Chick Days.

Have you ever run into Tractor Supply to get cat food, but then gotten side tracked by the tiny white chick that was cuddling with a duckling, and her tiny bantam friend...but then you remember that there is a six chick minimum so you pick out four more?...why not right?   Happy Chick Days!!!

It's that time of year people...chick days!  Some people have tiny chicks pipping and peeping in their incubators, some get a call early one morning from the post office that their chicks have been delivered...and some people just go to Tractor Supply and pick out chicks!

If you've never been to Tractor Supply, you should probably go.  Farm stuff, all matter of pet stuff, boots, kick ass jeans, goo goo clusters, peanut butter filled pretzels...we all have our favorites at TS.   It is the joke around here every year that your Christmas present is probably coming from either Value World or Tractor Supply.  I could hang out in there all day - especially when the chicks come in!

They have big metal bins set up in the middle of the store with all different kinds of chicks and ducklings.  You don't have to buy any (but you probably will), but you should probably take the kids in to have a look...it will make you happy for the rest of the day!

This year is my year to re-boot my flock.   My plan is to get 18 new chicks total (and maybe some ducklings a little later in the spring...don't want them in the house because they are a hot wet mess :).   I have specific breeds that I love/want, so in all of my driving for work I pop into the different TS's to see what kind each store has.  I've gotten 12 so far...but I need to pace myself.  There are a few more breeds that I hope come in to round out the flock!

Tiny chicks in giant bins...peep peep peeping!

And Oh the Ducklings!  They are getting so big that they are "on sale" for .50 cents.  They are hopping out of the bins at night, waddling around the store, and setting off the security censors.  God I love them.

Coco carrying her chick "to go" container :).

My babies!! "I'll just take a quick nap in the food" the tiny one said.

The Set Up - Chicks live under a heat lamp in your house till warm spring days.  The dining room excitedly gets turned into the nursery!

The Watchdog - Trixie jumped in once and layed down with them...she is a herding dog people!   It's her instinct!

xoxo, e.

A Girl and Her Chickens. or Chickens, A Love Story.

A proper introduction to the flock, of sorts, is long overdue.  So, let me formerly introduce you to my gals and guys....let's start with the chick, or the egg, or the...

Ok.  There is Sookie, Sheriff Eric Northman, Wanda Jackson, Susie Q, Lily and Rosie, St. Marie, Henny Penny, and Dolly Parton #1, #2, and #3 (they look alike), and my rooster, The Shiek.

We decided when we bought the farm to slowly add livestock over the years.  Year one - chickens.  So in March, one goes to Tractor Supply.  One buys heat lamps, feeders, and tiny, yipping and pipping chicks.  One also buys four baby ducks because their husband says "Please, I'll do anything if you just let me get those ducks."  MmmHmm.  And so it became the year of the chickens and the ducks.

It's March, keep in mind, and tiny baby birds have to live in your kitchen in totes under heat lamps, not outside yet.   Every morning they would hear me come down the stairs, and the excited cheeping and quacking would start.  And they grew.  Fast.  

I'm talkin' full grown ducks in your kitchen with no sign of spring in sight yet.  But spring came, and the coop got built.  The chicks and ducks made it into the barn, and before you know it, they actually started laying eggs!  The first two were like gold.  You'd think that we had never seen an egg before.

They give and give, and then randomly the smarty pants chickens start hiding their pretty powder blue eggs, and you get worried because they are "not laying," but really they have made a nest out of a dish towel in a corner of the barn, and outsmarted you again.

They peak in the doors for visits.

They lay gigantic double yolkers.

They are amazing.  And so, when you see a beautiful little bird for $15 dollars at the farm down the road, you pack a cat carrier full of hay, and you go get her.

St. Marie was a very welcomed addition to the flock.  She is a Golden Sebright bantam, and she is no bigger than a dove, and she is full grown.  She lays teeny tiny eggs the size of a quarter.  We lost a few and gained a few chickens in the first year (neighbor's dog eating chickens, other neighbors dropping random chickens off in totes) and St. Marie rounded us off to an even dozen chickens, and the four ducks (we'll get to them in a minute).  The day I brought her home, I put her down with the others, and the CCIP (Cesarz chicken integration program) began.  The others chased her away at first, and she would fly straight up, 40 ft in the air, and sit on the power lines.  And I would think, "Good God, I brought home a dove and am going to try and keep her in a coop?".    But after a few days, my two head chickens, Sheriff Eric Northman and Sookie (smartest, prettiest, best girls) took the little one under their wings, literally.

Which brings me to last night.  Chickens have assigned sleeping spots in their coop.  In the beginning, each night we would creep out to the barn at dusk, and the little chicken would be on the fence outside of the barn, shivering and trying to sleep.  I would place her into her new "assigned spot" in the coop and cross my fingers.  Each morning I would go out, and St. Marie would be sleeping up in the rafters, which is apparently where she wanted to be.  So be it.  Last night I went out to "tuck the babies in" (lock up the barn) and in true big sister form, the sheriff, my white chicken, was sleeping on top of the coop directly across from St. Marie...just to keep an eye on the baby.  They are like a perfect little family, and they are part of our little family.

Ok, just a word on the ducks.  I held them as babies.  I kissed them an told them how much mommy loved them.  I give them a fresh swimming pool every day, and share my cucumber slices with them.  And still, they think I am going to kill them every minute of every day.  They are my rotten little babies.  They rape and pillage the chickens.  They run away.  They quack.  They chase me with their heads down until I turn around and tell them I might eat them.   But, they lay beautiful, huge eggs every day and I make amazing custard and ice cream with them.  So they can stay.  Because we like ice cream.

The Bevy:  Hank, Henrietta, Peaches, and Penny.