Jumping, flapping and playing... it's a hard life

Forgot this photo from Friday...

All lined up, looking out the side of the brooder.
It was like, suddenly they realized,
"HEY! There's something out there!"




It was a very exciting Saturday.  First Josh came to set us up a very fun little jungle gym!

Ta da! Look at me Mom!

"Ohhh! I'm flying!"  This is Josh holding his little Summer.

THEN, we had a visit from a very nice Sock Monster who came all the way from Blakedown School in Kidderminster Worchestershire England.


The girls could not contain their curiosity! Especially Summer, Josh's little one who is the MOST curious girl so far.  She's the first to check anything out that's going on in their home. Whenever you come out to pay them a visit, she comes right to the edge, cranes her neck, tilts her head and looks at you with her little eye.

"Hello?" She says, "Can I help you?"

Just look at those wings feathers coming in!!

Good Friday Babies

Wow, we've had our babies for 2 days already. We have named 4 of the six:

• Mine:  Autumn (Rhode Island Red.. red leaves in fall... Autumn.. you get it)
• Josh: Summer (she is slightly more blonde than reddish)
• Hannah: called hers Hannah... good choice no?  The full name is Hannah Buzz Lightyear (hehe Loves Toystory!)
• Hubby: first said he called his Dinner... now he's still thinking...

My parents are visiting this weekend for Easter, so they get to name another girl. The last one will be named by Hannah's good school friend who donated $0.50 to our Backyard Chicken Project when she learned that it costs $$ to build the coop etc. How sweet.  Hannah has to find out what she will call her little one.

So what has changed? Well they seem to stay awake a bit longer now than before, although they still plop down mid-eating, walking for a nap! They do tire out quickly. Robin caught one napping on its side with its little legs up in the air! Wish we'd got a photo of that!

They have also suddenly become REALLY interested in EVERYTHING. They were before, but they seem to be much more interested now.  I put a log in today and my goodness, what excitement! I couldn't believe how feverishly they started to try and peck and pull all the bark off. One pulled so hard she fell right back on her bum/back and her legs went right up!  I got scared they'd try to eat the bark to eventually took it out.

Lastly, I'd say they are now trying to "perch" on things and had suddenly started to "flap" their tiny wings a lot. Sometimes they do a little Jump. 

OH - the feathers at the tips of their wings are also starting to show!!

Babies Are Here!

Wow, the day is finally here! The kids and I had a hard time getting to sleep, we were SO EXCITED!!

Robin was the lucky on who was working from home, so he got to go to the Feed Lot to pick up our babes. When he got there, he said there were boxes and boxes of peepers! Must have been hundreds of them! They were so loud! He said he bounded up to the desk, a proud new Poppa and cheerfully declared he was here for his 6 little new additions to the family!

Well, he said the lady behind the counter didn't seem very excited or enthusiastic for him. She didn't seem filled with Spring or Easter Baby Chick Joy at all.  Maybe we are Chicken Crazy already?!

They peeped loudly all the way home, poor little things. They must have been so scared in that dark tiny box.

But they sure settled in quickly in their new home, eating, drinking, checking it out and bumping into each other!  And then falling suddenly fast asleep.  Poor dears, moving house is tiring!

We’re Getting Broody!

April 18 2011

So our babies will be arriving soon!  On Weds to be exact.  They are coming from Frey's Hatchery Ltd in St. Jacob's Ontario, not far from Kitchener-Waterloo.  Believe it or not, they can schedule when the chicks hatch! In Feb when I placed the order at the Feed Lot, the lady there told me we'd get them on April 20th.  "How do you KNOW that?!", I asked.  She looked at me like I had 2 heads...  Obviously I'm a Chicken Newbie. 

So tonight we got our brooder all ready.  I've did lots of research on the web and we'd decided that we would try to use things we had around the house as much as possible (reuse and keep costs down otherwise these will be the most expensive eggs in Prescott Russell!)  So we are using an old Rubbermaid contrainer, left over burlap, chicken wire we already had and newpapers for litter and a broken cabinet door for part of the roof.  We did have to buy a heat lamp (they need to be 35C to keep warm.. there goes the electricity bill my hubby said), a feeder and special waterer (so they wouldn't drown!).   

We decided to put the brooder in the garage.  As we mentioned before, we have 2 cats. Our house is also mostly open concept, so the only doors really are to bedrooms and bathrooms, and as much as I think I will love my little girls, I don't really want them in my bedroom peeping all night.  Or smelling for that matter.  Sorry!

With the heat lamp I'm sure they will be fine, plus we can be sure our kitties don't find them at all. 

