Thanks, Mr. Easter Bunny

Well, we took the plunge. If you told me 5 years ago, oh heck, 5 days ago, that I would be a mother hen, I'd have thought you were crazy. I, and all the boys of the house, am the proud owner of chickens. Yes, you read that right. Chickens. And I am now the mama hen of the house. (As if I wasn't the mama hen before, right?)

Travis went and made the silly mistake of dragging Gavin along to L & M Fleet Supply one day. That day changed our lives...forever.  Gavin spotted the baby chicks for sale. He decided then and there that he wanted the Easter Bunny to bring him a chick.

Letter from the Easter Bunny

That sounded like an interesting idea. I pondered it and mentally debated with myself before telling Travis that maybe we should do it.  He wasn't quite as keen on the idea as me (or Gavin) but eventually, he came around.  Now, how were we going to pull off the ol'  Bunny bringing chicks for Easter? How were we going to let him know that's what they wanted?  Somehow, "EB" figured it out and left them a note:  "If mom and dad say it's OK, you have two chicks waiting for you at L & M" Sweet! Not quite as exciting as if they chicks were here on Easter morning, but exciting, nonetheless.

So the day after Easter, the boys and I went to L & M and picked up our supplies.  We checked out the chickens, but they only had 'friers' (you know, chickens that you, dare I say, eat?) and that wasn't an option in my book (or Gavin or Colin's...)  So we headed home 'chickenless' (which I knew would happen) but we had our pine chips, baby chicken food, waterer, feeder, heat lamp and excitement.  We set up our brooder in the back bedroom - a rubbermaid bin on top of a tarp. Hung the heat lamp, poured the woodchips on the floor of the bin, and set up the waterer and feeder. We were ready.

Next step, we researched chicken breeds. The fleet supply store was getting a shipment in the next day and the laying hens were: Production Reds, Araucanas, Silver Laced Wyandottes and Buff Orpingtons. Now, which kind should we get? What were we looking for? Time for some family discussion.

2 anxious boys waiting...and waiting...

After much debate and internet searching, we decided what we weren't getting: the Production Red.  Not sure really why we didn't want that one, but we do know that we really liked the looks of the others. Travis and Colin especially liked the Buff Orpington, I wanted the Araucana and Gavin really wanted a chicken.

they're here!

So, the brooder is all set up, time to get some sleep and get up nice and early to get to the store to get our chicks! The plan was to get the chicks and drop Colin off at school. The plan never works out, though, does it?

Well, when we arrived, the chicks were still in their shipment boxes. So we waited. And waited. And learned a lot about chickens. And talked to some guy waiting for his 25 chicks. (Wow, our 4 seems pretty measly now.) Another guy camed in for 15 and at least 4 more people were also waiting for chicks. Colin ended up being quite late for school, but come on, how often does a boy go pick out his chickens? So the box of chirping chicks, the 2 boys, and I got in the car and headed to school. The chicks went on their first field trip.

one of the Silver Laced Wyandottes

I think everyone in that school knew we were there with our chicks - they were noisy little buggers!  Colin got to explain the breeds to his class and then hold up each chick to show her off. I think he was pretty proud! He wasn't too happy that Gavin and I got to go home with the chicks and he had to stay at school, though.



the Araucana

Gavin and I headed home with the chicks. They were introduced to the dog and cat...a whole other post. They now live in our back bedroom and we've begun the chicken raising chapter of our adventures.