Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Chicken Babies in the Laundry Room - Oh My

So I am a bit behind in my story of the chickens and how they came to be with us.  For several years Abby and I have been talking chickens and while several of our neighbors had them Joe didn't want to be that family so we opted to wait until we found another location to live that was more appropriate for farm animals.
The family of one of Abby's friends are expert chicken people so we went in with them to get some day old chicks and some base knowledge on how to keep them alive and what to look for.  We got a big clear tub, and I built a chicken wire and wood lid for it.  We have a chick warmer and food and water containers and were as ready as we could be for them to arrive.

They were about the size of a tennis ball with legs when we got them.  They are seven different kinds of chickens.  Abby could rattle them all off for us but I don't have all of them filed in my memory bank.  As a result they all look different from one another and that makes it easier to remember all their names (yes they all have names).  They lived in their little chicken bin until May when we had to upgrade them to a dog kennel (see the last photo).  It took a while for me to get the chicken coop built and ready, and we couldn't even let them outside for several weeks because the black flies (little gnats) were killing chickens in Boone and Story county.

We did let them out of the kennel under supervision without the kitties present.  The cats would sit on top of their first chicken house and watch them when we were in doing laundry and they could be in the same space.  Chicken TV really is quite fun to watch even for the humans in the house.  Eventually I finished the coop and got the girls and rooster out to their outdoor living quarters.  Below is a photo of each one with their names.
Bob Mother Clucker

Rainey one of Abby's show chickens

Lacey Abby's other show chicken

Ginger the Americana

Summer

Journey the escape artist

Eley

Amelio formerly known as Amelia

All but one chicken on the roosting bar in the dog kennel shortly
before they were freed to the back yard.

No comments:

Post a Comment