Here are a few shots of us creating the brooder. 

My son "rinsing" the tub by throwing a water balloon at it.  

 My daughter showing off the heat lamp. 

Almost finished brooder. Here we are adjusting the temperature with our oven thermometer. Our first try had the temp over 45C!  opps too hot for our little gals

Our chicks come in 2 days....

I am excited.... and nervous! 

What if it all goes pearshaped? 

What if they all get sick and die?

What if they live for 5 years?!

  

Will they be as comical, funny and interesting as people's blogs say they are? 

What if I LOVE them?! Can you fall in love with a pet chicken like you fall in love with your pet cat? 

Will I become the Crazy Chicken Lady? .... to be continued....

How we became a backyard chicken farmers

Yesterday I became a mom again, to 6 little reddish brown Rhode Island Red chicks. 

How did this happen?  Why?  I'm still asking myself this question, even though I was the one who thought it would be so much FUN!! Who doesn't want a tiny backyard flock of chickens and fresh eggs?  Back to nature, living off the land, living green!

I'll start at the beginning.  I live in rural Prescott Russell with my husband, 2 kids, 2 cats and 2 fish on 1 acre of mostly reforested spruce plantation.  We have a solar hot water heater, and have been eyeing other solar devices.  We strive to be green.  We compost, try to grow veggies (I say try, rabbits, slugs, bugs and my brown thumb seem to thwart me every year... only thing that seems to grow well for me is purple bush beans. Thank goodness everyone loves them!), reduce, reuse and refuse before recycle (still we have TONS of recycling!) 

My kids are 7 and 9.  Last fall friends of ours were talking about the resurgence of backyard chickens, extoling the virtues of fresh eggs on your doorstep every morning. I thought they were crazy. 

But the thought wouldn't go away.  Growing up in Kitchener, I remember our Portuguese neighbour behind us had a couple hens.  I had another friend at school who had a goose or duck in her backyard.  My father grew up on a mixed farm outside of Listowel. Was it really so strange?

My kids LOVED the idea and also wouldn't let it go.  "Mommy, I want Chickens! I will collect the eggs, PROMISE!  I'll help clean out the coop, I will  I WILL!!"   hmmm I thought... my son forgets to feed his fish and they don't always want to feed the cats... don't get me started on the kitty litter (I don't even like to do that!)

All through the winter both my kids and me kept coming back to the idea. How would we do it?  How many would we get?  I drilled into them that IF (a big IF) we did this, they would HAVE TO HELP with the chores each day. Feeding, watering, changing bedding and eventually collecting eggs. Nothing I said detered them.  Months after they were still just as excited as they were in the Fall about Chickens, and frankly so was I!   

I started becoming obsessed with reading Backyard chicken websites... did you know that they will eat your compost!?  They love kitchen scraps!  They will help devour your insect pests in your garden (great!) They give you free, high quality manure for the garden! (wonderful! Our lot is mostly builders sand and a thin layer of something that is not really "top soil")... everything seems so rosy and wonderful about chickens. 

It would be a great way for the kids to understand what it takes to actually feed people.. how much our famers work to provide us with (cheap!) food.  How important it is to treat animals ethically and with respect. Not to mention the cycle of life...    

hmmm ... cycle of life.  By now my husband was starting to get concerned that I was SERIOUS about this crazy cluckbrain idea... and he didn't want egg layers... he wanted Meat Chickens... but that  comes with ... well... killing.. .and how do we explain that to the kids?  Apparently meat birds only take a couple months to raise, then you take them off to the abbatoire who does everything for you.  When you come back, you have you chickens all cleaned and bagged, ready for the freezer.  He promised to take us along with him and show us the ropes)  Again, what could be easier?  AND better for you?  Happy free-range ladies who are happy little hens eating your nutritious kitchen leftovers... no worries about animal treatment or hormones.

We decided to try out the egg birds first and see how it goes.  We then had more supper discussion about where our MEAT comes from... and the realities of being raised for food if you are a yummy animal like a pig, cow or chicken.... and how the egg layers would be like "pets", but the meat chickens wouldn't.  We would have to eat them.  Again, the kids were very excited about the prospect of being farmers and seemed to understand what this would mean. 

SO... on a very cold and windy Saturday in Feb, I went to our local feed lot and ordered 6 little Rhode Island Reds for delivery on April 20th.

I came home exhilarated!  So happy and proud of myself and excited! This was going to be a great adventure! A great learning experience for the kids and the family!  

And the next day I thought, "OH MY!  What have I done?".