feathers come in. She's our second smallest.

Trixie: She was the dominant one when we first got the chicks. She was the largest and pushed the other chicks around. She doesn't like being picked up but once she feels comfortable in your hands, she will settle down. She is a Golden Laced Wyandotte.

Periwinkle: (Winky, Perry?) She is becoming the dominant one. She is fluttering around the box and it wont be long before she can jump out. She's a Silver Laced Wyandotte. 

And there you have it! We love watching them grow, and look forward to the eggs they will provide!