Growing, growing...

Yes they grow fast, faster than we imagined.


Kristi's chicken "Killer"

Liya's chicken "No!" (center).
Killer on the right.
Snickers on the left.
(Charlotte's chicken "Cinderella" not shown)

Those chickens better hope they can lay eggs or we know just what to do with them.

Chickens - the first week

In a separate post I'll add some pictures/progress of the chicken coop. For now, here are some pictures when the chicks were less than a week old. They don't look like this anymore.


Liya petting and her chicken.

Mom, I can't just choose one!

Liya's bird again. Note the chicken foot in the upper right-hand corner. Charlotte cannot help but pick these fuzz balls up and cuddle them.

Opps. Not a chicken picture. Oh well. Grandma Lois bought a box of cones. Charlotte is doing her part to help Grandma polish them off.

Liya's bird upper left (unnamed). Kristi's bird lower right (Killer for now).

Killer front and center.

Charlotte can't figure out where the other 5 went.

Teaching the chickens how to scratch properly. We had to dig dirt out of her finger nails and cut then cut them short.

The chickens are eager to eat out of your hand.

Happy girls!

Cousins

Liya came to visit Minnesota for a week in April. Grandpa and Charlotte drove half way to Liya's house and Uncle Travis drove Lisa and Liya up half way. We picked up our precious cargo at a truck/rest stop. To be sure, the cousins were excited to see each other! Note one little queen got to go on the journey in her pajamas (and you can't see the pink cow girl boots on the feet).

This happy meeting deserves a hug!

An extra long hug at that!!!

Grandpa has a product idea to make his first million. A sturdy light weight slide that has rock climbing hand/foot holds along one side for climbing back up. The slide can be used indoors. Simply place the couch cushions along side for added safety. These girls played on this prototype (a card table) for a solid 30 minutes! Did I mention the squeals of delight?

Bigger cousin reading to littler cousin. Who cares if the story matches the words on the page.

I can't remember the incident but in the end a little comfort from your older cousin is all you really need!

They're Here!

The chickens are here. I believe Charlotte is holding her chicken Daisy.

Someone is proud and happy.

Charlotte's Dad is as frugal (code word for cheap?) as me. He's showing Charlotte how to make a chicken feeder out of an old egg carton.

Home for the next several week is a box with a heat lamp. They have to be kept around 95-100F for a couple of weeks, then gradually lowered until they can be moved outside into the so far non-existent coop. As the weather warms up they'll get some outings into the great out doors to look for bugs and worms.

We had to purchase 6 as it was the minimum order. The coop is designed to hold 3 so the rest will be given away. These are supposed to be all hens and if one turns out to be a rooster, then it also turns into supper.

Daisy is the second from the left. Liya has yet to name her chicken or pick one for herself. When you ask Liya what she wants to name her chicken she more often than not says "No!". So we may have the first chicken ever named "No!".

Chicken Little (Little Chicken)

Two chicks. One will grow much faster than the other. Need chicken hotel for 3-4 chicks that will be coming home with Charlotte and her Mom in the next few days or so. Perhaps Liya will be here too and pick out her own chick? One for Kristi (that's really who these chicks are for), one for Charlotte and one for Liya! We won't get chicks from this particular batch in this photo because Kristi thinks they are already too big. ha! Anyway, a new batch will come in in the next few days. And we'll probable get 3-4 then.

Little chicks turn into full size chickens in short order. What to do. Like a chick that says "cheap", so does Grandpa. The chicken coop needs to be built for "cheap". Luckily, I've hung onto an old remnant of a deck for 22 years (squirled away in a shed in case one day I could use it for something). Well this seems like an occasion to pull it out of moth balls and make use of it. It's still probably going to cost probably around $80-$90 to buy the rest of what we'll need. I understand the chicken food adds up as well. This will not be a money saving proposition by any means. But how to turn this into a chicken coop. Lots of thinking went into this. I was convinced that I simply needed to finish framing in this old deck piece, slap a little plywood on it and presto we'd have a ready to go cheap coop. After hours of contemplation, a beer or two (or more) I convinced myself to start from scratch and just cannibalize the old deck boards. I have specific goals that are better achieved by starting from scratch. I also got some free 2x4's last year from Matt and Kristi's neighbor anticipating maybe doing this one day.

So this is where we're at as of today (4/19/2011). It doesn't have to be ready for probably a month from the day we get the chicks as they'll live indoors under a heat lamp until they have real feathers and the outdoor temp warms up. These pieces in the picture above are held together by bubble gum and spit for now just so it would stand up so I could get a feel for how it might work.

This base will be screened on all four sides and on the bottom at ground level as well. Plenty of critters will want to get a piece or two of chicken so the screens are essential. On top I'll build an enclosed space with a roost, nest (we're getting chickens for the eggs, not the meat), and a trap door and ramp to allow the chickens to move between the coop and the screened area below. I'll try to remember to take and post pictures as the adventure continues.