Chickies!

It just isn't Spring without chickies!

We culled our flock last fall (I hope I wrote about that.  It was quite the experience!), so we got 13 new chicks at the end of March. 

They've already gotten so big, but here they are as little babies.

Just Trying to Remember...

The chickens are molting, which means they're losing their feathers and not laying many eggs.  It's normal and also explains why there were eggs in my grocery cart for Cannon to break the other day.   Apparently, we shouldn't be surprised if it lasts a few months.  Also, one of the hens (Fufu, Lily's hen and our best layer) is brooding, which means her biological clock thinks it's time for babies.  She hoards all of the eggs and sits on them like she's incubating them.  We have to lift up her bum to gather up all the eggs from underneath.  She sits in her nest box from morning till night.  It's also normal, but sort of annoying.  Sorry, lady, I know what you're going through, but I'm not going through it right now, so I don't have any empathy for you.


We left one of Cannon's binkies at Judy's house today (he was napping there while I helped in Lily's class).  At bedtime tonight I decided to see if he'd go to sleep without one.  I said, "We left your binkie at Grandma's so you're going to have to sleep without it tonight, okay?"  He said, "Okay."  And he went right to sleep.  I guess I had better find the other 2 or 3 that are kicking around here and get rid of them QUICK.  I wonder how naptime will go????


Also, I don't know if I've recorded this, but I ended up getting Briggy switched to the afternoon preschool class so he and Lily would have the mornings together to play.  It has been the best thing ever. 


One last thing to remember.  We have a new rule (about a month old) that the kids don't play with friends on weekdays, only Fridays and Saturdays.  I made it because I didn't feel like the kids were getting enough time to see each other and play together (especially with Chloe, who is so busy).  It has been amazing and the kids have truly loved it.  I hope they always love each other as much as they do now and that this contributes to that affection.

Look at these Lovelies

Three of our 4 older hens are laying!!!  Look at this beautiful array of eggs.

The Chicken Whisperer

Cannon's favorite evening activity is chicken chasing.  Coincidentally, our favorite evening activity is watching Cannon chase the chickens.
He's not really at all interested in catching them...he just likes to herd them.

Overheard:
Cannon to chickens:  Foofy, come eer...making the come here hand motion.  Wuh, Too, Bee.  In a stern voice: Foofy.

And in other news, it's this beautiful girl that's been giving us an earlier than expected daily egg.  She's even found the nesting box (with a bit of help from Stanton) and leaves us a fresh egg every day.  They're getting a little bit bigger and are uniformly golden brown in color.  We're very proud of our early girl.
And it's taking every ounce of self control I possess to resist making an early bird pun here....

Coming Home

We spent a wonderful 3ish days at my sister, Lori's, house for our family reunion this Thurs, Fri, and Sat.  It was more fun than I can express.  This is the first year where I can say that sincerely, which gives me tremendous joy.  I'm so grateful for my kids and my tremendous family.  So very, very grateful.

I plan to do a post about the reunion (you know, like the post I'm planning to do about our family trip to Hawaii *ahem*), but the afternoon we spent here after we got home was one I want to capture while it's still fresh.

We came home to joyful signs of life all around us --

We haven't even unloaded the van yet, but who cares?  This is real life.

Le Poule

Thank Google for that little bit of Fronce' there.

Anyway, in just a few short weeks, our chickens have gone from this:

to this:

to this:

{insert picture of enormous, beautiful, fully feathered chickens....HERE....}

And this little girl just as fond of them now as she was then.

She loves to go out to the coop Stanton built and let the chickens out into their run.  She loves to sit and stare at them as they wander around pecking for food off the ground.  I think there's a bit of solace her little soul receives when she's around animals.

Speaking of the coop Stanton built, here it is, the Coop de Ville:

 Stanton built it off the side of our existing shed.  The open part in the back is a covered wood shelter and inside there are 4 nesting boxes and a 4 level roost.  Their food and water hang from self-regulating feeders  in the ceiling.  The chicken door on the bottom opens from a pulley system on the side and the chickens have the full run area to get exercise and sunshine.  There are two people doors, too.  One leading to the garden so it can be mucked easily (fertilizer for the garden!) and the other out to the cement walkway for easy access in the winter.

We've had a lot of fun with these little pets.  They've been just perfect for us.  And we're getting six more chicks on Thursday!