Eleven Months as a MRS

The Wonderful Things:

• We still have chicks alive
• these little chicks were a random thing that we thought we'd try, but somehow we have managed to keep them alive
• They are still living in our basement in a kiddie pool surrounded by chicken wire because mother nature apparently doesn't care that we have a beautiful chicken coop outside just waiting for it's inhabitants
• They are growing like CRAZY - and next to impossible to get photos of - I am hoping once they move outside it will be easier - or really I hope they quit being so crazy pants in their kiddie pool so I can take pictures that I actually want to post
• Marc rocks at putting in flooring
• he has been working hard (I have been attempting to help)
• he has the flooring down in the two basement bedrooms
• Our basement may actually be semi livable by August
• Our next step is to get the electrician back in to finish up the electrical work, we plan on having that done here shortly - we need to move some stuff out of the closet so they can access the light that goes in there - and it would be helpful if Mother Nature would play nice so we can get the chickens outside and out of what will be the 3rd bathroom
• We continue to work on the flooring in the main room and hallway

Marc and I downstairs working on the flooring
He's a champ for putting up with 12,001 photos

The Things No One Ever Tells You About:

• Medical insurance is ridiculous to navigate - why can't people just tell me the answers I am looking for or explain to me in terms that I would understand 
• WHY does this need to be this complicated?!
• Winter sucks when it drags on through the end of April. 
• We have read every book on our winter reading list, we have watched every movie on our winter watch list, we have watched more stupid movies that we didn't care to watch, and we have read more stupid books that we didn't want to read - we want to be outside and we are going stir crazy
• Winter eats at our souls after a while

The Miscellaneous Things:

• I can't believe it is May and summer is around the corner
• on the same token I can't believe we have been married for 11 months already and only 11 months already
• I AM WAYYYY happy to not be planning a wedding again this summer
• The wedding itself was fun - the planning of it was fine (Thank God for my mom and brother who deeply care about details of weddings and things) - I am glad it is over
• I AM over crappy weather, bring on spring. 
• I went for a few days down to IOWA a connecting state to Minnesota and it was 50 degrees warmer and they have green grass! Trust me I have been questioning why we live so stinking far north. I want spring/summer. Mother Nature needs to get the memo.

CHICKENS

Thank God for my patient and loving husband who is almost always willing to go along with whatever crazy ideas come my way. He is a saint indeed. This winter I got an idea in my head that we should have some chickens in our backyard (we do now live on 2.5 acres of land - yes, I know it's not a ton, but it is WAYYYY more than we had in our old house). This winter my husband and I (really, mostly my husband, but I did help some) built a GORGEOUS chicken coop. I linked the plan to it, so you could see it if you'd like - currently the weather is still too cold for chicks to be outside, so they are living in my kitchen.

The chicks arrived by mail from Meyer Hatchery, we had ordered 3 Golden Buffs and 2 Black Australorps back in January and set them to arrive the second week in April (in hopes that the weather would be warm enough for them to ship). The post office called me EARLY one morning (2:15am - which I let go to voice mail) and told me I could come pick up our new chicks whenever I wanted, so when I got up at 5:30 or so I ran to town to get the box of chicks. The post office people laughed a little because that morning they also had a stack of 350 ROOSTERS come in for someone else, I think they were a little disappointed I wasn't taking all the roosters home because they were WAY loud.  Sadly, I was a little nervous all of our chicks were dead because I couldn't hear them while we were standing in the post office, thankfully as soon as I got outside of the room with the ridiculous roosters, I could hear them chirping away. 

     I managed to wait until I got home to open the box, although I was tempted to open it in my car. Upon arriving home, Marc met me (I think he was equally excited) and we set this box on the counter and opened it up. At first I saw 4 chicks moving around in the box and assumed the one in the corner had died, however, Marc poked it and two black chicks came sprinting out of the corner, we had SIX chicks alive and well. Meyer Hatchery must have included an extra in case of a death of one of the chicks. We had six chicks not five. We immediately set out upon naming four of them - in fear two would die - a couple were a little sluggish from shipping.

   So we took the chicks out and placed them in the rubbermaid we had prepared for them the night before (I was crazy checking the shipping status and where these sweet little chicks were at as they were traveling) - we used a rubbermaid we weren't using, a heat lamp with a red bulb, a chick watering dish, a chick feeding dish, and a thermometer. On the bottom of the tub for the first couple of days we put only a piece of paper towel, we have since promoted them to pine shavings. 

