The Little Red Hen

She is back!!!

We don't know where she's been or how she evaded the many predators we have around here, but Monday night as I went to put the hens to bed I saw a very timid looking chicken walking around the coop. I scooped her up and ran to the house to show Emma. Emma knew it was Eggaline when she first saw her in my arms. We are all so very grateful that she is back. What a story she would have to tell if only she could talk!

Dear Eggaline...

You escaped from the safety your your chicken run yesterday and when we went down to lock up for the night, you were nowhere to be found. The whole family donned puffy winter jackets and warm boots for a dark chilly search of the yard and tree tops for you. Holding out hope that you were hiding for the night and that we would find you pecking around the yard in the morning, we all woke early and looked again.

You were not there. We cried. We can only guess what happened. A part of me still hopes that I will look out my window and see you scratching for bugs, but I fear you are gone. Some may find it strange that one could ever love a chicken....yet we did. You were Emma's cherished chicken. Thank you for the eggs. We do miss you Eggaline.

The truth about chickens

From raising...

to building...

to roofing...

to painting...

to cleaning...

to preparing...

and organizing...

and loving...

we now have ourselves a cute little flock of chickens. 

We wanted to be able to provide our children with the real life work (and mess) of caring for animals, and as far as barnyard animals go - chickens are pretty easy to care for. Getting everything ready for them was a lot of work, but now it is pretty low maintenance. 

We started out with 6 ISA chicks. We bought them because they were guaranteed hens. They lay brown eggs. 1 little chick passed away when it was just a few days old, which they say is pretty common. So we were left with 5, which kind of seemed pretty perfect, since I have 5 little chicks myself! We then bought 6 Ameraucana's. They lay blue/green eggs, but come with no promises as to what they are.

So we bought 6, hoping to end up with at least 3 hens. Any roosters would have to go when the time came. We lost 1 to a bird of prey and quickly covered the chicken run with a net. Again we ended up with 5. As they grew we thought that 1 for sure was a rooster - he soon confirmed of beliefs with his first sad little "cock-a-doo". They don't actually always "cock-a-doodle-doo", they mostly just "cock-a-doo". It is kind of cute the first few times - not so cute anymore and we are hastily in search for a new home for him. Out of 5 birds, we only ended up with 1 rooster! ( I have heard horror stories about people ending up with 95% roosters) Our brown hens are all laying now, and we are getting 5 eggs a day. Even though they each lay brown eggs, each egg is a slightly different color, some even have speckles. 

The eggs are another reason and an added bonus for keeping chickens. It is a good lesson for the children to understand where our food actually comes from. When the kids bless the food they always ask for a blessing to be upon the farmers. The other day we had eggs for lunch and Emma asked that the farmers who grew the food would be blessed. When she finished and we opened our eyes, I smiled at her and told her that we were the farmers. They all thought this was pretty cool! 

We have been patiently waiting for the Ameraucana's to start laying. 

I am happy to say that the first one is here!

This - this is the real reason that I personally wanted to keep chickens. 

It is so beautiful - our very first green egg!

one brown egg

After months, and months.......and months -

Flying the Coop

Up until yesterday our little chicks (that aren't quite so little anymore), were in our bathroom (contained, but still). This wasn't an issue when they were 4 days old, but now at 4 weeks, they are welcome in my en suite no longer. This was an problem because they are still too young to be put with the older birds in the chicken coop and we have no where else to keep them safe. We needed to come up with another option for the next 6-8 weeks. So last night this is what I built! Pretty, no. Functional and super exciting because it means that I would no longer have birds in my bathroom, YES!

Home Stretch

We have been working like crazy trying to get the hen house and run finished. We put the fence up, did some more painting, made a gate, cut down some trees, planted a garden in front of the run fence and cleaned up an area behind the hen house to put the food and bedding. We still have to add some trim to the house and the top of the fence, paint the gate, the posts and the trim, and finish the roof. Then I think we will finally be done.

We got some Ameraucana chickens a couple of weeks ago. Our other little chicks will all be brown and white and lay brown eggs, These hens will lay blue/green eggs, and they add such variety to our little flock - every one of these birds is a different color. The only tricky part is that you cannot tell what gender they are until maturity. So out of the 6 chickens we bought we are hoping to end up with 3 hens - any roosters will have to go.

Hen House part 2

I just thought I would share our progress. It is not finished yet. We still have to add the trim, finish the roof, put up the fence and touch up the paint, but it is coming along.

Note To Self

chickens are taking over life - forget them and get back to reading!

Chicks!

Well we have decided to become chicken farmers, or rather to own a dozen or so of our very own chickens for eggs, not food! 6 little chicks were added to our clan today. Sorry, no roosters allowed. We are on our way to fresh eggs from our very own chickens!
And that is why I am on the hunt for a great old galvanized bucket - for gathering eggs.