May Photo Dump

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.

February Photo Dump

Ahhh February, you sort of were wonderful and sort of the bane of my existence. I CAN'T handle the ridiculously cold weather any more and I am losing my mind. SERIOUSLY. I am over the ridiculously cold negative temps. I have read the books I wanted to read, I have watched more movies than I care to admit, my dog is climbing the walls because we can't take her for a long walk or really any walk outside, and frankly I am sick of having to warm my car for twenty minutes before I go ANYWHERE because it is sooooo cold. Midst the cold and miserableness I did manage to snap these photos. Enjoy a glimpse into my February: {True Story I admit none of them are to die for photos, however, given the month I have had, I am calling it a success.}

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?