We Got Chickens!!!

Hooray! My dreams have finally come true! We got four little chicks. We wanted chickens because we love animals, growing our own food (I want a farm), they eat bugs, and I think its a good way for our kids to have responsibility for something.  We went to a weird lady's house who had big boxes and tons of chicks in her house. We got 4 chicks and they are great. Here is Jack holding all 4 when they were still tiny.

This is a Sizzles. She is a Welsummer. She started off with the name "Poop-foot" (by Jack). She is the easiest to catch, which makes me suspect that she might be the dumbest. She did catch the first bug, though.

This is Sandy. She is a Buff Brahma. She is the top of the pecking order. She seems to be smart and brave. She watches out for the other chicks and will walk right up to us looking for a freeze dried meal worm treat.

This is Peppa. She is a Silver-laced Cochin. Right now she is black, but will grow to be a really pretty black and white. She is shy.

We originally had a Blue Cochin named Susan, but sadly, she died. It happened on the first day that Jared and I were on vacation and the kids were with Grandma and Papa. The kids were pretty broken up, but are slowly getting over it.

So a few weeks later, to help with the healing process, we got Leafy. She is an Americauna. I don't know very much about her yet, but she has had a difficulty socializing with the other chicks and she has a very angry look on her face. Hopefully she'll warm up soon. The kids like her because she's easy to catch, maybe she's dumber than Sizzles.

The kids play with the chicks every day, sometimes for hours, which is great because I love for them to play outside.

Lily gave a presentation on chickens at school.  She got to use the microphone and talk in front of the whole class.  She told the kids all of the interesting things she's learned about chickens and she did a great job.  She made a sweet chicken diorama.  We also brought the chicks so that all the kids could see them.

The best part of all is the coop I built all by myself! I love it. I got the plans online, which were pretty comprehensive, so building it was like a giant puzzle. I got to use a table saw, drills, staple gun, scroll saw, it was really awesome. I wore overalls and a tool belt, it was legit. I had a good time doing it.

It turned out pretty rad. There's going to be an herb garden on top. It looks really awesome in our beautiful backyard.