September 4, 2017

A New Adventure

Happy Labor Day!

We have officially entered new territory!

Here's a hint:


(No, not a playhouse for the children, as our neighbor suggested.)

Almost finished.

Surely you have guessed it by now!

That's right.
CHICKENS!
Currently residing in our laundry room.

We picked up 13 Golden Sex-Link chicks from the Tractor Supply store, for 25 cents each.
Neither my husband nor I have ever raised chickens.

We were quite worried the first night, since we didn't see any of them drinking the water.
So my husband caught several of them and tapped their beaks against the metal nipple.
It was a bit hard to tell which ones he had already done, since they all look very much alike at this stage. I guess they figured it out somehow, because they made it through the night!

This was a week ago; kids are still thrilled!
I am happy to report that so far they have all survived.

Their wings have started to grow out now and they are getting a little more feisty when the kids pick them up, but still all kinds of fun.
We have one more week of keeping them indoors.
It hasn't been too bad, to be honest.
The laundry room is on the one end of the house, and bedroom are upstairs, so we haven't heard them chirping all night or anything.
My 3 little helpers have been good about changing out food and water, and wood shavings, too.

They should be grown up enough to start laying eggs by spring.
At least, that's what the books say. What do we know?

So, don't hold out on me!
Give me all your chicken advice!

3 comments:

  1. How fun! Chickens are actually the easiest animals we have ever had. If you have a couple of feeders and automatic watering with the metal nipples, you don't have to feed them every day and they are not demanding. Their eggs are amazing! Have you found the backyard chickens website? I found that so helpful with every question I had about chickens. My biggest problem with chickens was the prowling raccoon that started coming by in the middle of the night and attacking. It somehow got its little hands through the chicken wire or under a tiny gap and got to one of our chickens. It was the most horrifying sound. So sad! My neighbor set his raccoon trap and caught the raccoon. I eventually gave our chickens to my mother in law who lives in the country so I could reclaim my yard for other things, but we enjoyed having them.

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    1. That's great to hear! I'm looking forward to the eggs!

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