Make That a Dozen

We have a dozen! Five more are still hatching. I think one of those won't make it. He's been stuck in his shell for 24 hours and just can't seem to break out. He broke through the shell, but seems too weak to break that membrane. Anyway, we should have at least 16, maybe 17, chickens by the end of the day.

School's going to be tough today, with all that peepin' goin' on. But, we've been doing school all weekend, with these little chickens teaching us about God's greatest miracle, the miracle of life!

I just had a friend call who wants to bring her 6 kids over to see our new flock. We're turning into a regular old petting zoo. So Cool. We need more animals. I know Vicki asked you all not encourage goats, but you can just ignore that bad advice. I definitely see goats in our future. If Kenzie got such a kick out chicks hatching, imagine how excited she'll get when we have our first baby goat?

We Have a New Due Date

The old EDD was October 25, 2006, but that's just for when we expect one more kid. Been there, done that. The new EDD is now October 2, when we could potentially add up to 24 new members to our household, albeit temporary members; at least until they encounter the dinner table. They arrived last night by express egg carton, direct from the nice lady who's been collecting them from her flock of chickens for the past week. Twenty one days to go until hopefully a bunch of these will hatch. They say the hatch-rate is low this time of year so I don't have any idea how many chickens to expect on Oct. 2; let's keep our fingers crossed! Julie, the generous lady with the chickens, also said she liked my coop. I appreciate that, since she has the chicken experience, and this is my first coop. She also said we may have some foster hens -- not all roosters like we thought at first. I can't tell the difference yet. It doesn't really matter since all the foster fowl will be heading back home by November 13, when these new chicks will take over the coop. We won't have home-grown chicken (rooster) for Christmas dinner, but Easter is looking pretty good. We might even start getting a few eggs by Easter, too.

On a another note, I just happened to find some pics of my other babies while I was downsizing the egg incubator picture. Meet Betty and Wilma. They're my Beardies (Bearded Dragons) who will be celebrating their one year anniversary with us soon. You all can have the dogs and cats. These critters are the best. I don't even pretend these are the kids' pets. They're mine, and the kids can't have them.

Oh, and don't tell Vicki, but if these chickens work out, I think a couple goats might be in our future. I say a 'couple' because I hear they get lonely if you only get one. We can't have lonely goats on our hands, can we? I'll need to fence the yard in, but that's something the kids and I can work on next Summer. The kids fell in love with some goats our friends have, and I've been looking for way to cut back on using gasoline. No need for a lawn mower if we have goats, right?