Chickenless

Today our chickens are going to their new home. Although we've enjoyed them, the time has come to move them along. Fortunately, we were able to find a family that has 12 other chickens and a good spot for a few more. They promised not to eat 'em (my daughter's main requirement) so hopefully our girls will continue to live a long and happy egg-layin' life.

Bye, girls. We'll miss ya. (but not the poo...)

Chickens

In all the time I've been without a camera I've wished I could show you our beautiful, big, white chickens. So today is my chance. Sadly, yesterday one of our four chickens died. :( We have no idea why. All four came out of their coop just fine in the morning, but later in the day I heard some suspicious flapping noises and several of the chickens were making a lot of noise. I went out to investigate and found one chicken making her final few flaps before dying. She didn't have any wounds, no blood. So we don't know why she died. She was only a year old. (thankfully, my husband was home, so I didn't have to bury the poor gal)

Although our chickens can be quite messy, they are entertaining and fun pets. They are very social, and will follow their "mother" (my 12 year old daughter) all around the back yard and cluck away in their chickenish conversations. Lots of character and personality in chickens. Which makes it hard when one dies.

Eeeeew-weeeeEEE! Or, Why It is Very Stinky to Keep Chickens in your Bathtub

So we got through the night, with my raining and blowing outside that was very noisy, and a 4 year old waking up crying and screaming because he had a stuffy nose, and an 11 year old waking me up to ask, "What's that noise?!" when there was so much noise from the wind and rain that, really, it was anybody's guess which noise was bothering her.

And then, a phone call from my husband around 2am. He was at work, waiting to be called out with his fire dept. to help with the various emergencies that always erupt from violent weather. He just wanted to make sure we really were downstairs, because tornadoes were touching down nearby. Goodie!

Morning came very early after such a sleepless night. And then I got to deal with the amazing STINK of the bathroom, courtesy of our four chickens. I did not realize they poop so much in their sleep. W-O-W! At least they did stay in the tub, though.

I escorted my four house guests outside, fed them, and then got to work cleaning out the bathtub. While getting 3 kids ready to go to school. And making breakfast. And a few other things. No worries, though! It's all done, the stink is gone, and the chickens live to see another day.

Let it never be said that I don't care for animals....

Why?

Because right now there are four chickens in my bathtub.

Why?

Because we are expecting 85 MPH winds tonite, and I just didn't have the heart to make them weather the storm in their little chicken coop.

Chickens sleep like the dead, so I knew they wouldn't be any trouble in here. I carried each one in after they were already asleep. They are still a little dazed about their change in accomodations, but haven't left the tub and I don't expect they will. I'll be up before they will in the morning, so I'll just put 'em out dark and early.

All of the human inhabitants of my house will be sleeping downstairs (mostly below ground level) tonite, just to be on the safe side. The storm is supposed to hit around 3am, and I'd just rather not try to relocate all of us at that hour.

Lots of bad storms and tornados all over the USA tonite. Pray!

So our chicken has a hurt leg. She started limping yesterday, though we don't see any wound or obvious break. Out came the Encyclopedia of Country Living, which assured me that chickens can recover quite nicely from a broken leg if you restrict the space they have to run around, and put a splint on their leg. So, now we have a popsicle-stick splint on our dear chook. Hopefully she'll recover soon. Chickens are so social, they hate to be separated from their flock. We fenced her in under the shade of an apple tree, where she would have lots of fallen apples and bugs to choose from. But, she was sad to be so far away from the other girls. Ah! The adventures never end here.....

A little bit 'o culture

One of the things I love about Netflix is the wide variety of films and cultural experiences I can share with my children.

Tonite we are watching Cirque Du Soleil's Dralion performance from 2000. It's been fun to share this with them, since our opportunities to see CDS are fairly limited here in Kentucky. :)

Now I have several would-be contortionists and balancing acts going on in my family room.....

Aside from that, our chickens are probably at least three times larger than they were when we got them less than two weeks ago. It is very cold out so they are still living indoors. Our house is starting to smell rather barn-like. As soon as it gets warm they are going out. They are cute, but definitely outgrowing the live-in space we have available.

Crazy....I'm crazy for.....

buying baby chickens on a whim.

:)

We've wanted to get laying hens for awhile now. (years, in fact) I love farm fresh eggs (Please see my hilarious story about Farm Fresh Eggs from my childhood..... Actually, I don't know if it's hilarious to read, but it was hilarious at the time, and still makes me laugh and laugh when I tell it....) and my daughter wants to go into business selling eggs to our neighbors and friends.

Yesterday she and I were out on some errands and came across a pickup truck in a parking lot selling baby geese, ducks, rabbits, and chicks. Just In Time For Easter!

Yeah, well, my daughter got all excited, so I decided to stop and find out just what I would need to do for the chickens. It didn't sound too tough, and they were only $1 each. So, $4 poorer and 4 chicks richer, we headed home to surprise the family.

Now we have a nice little setup in one of our bathrooms for our new pets. We went to the feed store this morning to get chicken leg bands (four different colors so we can identify them since of course we had to name our chickens!! Sally, Angel, Princess, and Tiffany!! What a riot!), proper chicken feed, little feeder and water bowls, etc.

So, hopefully we'll keep them alive and kicking so that I can continue to share stories about

-chickens getting over the fence and annoying the neighbors
-the day our chicken gets killed by a neighbor's cat or a wild raccoon
-how wonderful chickens are and how I can't wait to get 10 more
-how my daughter made a million dollars selling Farm Fresh Eggs

Stay tuned!