Chickens and Things

I've been MIA. My life has felt like a bit of a whirlwind since last August --and we moved right after Christmas. More about al that in time. I just haven't been in the mood to write anything. And this winter has just been awful. I need me some sunshine. But since there is none of that in view anytime soon, I brought a little sunshine into the house. Eight smelly balls of sunshine!

This is Echo. They are all supposed to be pullets... but.... you know how that goes. If I was a betting gal, I'd say Echo is a Roo. Time will tell.

I decided on Speckled Sussex chicks because they checked all the boxes: good layers (multipurpose, actually), lay through the winter (I live in PA), friendly, cold and heat tolerant. I ordered four from Cackle Hatchery in MO and sat back and waited. I almost expected it to take a couple weeks to get the call, but they had an over hatch the very next day and called me to see if it was OK to ship them. In the meantime, I decided that I wanted to add 2 Easter Eggers to my order. They too are good layers, cold tolerant, etc. I thought 6 might be better.... afterall, what if 1 is a Rooster!! What if 1 dies in shipping! I was told they have a minimum of 3 per breed to ship, so OK... 7. Seven chicks!

I made a brooder out of a plastic tote and some hardware cloth. I have three cats and a dog, so they needed something secure. I cut the top of the locking lid out and "stitched" on the hardware cloth.

We got the box two days later and of course they threw in extras, so we now had 9 chickens!

One of them didn't make it past day three however. So we're left with 3 Speckled Sussex (SS) and 5 Easter Egger (EE) Chicks. Supposedly, the SS are the ones with all the personality, but it's been the EEs that have been entertaining the crap out of me. So hilarious. They are 2.5 weeks old now and love to peck at my fingernails everytime I put my hand in the brooder.

Kitten has been very interested in them too.... she's not giving up hope! ;)

Alfie is pretty curious too.

And my son, Gavin (my child with autism), is pretty damn happy they are here. He told me that. "I'm so happy the chickens are here!" @aydansrecovery look at his smile.

So the adventure at our new place begins. I don't have a lot of land here, but I'm pretty much somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Not as nowhere as I'd like, but It'll do for now! I promise to be more regular on here now and will keep you updated with the chickens and gardening and all the fun :)