I got chickens!!! And NO I don't have pictures because I cannot find my blasted usb cable. So I've been putting off blogging about them for 2 weeks, but I finally decided I give up. I think Igloo took it work so it may be months before I see it again.
Anyway, my lovely ladies are golden sex-linked birds. That means they are a hybrid (probably rhode island red and rhode island white mix) and you can tell their gender by the color when they hatch. Pretty useful since my neighbors have had to rid their flock of four birds who ended up being roosters.
Anyway, they look like this one I found on google:
Cute huh? Their names are Fauna and Merryweather and we inherited them from a family whose 4 year old was terrified of them. Yes, there was a Flora, but they tell me she flew over a fence and met her untimely demise. Poor Flora.
These two are so nice!! They love to hang out with us and let the kids pick them up and follow me around the yard. I think I'm the alpha bird or something. Fauna is very well behaved and reminds me of a 70 year old grandmother. Merryweather on the other hand reminds me of a two year old. She is our little escape artist. I panicked the third day when I couldn't find her and she wasn't at any of the neighbors yards. Apparently she was hiding somewhere in the coop! A few days later she escaped under the fence while we were in SLC and I got a call from a very kind neighbor when I got home. She has managed to escape the chicken run a couple of times by herself but luckily now she stays in the yard.
The second morning we had them I decided to do some yard work with them. I got really into what I was doing when I heard a shriek and my three year old exclaiming "Mom! The chickens are in the house!" It was a little chaotic. Fauna was on the kitchen counter and Merryweather managed to make it to my sons room where she promptly left a gift on the floor. Now they try to get in the house whenever they can so we have to be careful about the door.
But they made up for the mess because their eggs are delicious! It's honestly hard to eat store bought eggs now. It's like comparing American to European chocolate.
I am truly a chicken fan now. I never liked cats and dogs are so much work, but chickens are perfect for me. Low maintenance but still personable and you get eggs from them! I'm hoping we can add to the flock in the spring, but I need to spend the winter learning how to care for chicks.Labels: chickens, urban homesteading
