Chicks!

After a year of waiting and planning and building the chicken house and pen, we finally were able to bring some chickies home!

In order to get the breeds we wanted, we had to go to 2 different places and do it over 2 weeks. So 8 came from one location and the other 6 arrived later. That's a little risky, because the older, bigger ones can have a tendency to beat up the smaller, younger ones. Fortunately, it looks like they are going to be OK.

The girls have been very good at helping take care of them. Naturally they love to pick them up, which we encourage as long as they are gentle and clean their hands right away afterwards. It does help to acclimate the birds to being handled, which is very helpful later on if you have to catch them for any reason.

(We are brooding them in an old galvanized water trough, which is inside the chicken house. We have the concreted wooden posts up around the outside of the house, but we haven't built the fence yet. That's probably next weekend's major chore, and then Daddy can built the custom-fit gate. Our biggest concern right now is keeping up with the daily feeding and watering, while making sure they stay warm and that Smokey doesn't get in the house with them.)