"are they alive?"
those are the first thoughts i've had every morning for the past week. and with relief, my husband's answer has been "yes" every time. WHEW! our chicks have been with us (and have survived!) for a week, and what a fun, surprisingly quiet, and exciting week it has been!
i should have said this in my last post, but i forgot...with all the new chick excitement. bluntly, i'm not "an animal person." i like other people's animals and playing with puppies, like most people, but, i like them at other people's houses. sorry! then of all things, why did i pick chickens - you may be asking. well, my family is flabbergasted, as is my vet friend who forbids me from having animals (i say forbid loosely, since she did give me the okay, reluctantly, for chickens).
funny story...it started with us trying to figure out how to use a 30x8' patch of land behind our garage. i had resolved myself to use it for something...so why not a garden? nevermind that i have a brown thumb, but i was inspired by Jen Hatmaker's garden from her book "7," and i wanted to give it another try. however, our property is surrounded by very large trees, so this winter we staked out the sun's movement with popsicle sticks and even cut down some large limbs from our gumball tree that we believed were blocking the sun's light into our back 30'. but i was discouraged, because there wasn't more than 3-4 hours of sunlight shining there. so, we scrapped that idea and saved some seedlings from their impending doom.
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then, it just came to me - this would be a perfect area for chickens! one of our church friends who lives in our neighborhood has about 7 chickens in their big backyard. the girls and i have visited them a couple times and the idea of keeping chickens for ourselves sounded like a fun adventure...without the drool and shedding hair of an indoor animal. ;) so i did what any curious person does who loves books - i checked out all the books available from the library about raising chickens in the city, chicken coops, chicken breeds, and raising chickens week by week. the more i read, the more i felt a part of my soul say, "yes! this sounds great!" the authors all spoke to my spirit when they said things like, "a life like simpler times" and "fresh eggs daily."
i personally was excited about this animal adventure for me, because, in my childhood, i had kept hamsters (my mom killed my favorite with a bug bombing and the others had babies and ate them), gerbils (whatever happened to him?), mice (again, don't remember his quick end but i did like holding them gently by their tails), a snake (it died and mom was happy), cats (several more bad deaths), dogs (my sister's), turtles (rescued for the bathtub until mom made us let them go), rabbits (scored from an Easter party, mom was not thrilled but loved the fertilizer), parakeets (sister killed mine trying to get it to sit on her finger), and a hedgehog (totally my fault...but mom wouldn't let me take it to the vet). but i've never had a CHICKEN! a chicken seems different, somehow. i mean - you can eat them, of course, but you can also eat something that comes from their body...cool!! (our intention is to raise them for their eggs, in case you were curious.)
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also, the idea of my children raising chickens and having (i mean, enjoying the privilege of getting) to go out to the coop every day to gather eggs and scoop poop - it sounds so Laura Ingalls Wilder cool! it reminds me of a simpler time when people were more self-reliant and lived lives of honor and contentment. i want a piece of that for my kids!
so, after researching and researching and asking my darling husband many times before he realized i was really serious, he said yes. ('cause he's pretty amazingly awesome!) i picked my breeds and went to the feed store with the girls and asked them to order our chicks! and that is how we came about getting chickens for our back 30'.
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and, they are still alive and are enjoying their new BIG space today! i moved them out of their standard box into their new indoor temporary 3x3' space that my super awesome husband made for them. they like the space a lot...but still panic and run/fly back to each other when they realize they've ventured out alone!
i love my chicks, as do the girls. they are getting better about holding them, and they are good about not panicking when they get pooped on. the chicks have wing feathers that stretch to their hind ends and have little bitty tail feathers starting to sprout. they are pretty...beautiful, even. i can see God in his design of chickens and their unique wing patters and colors. it's amazing!!!! there is nothing like new life to make you want to worship the Creator!
those are the first thoughts i've had every morning for the past week. and with relief, my husband's answer has been "yes" every time. WHEW! our chicks have been with us (and have survived!) for a week, and what a fun, surprisingly quiet, and exciting week it has been!
i should have said this in my last post, but i forgot...with all the new chick excitement. bluntly, i'm not "an animal person." i like other people's animals and playing with puppies, like most people, but, i like them at other people's houses. sorry! then of all things, why did i pick chickens - you may be asking. well, my family is flabbergasted, as is my vet friend who forbids me from having animals (i say forbid loosely, since she did give me the okay, reluctantly, for chickens).
funny story...it started with us trying to figure out how to use a 30x8' patch of land behind our garage. i had resolved myself to use it for something...so why not a garden? nevermind that i have a brown thumb, but i was inspired by Jen Hatmaker's garden from her book "7," and i wanted to give it another try. however, our property is surrounded by very large trees, so this winter we staked out the sun's movement with popsicle sticks and even cut down some large limbs from our gumball tree that we believed were blocking the sun's light into our back 30'. but i was discouraged, because there wasn't more than 3-4 hours of sunlight shining there. so, we scrapped that idea and saved some seedlings from their impending doom.
then, it just came to me - this would be a perfect area for chickens! one of our church friends who lives in our neighborhood has about 7 chickens in their big backyard. the girls and i have visited them a couple times and the idea of keeping chickens for ourselves sounded like a fun adventure...without the drool and shedding hair of an indoor animal. ;) so i did what any curious person does who loves books - i checked out all the books available from the library about raising chickens in the city, chicken coops, chicken breeds, and raising chickens week by week. the more i read, the more i felt a part of my soul say, "yes! this sounds great!" the authors all spoke to my spirit when they said things like, "a life like simpler times" and "fresh eggs daily."i personally was excited about this animal adventure for me, because, in my childhood, i had kept hamsters (my mom killed my favorite with a bug bombing and the others had babies and ate them), gerbils (whatever happened to him?), mice (again, don't remember his quick end but i did like holding them gently by their tails), a snake (it died and mom was happy), cats (several more bad deaths), dogs (my sister's), turtles (rescued for the bathtub until mom made us let them go), rabbits (scored from an Easter party, mom was not thrilled but loved the fertilizer), parakeets (sister killed mine trying to get it to sit on her finger), and a hedgehog (totally my fault...but mom wouldn't let me take it to the vet). but i've never had a CHICKEN! a chicken seems different, somehow. i mean - you can eat them, of course, but you can also eat something that comes from their body...cool!! (our intention is to raise them for their eggs, in case you were curious.)
so, after researching and researching and asking my darling husband many times before he realized i was really serious, he said yes. ('cause he's pretty amazingly awesome!) i picked my breeds and went to the feed store with the girls and asked them to order our chicks! and that is how we came about getting chickens for our back 30'.
and, they are still alive and are enjoying their new BIG space today! i moved them out of their standard box into their new indoor temporary 3x3' space that my super awesome husband made for them. they like the space a lot...but still panic and run/fly back to each other when they realize they've ventured out alone!i love my chicks, as do the girls. they are getting better about holding them, and they are good about not panicking when they get pooped on. the chicks have wing feathers that stretch to their hind ends and have little bitty tail feathers starting to sprout. they are pretty...beautiful, even. i can see God in his design of chickens and their unique wing patters and colors. it's amazing!!!! there is nothing like new life to make you want to worship the Creator!