This post is for those of you who have asked for a chicken update.
Let's start at the beginning...
It all began about 6 months ago when I had the brilliant idea that we needed to raise chickens. Steve did some research and discovered that we could have up to 12 hens as long as we didn't have any roosters. Wonderful. Fresh eggs were just months away!
So Steve, Leila and I took the hour and a half drive to Amber Waves Farm, where Jim and Debbie raise miniature goats and fluffy Bantam chickens.
We randomly chose 6 adorable chicks to bring home with us, hoping that 2 to 4 of them would be hens.
The one week old chicks lived in our pool bathroom shower for a little over a month.
As the chicks got older we let them explore the garden.
When they were about 2 months old, they were ready to live in their coop.
The chickens became part of our family.
They kept me company while I tended to the kitchen garden.
I couldn't have been happier.
Our quiet life with our chickens hit a bump when the chicks were about 3 months old. One early morning both of the black chickens started crowing. Loudly! Apparently they were roosters. We quickly made an appointment to take them back to Amber Waves.
We brought home two little brown girls...
who bonded with our four white chickens.
We were one big happy family again until this chicken started crowing last week.
Unfortunately he looked very similar to this one...
and this one.
Even the brown chickens were starting to grow something on top of their beaks. Could they be roosters too?
The only chicken that looked different was Henrietta. But it was impossible to only have one hen out of 8 chickens. Right? There was only one way to find out...
We decided to pack up all of our 6 chickens for another visit to Jim at Amber Waves. Jim doesn't look too happy. Yes, 5 of our 6 chickens were roosters!
With Jim's help, Leila and I chose another 5 chicks.
Does this one look like a girl? We're keeping our fingers crossed!
Leila was getting a little frustrated. She wanted to give up on chickens and just take home this one day old miniature goat. Do you think our neighbors would notice?
After convincing Leila that the goat would have to wait until we moved to Patina Farm, we drove home with our 5 new chicks. They seem to like their new home in our coop.
Henrietta is getting used to her new role as Mama Hen.
So here we go again! Please send your positive "hen" thoughts our way...
xo
Brooke
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