New Chicks Have Arrived

A little over a year ago, we picked up 16 teeny baby chicks from a hatchery a few towns away. We had intentions of keeping half for laying and half as meat birds. Well, that didn't happen and we kept them all as layers. We might have had an attachment issue. 

A year later, we've lost half of our flock. One was a rooster, a couple died of natural causes, a big nasty neighbor tomcat got one and a stinking fat raccoon took another couple. 

Our egg supply was dwindling.

So we decided to put in another order. This time, we ordered 24 chicks. Twelve for laying and twelve for meat birds. Except they sent us 25, which is fine with me - bonus bird ;)

We're gonna do it this time. When they're big and fat, we are going to butcher them.

Not we. Ick. I could never. Maybe if I was on a deserted island... Probably not even then.

But we will be getting them butchered. Promise.

I almost ordered a turkey for Thanksgiving. I was this close. I think I will next year. 
Here they are, our new peepers:

That's the box they were shipped in. We would've like to have picked them up, like we did last year, but because of the avian flu they no longer allow pick-ups. 

We got back from vacation on Monday and I thought, shoot, I still need to order the chicks. So Tuesday morning I got online and placed an order - an hour later I received an email that a shipping label was created, an hour after that I received notice that they'd shipped! I couldn't believe it. So miss Adalynn, her aunt Keeks and I had to take a quick trip to the store for some food supplies.

Wednesday morning at 7:30am I received a phone call from the post office that our chicks were there to pick up. I could not believe it. Less than twenty four hours. It was amazing. 

They were all super healthy when they got here, we put them in their tank and they started running all over the place. When we sprinkled some food on the ground, they immediately started eating and shortly thereafter found their water. 

Now we've got a whole crazy coop set up that I'll save for another post. 

Chickens in the Snow

We had our first snow this weekend and it was wonderful. The first snowfall always feels so magical, no matter how old I get, the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night to the first snowfall always makes my heart beat a little bit faster with Christmas magic. 

I popped right up out of bed Saturday morning, grabbed my camera and went outside. It was our chicken's first snow and I couldn't wait to see how they were going to act. 

Now I know where the term 'don't be a chicken' comes from! 

That's as far out as they would come. They refused to step foot in the snow. 

Then Kelly grabbed one and stuck her in the snow. She just looked completely unamused and refused to budge, he decided to take pity on her and put her back in the coop. 

Then we discovered that all they needed was a shoveled path! So simple! I mean, we can totally come out every morning after a snowfall and just shovel paths around the yard specifically for our spoiled sissy chickens! 

...so not happening. 

Apologies for the bad quality of this picture, but these were our three brave little chickens who actually got out and about in the snow, they're on their way back to the coop here. 

So that was their first weekend in the snow. The snow is, sadly, suppose to melt off today which I guess is a good thing because we have a few things that we'll be doing to improve their outdoor run and give them a bit more snow-free ground to play on. 

Do you have chickens? How are they in the snow? 

Another One Bites the Dust

Okay, really, this was the first one to bite the dust and it happened a couple of weeks ago. 

It was a rainy, dreary day and we were going out to dinner for our anniversary. We left around 6 to head over to the lakeshore, all the dogs were tucked in and the chickens were still running around the yard...they head into the coop for the night a little before dusk. 

When we got home, I ran inside while Kelly went out to shut the coop up for the night. He came back in to tell me that there were only a few chickens in the coop - two were on top of their outdoor cage and the rest were huddled by the garage, shivering in the rain. He went back outside and put them, one by one, back into the coop. When he came back inside, he told me that we only had 14 in the coop, but he couldn't tell what kind was missing. 

In the morning, I went outside with one of the dogs, but didn't see anything strange. Pretty soon, I looked over at Crue and he was sniffing over by the woods. I went over and followed him and, sure enough, he found the poor little hen's remains. A pile of feathers, two feet and an egg. 

It was pretty stinking sad, not only that we lost one but the fact that it was one of the black chickens. See, they are the most friendly and will let you pick them up. Whenever one of us gets home during the day, they are the first to come running over and greet you and will follow you all over the yard, so it was extra sad that it was one of them. 

After knowing what we were looking for, I was able to follow the feather trail back to the coop door. It looked like something had come up and grabbed one as they were making their way back into the coop for the night, so the rest of them scattered fast. 

