Earlier this year, after years of deliberation (truly), we got some baby chicks. For the first few months they lived in my parents' garage. We let them out almost every day to get sunshine and eat bugs, and Slice picked one that became his favorite. He fed it extra food and handled it more than the others. He got a little attached. (It was hilarious.)
We named the favorite chick Nugget.
When the coop was finally ready, we moved them in. It wasn't long before we heard crowing in the early mornings ... coming from none other than precious Nugget. Poor Slice had to find him a new home. We were not about to have a rooster crowing in our backyard every morning. No sirree.
Around that same time, another one got sick. We never quite figured out what it was. Slice will swear that she was egg-bound, but I'm still not convinced. After a few days of close care and major pampering (we kept her in the house, gave her warm baths in the kitchen sink, tried to feed her by syringe), she died. Two chickens down.
In the meantime, Slice worked on a chicken coop in our backyard. It rained much more than usual during the building process, naturally. But Will, my Dad and my brothers helped a lot. It was good bonding time. (Right, Slice?)
Darn coop took wayyyyyy longer to finish than it should have. You know how these things go.
When the coop was finally ready, we moved them in. It wasn't long before we heard crowing in the early mornings ... coming from none other than precious Nugget. Poor Slice had to find him a new home. We were not about to have a rooster crowing in our backyard every morning. No sirree.
Around that same time, another one got sick. We never quite figured out what it was. Slice will swear that she was egg-bound, but I'm still not convinced. After a few days of close care and major pampering (we kept her in the house, gave her warm baths in the kitchen sink, tried to feed her by syringe), she died. Two chickens down.
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| I let them roam for too long and the front door was open.... |
By the end of summer we were checking for eggs every day, to no avail. After several weeks of this, Slice came inside one night, hollering for me to "COME SEE THIS!! RIGHT NOW! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!"
It scared me until I realized he was just excited. We got an egg - and it was huge! Not your typical tiny first egg. Turned out to be a double yolk. The kids are still talking about that.
They were all a little slow to start, but they're getting to be pretty good layers. We usually get 5-6 eggs a day. More than we eat, so we're able to share with our neighbors. Maybe that'll keep them quiet about us having chickens in our backyard.
(Kidding! They're totally legal! We checked..... )
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