Foster Chickens

WE HAVE CHICKENS!!

We are now the proud foster parents of three roosters, temporary residents of our brand new chicken coop. We'll probably get 3 more tomorrow. They actually belong to our friends who have 15 chickens and enough room to house about 6, at least until they get their own coop and run built. I jumped the gun, as usual, and built our coop even before we had the eggs. Now we know the answer to that age old question of which came first. For us, the chickens. Right now, a couple families we know are gathering eggs from their flocks for us. Once there's enough to fill the incubator, we'll begin the process from eggs. If all goes as planned, the guys you see here will be just old enough for the dinner table when our new birds are ready to take over the coop sometime in early to mid December.

I was at the grocery store today, and the kids and I were in line, talking about getting chickens. The cashier overheard and I told her we were getting chickens. She got the strangest look on her face (well, not strange for me, I get them all the time from people; they don't expect the kinds of things I tell them about me and my family). The cashier asked where we'd put them, and I told her in the back yard, and her look got stranger (but, where else would you put chickens, I ask you). I went on to tell her that they'd be in a chicken coop, and that seemed to make it all okay. I'm really glad I built a coop. I wouldn't people to think I'm strange, or anything.

Anyway, after the cramped quarters those chickens were in at their old residence, they took right to their new home. They didn't have an open run before; now they have all kinds of open space, and lots of new bugs to eat. I couldn't get them inside without the kids' help. We have a fox and stray cats out there and I didn't want to kill my friends' chickens the first night I had them.

The kids are overjoyed that we have chickens now. Bekah can't leave them alone, and keeps chasing them around, trying to pet them. Taylor, Mr. shy himself, thinks nothing of walking around with a chicken in his hands. And Kenzie, of course, loves anything that moves. Alex and Kenzie say they're going to be up at 6:30 tomorrow morning to feed, water, and let the chickens outside. I bet they'll do it, too, the first day.

A lot of this is a repeat of Vicki's Blog, so you read more there.