New Arrivals!!

The girls and I have wanted to raise chickens for 2 years now.  The thought of having fresh organic free-range eggs every day is very appealing.  The thing that has held us back is the time, work, and money that goes into starting the endeavor.  Not to mention, a husband who really dislikes chickens!!  Well, this spring the timing all seemed to be right.  We felt up to the challenge so we waited until we returned from our week's vacation (spring break) at Chicago and then came home and created our homemade brooder for the chicks.  There are so many kinds to choose from and they can be quite expensive if you choose to buy one.  Well, we settled on taking cardboard boxes, taping them together with packing tape and lining them with newspaper and pine shavings.  We have 2 chick waterers and one chick feeder.  We soon realized they would need a perch/roosting pole also so Tim made a homemade one. 

We started out with the idea of getting 8.  Our family eats at least 6-8 eggs a day so I thought 8 hens just wouldn't be enough!  We ended up getting 12 baby chicks.  We have 4 Leghorn pullets and 8 Golden Comet pullets.  We got them all on March 31.  We were told that the Golden Comets were about 3 weeks old and the Leghorns about 2 weeks.  The Golden Comets are growing so quickly it is amazing!!  They have "feathered up" so much in only 4 days!  It is very fun to watch their personalities.  Some are very sweet and docile while others are more scared and apprehensive.  One is such a lovey dovey and ALWAYS wants to climb on my hand and be held (a very curious bird...already wants to see the world!).  A few have names....strangely they are all male names even though we know they are all females! 

       

This is my "Napoleon" giving a good stretch.

These are 2 Leghorns.  The one with the spot on her head, Mieke named "Moses". 

No name yet, but she likes to take a nap on the edge of a bowl!

Stretching her new feathers

They are changing so fast.  They are losing their baby fuzz and

getting more and more feathers every day!

This was at 3 weeks (first day we had them). They fell asleep on the

waterer.

Chicks at 3 weeks

Napoleon already looks like she's trying to lay an egg!

Well, we started our chicken coop today!  Looks like they will be able to start moving outside in the next week or two.  Some are maturing and feathering-up quicker than others.  We'll start moving them out to the coop as soon as they are fully feathered.  My next post will show pictures of the coop being built!