Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!

It's been a year since the first little peeps came to our acre. Ohhh!!! How cute they were!!! It's hard not to fall in love with baby animals of most any variety and the chicks gobsmacked us straight into LOVE with their little ways.

We started with these two little Silver-laced Wyndottes.

Before too long we had ten chicks. HA!

They are all so sweet and so cute. I'm still not sure why I restrained myself, because I really wanted an even TWO DOZEN! LOL!!! We ended up with the two SLWs, two Rhode Island Reds, two Plymouth Rocks and four Buff Orpingtons. A nice little starter flock. ;-)

And because it was cold outside and the babies needed to be kept warm, Daddy built them a big wooden box, I put a heat lamp, their food, water, a nice think layer of straw/sawdust and they lived IN THE LIVING ROOM! Yes. (THAT ain't happening EVER again.)

Even as "Teens", they were still sweet. Gangly and awkward. Funny and braver.

It wasn't long into their chickie days when we began to wonder if one of the Silver-Laced Wyndottes was a young hen or a rooster. We waited. And watched. We really didn't want a rooster. You don't need a rooster unless you want fertile eggs and/or more baby chicks. We didn't want either. So, we waited. And watched. See that red comb coming up? Clues!

Lacy

Lou-Lou

 Sure, enough Lou-Lou was Louis. We had ourselves a rooster. Ohh, What a HANDSOME fellow!

Sid got busy and built two snazzy chicken tractors, movable pens with a little coop attached. And Sid has pictures, VIDEOS even...I can't find them. But when I do, I'll post them. ;-)

For a long time we kept the chickens in the tractors. Then one day... we let them out. At night, they went back in and happily roosted in their little coops. Good! That works! And that's how we've had it since. Safe and snug in the coops at night, out during the day. They LOVE it!

And that first egg!!! Oh, HAPPY day!

YIKES!!!

One rooster, nine young biddies. During the peak of their laying last summer and fall, a few times they gave us 8 eggs a day. Cool!!!!

During the winter, the girls took a bit of a vacation and some days we'd find a couple eggs. At least one a day. Even when it was the coldest.

One of the Reds was attacked. Her entire back was plucked and beyond. Poor thing. And then we were down to a rooster and 8 hens.

And during the winter months, Louis started being really protective and possessive. He attacked me from behind one day. Several times. Daddy was Louis' champion...until the rooster king attacked him. That was enough. Most of us had been on the receiving end of that rooster's wrath and I put an ad on Freecycle. By the next day, King Louis had moved to a new home. No more rooster here. We miss his noise, but not enough to want to replace him. LOL!

And here we are, nearly the end of March and our 8 remaining hens are...

A D O R A B L E ! ! !

 I love to go out and kanoodle with them. So sweet. I love their happy clucking noises. Their eggs (6 a day right now!!!) are THE best! Bright orange yokes. YUM!

This morning, Sid and I walked around out back and talked about our wishes, dreams and plans for this year. One thing for sure, the chickens are here to stay.

Like one of my friends said last summer, they give this acre a soul. LOL!!! And that'll do!

Gotta love a face like this! ;-)

Learning Curve

Gratitude #82 - A Learning Curve

All day I've been thinking about what I wanted my Gratitude for the day to be. Now, I know. Took long enough! LOL! There were so many to choose from, right?

Tonight I'm grateful for the learning curve that blogging has set into motion. Of course, I want to know it all right now. The best way to do this and that, the tips and how-to stuff that makes it all smooth and perfect! Lots of good photos, a tutorial once in a while, thought out and well written words. Well... NOT! It ain't happening. Not instantly. I'm on a journey and it's UP HILL!

Hello! My name is Arline and I'm a blogging newb! (relatively speaking) I am learning and I'm really LOVING it! WAAHOOOOO!!!!!
 
ONWARD!!!