Our New Additions.... Chickens!!

First off I want to apologize for disappearing for a month. I have had to work at the Arab farm for most of June and part of July. June is the busiest month for them with horse shows and one of their girls was injured in a freak horse accident and was injured pretty bad, but she is okay!! So I ended up working more then I anticipated and we all know that when I am working at the farm, I have no energy or motivation to do much of anything else! My poor horses did not get much done with them, except for Rio. But that is for another blog post! Now, lets talk CHICKENS!!


My OH and I have talked for years about getting chickens. Back in April we were at a farm store and guess what they had hundreds of? Yep. Chicks. We looked and looked and looked, then we talked to an employee about them. I had chickens growing up, but they were already adult chickens, so I had never raised them as babies. Well, we decided to get some chicks. We bought 6 chicks and all the stuff we would need for them. Once we got home, an hour later we decided we wanted more. So we went to another farm store and bought 6 more. We ended up with 4 Barred Rocks, 2 Gold Sex-links, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Production Reds (like a Rhode Island Red) and 2 Araucauna's.

Baby chick!

We set up their brooder and handled them daily. I guess I didn't realize how quick they grow! Before you know it we had to move them into a doggy playpen because they outgrew their "horse water trough" brooder. We had to make a decision quick on what our chicken coop plan was going to be. We decided to take our old garden shed and convert it into a chicken coop. Then we would add on to the back side of the coop and make an even bigger garden shed. My OH worked his butt off to get the coop done so we could move the chicks into their new home. They were quickly outgrowing their new brooder.

The ultimate chicken lounger.

My OH finally got the new coop set up and it was time to move all the chicks. We transferred them a few at a time in our cat carrier out to their new digs.

Bailey just wants to eat the chickens.

They absolutely loved their new home. They had so much room to run around. We had put up the chicken run using chain link and then ran 4 feet of chicken wire from the ground up along the inside to prevent a chicken from sticking it's head out of the chain link and getting their heads bit off. (Yes, Bailey would bite a chicken head off.) We then took deer netting and put it over the top to prevent Bald Eagle's, Owls and Hawks from swooping down and stealing one of our new beloved birds.

Pretty chicken head.

We wanted friendly chickens, so we started taking our chairs and sitting in the run with them. We would feed them bread and other treats. Before long we would each have a chicken in our lap.

Chicken leg stretches.

They started to become really friendly.

So friendly in fact, that at each sitting we would have more and more chickens on our laps, arms, shoulders....

The chickens LOVE my OH!

We let our niece name a couple chickens. She picked out the names Rosie and Flower.

This is the chicken I named after my OH.

Every time we get up out of our chairs, a chicken always steals our seat.

Chicken checking out my beer.

We had contemplated letting them out into our yard if we were home. But we quickly found out that Bailey would eat them. He has a very strange infatuation with them and he would kill them instantly. So the chickens can't leave their run.

Sadie wouldn't hurt the chickens. She just loves watching them.

We have been sitting with the chickens every afternoon or evening. They love their human time.

My OH enjoys having a beer with the chickens.

We got lucky and ended up with 12 hens. We did not get any roosters, thank goodness. We didn't want any.

My OH telling the chicken named after me, to quit talking back.

They should start laying eggs in the middle of August. I can't wait!

Chicken on my knee. We named her Dolly Parton.

I have people lined up to take excess eggs, which I know I will have.

Chicken named after my OH. This chicken will lay blue/green eggs.

My OH has had up to 6 chickens on him. They all fight over roosting space on his lap.

My OH makes a good chicken roost.

My neighbors love the chickens. They bring over watermelon and bread for them.

Neighbor K trying out the new fashion style. The Chicken Hat.

I think our chickens are extremely spoiled.

3 Barred Rocks.

They fit in quite well on the farm!

Chicken bonding.

In fact they are so spoiled that my OH put in outdoor chicken roosts.

New outdoor chicken lounger.

Yep. They are a part of the family now. We are having so much fun with them. I couldn't imagine my life without chickens in it!