Chickens!

So my sister, Sarah, bought 12 baby chicks shortly before we arrived at the farm house.  The little peepers quickly outgrew their cardboard box home and moved into a huge tubby, under the heat lamp.  We helped her keep the water and food dispensers daily, and sometimes twice a day.  Those chickens are messy!


Here's all of us (moms and kids) using our legs as a fence while they got some sun!

The kids also enjoyed holding the chicks.  My youngest, Kyla, especially!

After awhile, they got too big for the tubby and kept flying out.  So Sarah bought a chicken coop and painted it sunshine yellow.  She loves bright colors...

After that, we let the chickens run around outside.  But weasels, raccoons and hawks began to lower the local chicken population.  Whittling the total down to seven.  As a temporary solution, we fenced in the trampoline to make a coop.

 Eventually, the chickens learned to live in harmony with the kids.

Every morning, the first one up (could be a child or adult) would open the coop and usher the fast-growing hens to the trampoline.  Then freshen their water and food supplies and pen them for the day.

After the loss of the last chick, Sarah purchased a skinny yellow rooster in hopes it would help defend the flock. We quickly discovered, after comparison, that one of the biggest "hens" was actually a "he".  That would explain the larger comb...  His name changed from "Princess" to "Prince".

The skinny yellow rooster, heretofore (at the previous owner's farm) picked on for his little size, became a fierce guardian and protector. He constantly hen-pecked poor Prince, who was twice his size.  Napoleon syndrome?  Probably.  But it didn't matter, considering his prowess in keeping the ladies together.


My sister tells me that they are big enough to roam around now and will come back at dusk to roost in their sunshine-yellow coop.