Peep Peep

Top left corner: Fredrick (A's Chick) Speckled Sussex
Top middle: Chirps (C's Chick) Speckled Sussex (I think?)
Top right:  All the girls
Middle left: Jean Traci (my Chick) Speckled Sussex
Middle middle: Audrey (Collectively named) Ameraucana (I think?)
Middle right: Beaker in the back, Jean Traci in the front
Bottom left: Beaker (The Husband's Chick) Ameraucana
Bottom middle: Butter (J's Chick) Ameraucana
Bottom right Jean Traci again

(Confused about the breed of Audrey and Chirps.  I didn't see them put the Speckled Sussexs in the box and one of the Ameraucanas looks so close to the Speckled Sussex I'm just not sure, unless we ended up with four Ameraucanas and three Speckled Sussex???  It was supposed to be three and three.  Only Time will tell....)

We each named one chick we picked out, the kids getting to choose first. Yes we did explain that they are females but A was insistent on Fredrick.  We call her Freddie.  

Look at this brooder!  The Husband made it.  (found the direction on Backyard Chickens) We made it huge because the girls will need to stay indoors for quite some time because of this good old New England weather.  One day it's 70 the next it's 50.  Soooo they'll be in here until they can be outside which is once they are at 70 degrees under their heat lamp, have their feathers, and it's consistently warm outdoors.  

The orange papers are the rules.  The Rules for People and the Rules for the Chicks.  I found the idea and copied it from Chick Days by Jenna Woginrich.

Placing these rules on the brooder is a must when one has three very active children who are quite excited about these tiny creatures who have joined the flock.

People Rules:

• No Loud Noises
• Wash hands before and after touching the chicks
• No dropping the chicks

To Have Fun:

• Pick up gently
• Stroke the softness
• Watch and laugh

Chicks Rules:

• No Picking (this is when they peck at each other. Still trying to figure out how to make that stop, but thanks to Meryl from My Bit of Earth I have some ideas to distract them from picking each other)
• No getting wet
• No pooping on the food
• No crowding
• Eat lots of food
• Drink lots of water
• Sleep often

So far, so good.  I enjoy laying in bed at night and hearing them peep especially early in the morning when they get up and peep, peep, peep, while they eat.  They are not as loud as I thought but I'm sure they will get louder as they get older.  Who knows, it's all new to me!

They have brought so much joy to all of us.  The other night The Husband and I were quietly sitting on the floor in front of the brooder, the children were sleeping.  We sat watching, talking about them, and smiling when The Husband said "I wish we could get more."  Yup, that is how addicting they are.  We were told when we went to the poultry workshop in March that you will get addicted to having chickens and she suggested getting a bigger coop than you think you need and if you could get two or build two because she promised you will not stop.  Funny!  Unfortunately our town only allows six chickens.  But that's OK!  I'm happy with six and who knows, as more people acquire backyard chickens the laws may change (they have in the town over)  It's also unfortunate because we have over an acre of land and a few more chickens wouldn't hurt. But oh well, must follow the rules because I wouldn't want anyone coming along to tell us we must remove our chickens from the property.

After reading this, and also in many books and sites dedicated to chicken keeping we're trying hard not to get too attached.  I read all the time about how often people lose their chickens to predators.  We had a discussion with the children about this possibility explaining this happens often, but we will do our very best to keep them as safe as possible.

So far it's been a wonderful and pleasant experience.  I'm glad we finally took the plunge after many years of dreaming.  

P.S A told our Girl Scout troop last night that I wanted to be a farmer and we'd probably have a cow soon.  HA! NO way about the cow, but I don't mind the idea of being a farmer.....