Chickens

Ok, so now I have graduated from feeding the wild birds.  We got chicks today!  The line up looks like this...once they grow up, we will have two beautiful black and white hens, one black with green shimmery hen and one gold with a little black.  I guess the gold one is one of the ones that people show.  So far they are tiny.  They were hatched on Tuesday.  I think they hatch them, feed and water them and throw them in a box.  Did you know that chicks are fed ex'd in a box with 200 of them all together?  That is just crazy. 

So we talked to the feed store guy for a while the other night about what the temperaments of the hens are.  We passed over the leghorns.  I guess they lay eggs like crazy, but they are flighty.  That isn't the best kind of hen to have if you are going to have them in a chicken tractor.  Yeah, I said chicken tractor.  It is a portable house and pen for chickens.  We can move them around and fertilize different areas of our yard.  At least that is the idea. 

We got the girls a few hours ago.  It is amazing to see how alive they have become just in the past few hours.  Tim was giving me the play by play for a while.  New chicken parents get a little nervous.  We will have to see how things turn out.  They are nice and warm and have food and water thanks to my big sis Monica. 

So the thing is about chicken tractors...I realized that chicken tractors for people who are going to have their chickens in a fenced yard can be different than people who have to watch for predators.  Even the dogs next door can be considered predators here.  Or our dogs for that matter.  So now we have to figure out what is going to keep them safe.  Maybe I will talk to my nephew Jason and get his thoughts.  He has had a variety of different chicken dwellings over the years.

Wish I had some funny stories to tell you, but so far we just got things set up.  I did learn that if you want to pick up chicks and you are coming at them from above, it is good to talk to them or hum while you are doing it.  Just think about Godzilla coming to pick you up.  You would be scared too!  And you have to be careful of them jumping out of your hands as you are holding them.  I already had one take a jump out.  Luckily she seemed ok afterwards.

I am sure that I will have more stories soon.  Have a good evening.