Pictures of the girlies

I hope these pictures load properly and forgive me for the low-grade photography skills. I should hire a couple of my cousins who are much better at this to come over for a photo shoot! But at least I can share pictures of the sweetest lil chicks taking over my laundry room. All they do right now is eat, drink, poop, and sleep. Sounds like any other baby, huh? They're a little scared to be held but they're getting used to it. If you look closely you can see the two different breeds, the Barred Rock and Australorps. One is almost all black with just a yellowish smudge on the top of the head and the other has lots more white and yellow on the belly. The all black ones are much smaller than the other. I have to admit, at the moment I can't remember which breed is which. But I'll figure it out and let you know.

One of the chicks is pretty assertive and has rushed at and pecked my hand when I reach in. I hope she doesn't turn out to be a rooster! My neighbors would not appreciate a noisy rooster so she/he will have to be adopted by a farmer friend if it happens. More later...

They are here, but no camera until tonight. I promise to post photos soon of the cutest little fluffy-puffs you've ever seen! They're making that soft peeping almost non-stop and already found the water and food bowls on their own. Fascinating! It's so cute when they are standing and then suddenly fall asleep, falling over to let their beaks rest on the floor.

YIPEE!!!

I GOT THE PHONE CALL! CHICKS WILL BE HERE TUESDAY!

Coop in progress and still waiting

Well, the donated shed didn't work out so we're back at square one. The shed was huge and falling apart. Mike and I shopped at Lowes today and priced out the lumber needed. I think we may start building this weekend. (YAY!) I'll try to get pictures of that process. Should be interesting since neither of us is very good at carpentry. If any of our friends and family are reading this...you might get a phone call asking for advice or tools to borrow. :0)



I found some cool plans online for a 6'x6' coop that's 8 feet tall. Here's the link for those of you planning to start this hobby, like Diane! www.buildeazy.com/chicken_coop_8.html that will get you there and you can choose different parts of the plan to look over.



My brooder works! I heated up the heat lamp and got it to stay 95 degrees. Now we just need the chicks. While we wait I'll post a picture of my real baby chicks, my kids: Ryan, Jessie, and Parker. Also known as my coop cleaners! Now they're groaning in the background, reading over my shoulder, wish you could hear it!

More waiting!

I just called the feed store today who were supposed to order my chicks and have them ready for me when I got back from my cruise. I guess they tried to get a hold of me while I was gone to confirm my order. They didn't want to order the chicks without confirming that I wanted to pay extra to guarantee that they all were female. Only 30 cents a piece more and they couldn't just go ahead and do it. Now I have to wait two more weeks. UGH! It's only $3 more than what we originally planned! Oh well.

The brooder is ready...I even warmed it up last night to be sure it was all set. And I just got a call about someone's shed they want to donate to me. Have you heard of freecycle.org? It's this great site about passing on stuff you don't need to people who can use it. Like a classified ad but all free. I posted a request for an outbuilding or leftover building supplies and someone is letting me have a shed. CHICKEN COOP IS ON THE WAY!