    These little birds are fascinating to watch. I am seriously convinced that baby chicks are narcoleptic. They can be walking around and then just as quickly fall to the ground and they are passed out until another chick steps on them and they bounce right back up. A couple of the first mornings that we had them I was convinced I had killed them all off because they were quiet and all laying down, however, as soon as I reached my hand in they all came right up and were chirping away. Dakota is pretty neutral towards them and doesn't seem phased by them in the least. When I take them out of the bin and put them on a towel to run around the living room she pretty much just lays down next to the towel and watches them. I am not sure she knows what to think of them. It is entertaining for sure. We will see what happens when they actually start to grow and get a bit bigger and are a little bit more intimidating to her or when they are running around the backyard and she is running around the back yard.
    The chickens are pretty much impossible to get a good picture of - they are constantly on the move and if they are sleeping they slightly look dead which is just weird to post a picture of, so here are some pictures I have managed to catch where the chicks don't look totally dead. They are already growing like crazy which boggles my mind how quickly they have gotten big - I didn't anticipate their growth quite as quickly. They all seem to be living and their key need at the moment is heat - we are currently down to 90 degrees in their box and lowering the temp 5 degrees each week. With any luck the weather will warm up and they will be able to go outside at some point. I think here next week or the following they are going to get the boot to the garage - I think I am going to put Dakota in her travel crate at night/during the day and then but the chicks in Dakota's big wire kennel. Plus the nice part is the wire crate I can just spray down and clean off easily. I was debating going with a cardboard box, but I am afraid that the box will just get nasty and there isn't a great way to clean it. So we'll see what happens. I will keep you all posted and I am sure there will be many a more chicken posts coming. The four names we have so far for our chickens are: Duke, Chester, Winnie, and Madison. I suppose we should name the last two as it appears they are all going to survive.

Eight Months as a MRS.

The Good:
-we got to take an amazing vacation to Mexico
-we are getting closer to getting people to come and work on our basement projects
-we have gotten through many books this winter due to the crazy cold
- we have been working our building our chicken coop - our chicks are suppose to arrive the first week of April
- being trapped inside we have great opportunities to try new recipes- lately I have been on a bake my own bread kick (delightful)

The things no one warns you about:
-two people can have very different understandings of what clean is in terms of the house (although we now are on the same page)
- we are dying to get outside and are crawling the walls (much like the rest of the Midwest) and we like everyone else get a little cranky when cooped up inside
- I hate running on a treadmill, please show up spring
- I fear my computer has died & we haven't saved up to buy a new one - suck! - now attempting several things to get it back up and running and also massively starting to save for a new one - we need at least one working computer - (confession - my beloved macbook is 8.5 years old)

The Misc. Things:
- Dakota is also going crazy not getting her good and long walks in (toooooo cold)
- I was in St. Louis for work last week and it was marvelous (post coming soon)
- the Olympics have begun - love them
- I am annoyed we have to save for a new computer when I was hoping to put that money towards doors or a bathtub/shower for the basement



How old is your computer?
What kind of a computer do you use?
How are you combatting this ridiculous winter?

Chickens

Alright, I realize most of you think we are nuts. HOWEVER, we just ordered 5 chicks! They won't be delivered until the second week of April (due to the lovely Minnesota winters they don't ship small numbers of chickens in the cold....so we selected the first week that we could given our location and weather). We have ordered 3 Black Australorp and 2 Golden Buffs. Both chickens are known for being ridiculously hardy and known to withstand both the extreme cold and the heat (which for northern Minnesota is AWESOME!).

We have lots to learn about raising chickens. I am jazzed, Marc is excited, Dakota is going to go nuts - now to somehow train her to like chicks. I have already begun reading about everything that I need to know about chicks and eventually chickens. This gives us a few months to get settled into the new house and to build the coop. I am certain y'all will have to deal with copious amounts of posts about chickens in the future. It is happening & it will be AWESOME!

Go ahead and google image search for: Black Australorp and Golden Buff - to see an image of them. Fear not, I will post 12,001 pictures of them when they arrive. I AM EXCITED.



Have you ever raised chickens?
Any advise for raising chickens?
Do you think we are nuts?