week ten... The chickens are happy as clams, so to speak. They've been thriving outside, munching on moss and pecking insects out of bark. Bobby Clark is growing into an incredibly handsome rooster. His cockle-doodle-doo has still a ways to go, but he's always on the alert, yet completely friendly with the family.
We started feeding them some compostable scraps like herbs and fruit. The go nuts over the wild raspberries and the boxwood basil. We only give them small amounts, but they are coming to expect a little treat whenever they see us approaching.
Dottie, top left, is the dominant hen. She takes on Bobby Clark all the time. She quite the aggressive one. Turtle, bottom left, Beatrice, top right, and Bobby Clark are the friendliest. They don't hesitate to come right up to you. I swear, Bobby Clark practically posed for the top photo of this post. Buzz Bee and Gertie are also doing well. They are the quiet, shy hens of the group. Gertie enjoys digging holes for dirt baths. Buzz Bee pretty much stays low key.
Tom is putting the finishing touches on the nesting boxes. Hopefully we'll get something installed tomorrow. I can't believe egg laying is not too far off in the foreseeable future. That will take the whole raising chicken experience to another level. Right now they are like our outdoor pets. Soon they be hardy providers for our family. Kinda cool.
6 comments:
Ryan and I want to try our hand at raising chickens. We're moving to Austin and our landlady is all for it. We would love some advice! Your chickens look so beautiful!
There's increasing interest in keeping chickens here in the UK, and it's always good to read posts like this and look at wonderful photos like these.
You'll see that I mention chickens in my post today!
Monet, you should definitely give it a try. Back when I used to live in Portland, there was a big movement in urban chicken rearing. It was pretty cool to see that you could raise chickens in a relatively small backyard no problem.
We waited for over five years before we finally took the step to get chicks and now looking back, I really have no clue as to why we did wait for so long. They are pretty easy to care for and so much fun to have around. We even undertook what we thought would be the dreaded wing clipping last week and that turned out to be a total piece of cake. It's just so much fun to read and learn about raising them. The fact that they'll provide eggs is just icing on the cake.
By the way, best of luck moving to Austin! What a cool town to relocate to. Hot, but cool :)
"My what beautiful birds you have", says the coyote in the brush. Well, I say so too. I could not take a picture of my girls and boys right now because they are really dragging from the heat. Their egg production is slowing but we don't go without we just have fewer to share with neighbors and family.
Oh Allison...they are lovely...I yearn to have chickens...just to fetch the beautiful eggs every day...I wish you continued good luck with them.
I can't believe how big they've become! It's almost hard to believe. Here's to good future eggs!
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