Today they got to move outside, and I am SO happy to have these chicks out of my house! LOL! They kick up a lot of dust, so we were glad they are now big enough and feathered out enough to go outside. We have them set up in a large dog crate and we [beautifully ;) ] duct taped black trash bags 3/4 the way around to keep out the draft. They still have their heat light out there for now, but won't need it much longer.
I can't believe all 17 chicks have survived and are thriving! We've been having a blast with all the chickens - we love having all these eggs from the hens and we get about one extra dozen a week that we can't eat so we LOVE giving these to friends and neighbors. One of our hens lays green eggs, and people just go nuts over the green eggs, it is so fun to watch!
Below is The Boy holding Nugget [as in "Chicken Nugget"]. Nugget was our first chick to hatch and is very dominant. We thought Nugget was a boy, but s/he isn't getting a comb yet and some of the other boys are already developing distinctive red combs that make it kind of obvious.... so we will see what Nugget turns out to be.
Here is a shot of Nugget where you can really see his/her feathering - it is really pretty!
The Baby Monkey is fascinated by the chicks - totally fascinated. We have to watch carefully, she keeps trying to pick one up. [She isn't afraid at all, but we are afraid she'll squeeze the chick to death or something, so no holding privileges for her! LOL!]
Isn't this the funniest pic? This is one of the ones we think is a boy [Roo] - see how he's already getting a comb?
Here is Monkey1 with her favorite chick, "Blondie" - as in "Blondie Burger" - a bit of a stretch, but I told her all the chicks had to be named after food because we were eating them one way or another - either they'll make eggs we eat or we'll cook them up for chicken dinner LOL! She's gradually come to terms with this, and has even been heard to comment "Oh, that one is mean, we can eat him" on more than one occasion with one of our fiestier chicks LOL!
Having chickens has been SO cool! They are incredibly easy to take care of, they teach responsibility [my 6yo and 5yo do the lion's share of the chicken feeding - DH and I do the watering just because it is too heavy for them - but they are *very* dedicated to caring for their hens!], and you can't beat just going out your back door and picking up those good, fresh, yummy eggs! I no longer ever cook with an egg more than 24 hours old, and you sure can tell the difference!
We are finally at the "making money" point too, because it is costing us about $2 a week to feed them, but we are getting about 2 doz to 2 & 1/2 doz eggs a week - and the "good" eggs at the store are running $3.99 a dozen now and those "good" eggs can't compare at all to these awesome fresh eggs we are getting! We figure over the next 6 months or so we should make back in savings the money we spent on the coop.
Very cool. This is one venture that has worked out WAY better than I expected!
3 comments:
I love the names you've picked out - I had to laugh when I read "Nugget"!
Monkey2 told us about the names at dinner this evening. We suggested Fricassee, Cacciatore, and Club as possible names....
Wow! They are getting so big! What a wonderful experience for your children and the names just crack me up. I can't imagine waking up to fresh eggs every morning. :-) I'm glad it is working out so well.
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