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The school year will be over in a few weeks. Suddenly, I am going to have A LOT more time on my hands. Well, except for the part where I have to start preparing to homeschool on my own next year. Oh, and the garden. That takes a good chunk of my time during the summer. Especially when I have to start canning it all. And then there's the big house purge that needs to be done if I'm ever going to get organized. It is almost summer. And I might have a minute or two of cumulative spare time over the next three months. So I did the logical thing. I ordered chickens. I can hear you all laughing and shaking your heads. Don't think that I can't. I started thinking about raising chickens close to a year ago. Sean and I talked about it some and he showed enough openness to the idea that I ordered a Dummies book on raising chickens. Not long into the book, I discovered that chickens live about 8 years, but usually only lay eggs for about 4. Now, I'm a big softy and can't imagine killing and eating something that I have lovingly raised from its infancy. But I'm also a realist and had no desire to support a bunch of post-menopausal chickens who want to live on the dole. Sean felt the same way. The chicken discussions stopped. Then, a couple of months ago, Sean emailed me a Craigslist post from someone wanting to sell off their chickens. Why was he looking at chickens on Craigslist? I have no idea. But I'm sure he regrets it now, because it got me back to wanting chickens. I read. We talked. He consented. I ordered a catalog. Can I start by saying that if you don't want chickens, NEVER look at a chicken catalog. They are just too much fun. Different colored birds that lay different colored eggs in different sizes. Chickens that look like chickens. Chickens that look like turkeys. Chickens that look like Muppets! (And I'm not even talking about the Muppet chickens that followed Gonzo around, because those chickens looked like chickens.) Be still my beating heart. And believe me, I'm not the only one who felt that way about the chicken catalog. Eli still likes to sit and look through it. (Chickens! EGGS!) And the day it came in the mail? After searching the whole house because it wasn't where I had left it, I finally asked Caleb if he knew where it was. He smiled, went straight to his little brother's bed, and pulled it out from under the mattress. Which, of course, if he's going to be hiding magazines with pictures of breasts under the bed, I'm glad it is at least a chicken catalog. So, after much oooh-ing and ahhh-ing and OH MY GOSH, DO CHICKENS REALLY LAY EGGS THAT COLOR???-ing, I finally placed my order yesterday. I am getting four female Golden Buff chicks: 
These are the superheros of the brown egg-laying world. Then, I ordered three female Wellsummer chicks: 
They lay dark reddish-brown speckled eggs! But that's not all... 
These are Ameraucanas. Or Easter egg chickens. Because they lay either blue or green eggs. And, yes, I got three female chicks in this breed, too. That brings me up to ten laying hens. But wait! There's more! 
Black Silkies! (OK,total honesty? I wanted Partridge Silkies, but they didn't have any available with my other chickens until August). These are the Muppet chickens I was talking about. They are bantams, so the hens only get about 2 lbs (as opposed to the other chickens I'm getting, where the hens are 4-6 lbs). Once again, I ordered three, even though I don't really want/need that many. Yes, they will lay (little) eggs, but they are mainly ornamental birds. The problem is, they are so small that they can't be sexed as chicks. I ordered three in the hope that statistics will be on my side and at least one will be a hen. I'll have to rehome any roosters (and pray that someone will want them). My birds will be hatching on June 14th. I will pick them up from the hatchery that day or the next. So, in just over a month, I will have thirteen chickens. And I've never so much as fed a chicken in my life. We better start building a coop. |