Since then, we haven't lost another. We've been very diligent about taking all four dogs out around the coop every day to have their scent everywhere and scare the animal away, we've also been trying be outside at dusk to close the coop right after the hens all go back in.  

We'll see how it goes as the weather gets colder and it gets closer to winter. 

Have you lost any of your feathered friends? What happened? What kind of animal was it? How did you fix the problem? 

How To Train Your Dragons

Remember these little girls? Well, they've grown. They moved from their little metal horse trough, to a giant plastic stock tank and have finally been relocated outside to their forever (forever until they are food...mwuahahaha) home.

Voila! It's like we fed them miracle grow or something. They're huge! That black & white one is so pretty, but she scares me. Like I totally did a girly scream when she ran/flew towards me the other day. Embarrassing. She kind of reminds me of that witchy lady from Disney's The Sword in the Stone. You know...Madame Mim...

They've been in their coop for a little over two weeks now, so we decided that it was time to do a little free-range practice run. We let them out at about 7:30, the sun is setting at about 9:15 right now so it was a short practice run. It takes chickens just a little while to learn where their home is and as soon as dusk hits, they high-tail it back to the coop for the night.

As soon as we opened the doors, our brave little Barred Rock babes led the way.

You know how when you open a door, it goes almost all the way to the back wall and makes a 'V'?There was one...let's just say not so smart...chicken (yes, one of the blonde ones) who tried to exit by going into that 'V'. It proceeded to squawk and squawk and stick its head through the chain link door until finally Kelly went in there to pick it up and carry it out. Those blondes, I tell ya.

Then came the fun part! Teaching our dogs that the little ladies are friends, not food. We started with my perfect, sweet, angelic peach of a dog, Crue (I don't have favorites, really:)). Mainly because he is the best listener of the bunch.

I'm going to go off on a small tangent here - I love his electric collar. It is a waterproof collar with strength settings ranging from 1-8, but my favorite part is that there's a little button on the side that just gives two small 'beeps'. In the four years that I've had this collar, I've only had to use the shock park one single time. The few rare times that I have to use the remote at all, I only use the beep and it brings him right back to attention. If you ever decide to invest in an electric collar, I 100% recommend one with a beep.

Alright, back to dragon training. Since my big man is such an exemplary listener, we introduced him first. He heeled out to the chickens and I had him sit about 20 feet away so he could watch as they ran and flew around for a bit. Then he came into the middle of the brood and I had him lay down next to me while I pet him.

We did this for about ten minutes, then he was free to walk around and check things out. I had the remote at the ready because if any of these dogs go after our ladies, they were going to become electric chickens really fast.

And there he is more interested in munching on the long grass then playing with chickens.

We did the same thing with each of the dogs, one at a time. Our young lab was pretty good about them and only tasted one or two shocking feathers. The beagle went after quite a few of them and tasted a few more electric feathers, she's a very sneaky one who we'll have to watch closely. The last one, our older lab, could have cared less. In fact, she might think she's a chicken. She went right into the middle of them and started eating grass right along with them. Sweet old lady.

So that's the story of how to train your dragons. Our plan is to just have two of them outside at a time for the next few weeks until we are comfortable that they'll leave the birds alone. Keep your fingers crossed!

And since I know you haven't seen the chicken coop yet, here it is in all its half-finished glory! 

Kelly & I completed the base and the frame, then when busy season came along his stepdad came over and put the roof and shell on. Thank goodness for him because otherwise we still wouldn't have it finished and the chickens would probably still be living in the pole barn! It needs a coat of paint until it can be sided, we need to put the door on and add some steps on the front, in addition to adding the nesting boxes next month. That cute egg sign is from his mother and we found the horseshoe in the pile of old barn rubble near the coop. 

While they were out, we weeded and hoed the garden, then went inside for a late dinner. By the time we went outside to check on them a little after dusk, they were all happy as clams back inside their coop, all huddled in the corner where they like to sleep.

Now we wait until September for eggs! 

They're Here!

After two months of waiting, our little chicks have finally arrived! Here they are...

Guess Who Is Coming To Live With Us...

Here are a couple hints: they're two-legged and come in all different colors, shapes and sizes. 

 

They have feathers.

 

They chirp.

 

Have you guessed it yet?