I've been wanting chickens for FOR-EV-ER. Literally. I created a Pinterest board a few years ago and have slowly been adding cool ideas to it.
Well, today it happened. The 2nd anniversary of buying our home that so conveniently sits on 2.5 acres. 2.5 acres that are practically screaming for livestock. Can't you hear it??
I had seen the Facebook ads for Tractor Supply's "chick event" and saw the billboard above the Argyle Feed Store. I even shared the ad and tagged hubby. A not-so-subtle hint. He. Didn't. Even. See. It.
Seriously?
After I pointed this out out him over breakfast, we moseyed into TSCo before getting groceries this morning. How convenient that it was only 2 blocks away.
Let me just tell you...it was love at first sight. I fell in love with the chickies. Hubs fell in love with the ducklings. Not exactly the box of chicken that the kids would've ever imagined we would be bringing home!
All of a sudden, we had to figure out how we could keep them until we could build the coop that we thought we had all the time in the world to build. You know, you always think there are no time restraints when you don't actually have anything to put in it. We're in the process of converting a 10' x 10' dog kennel into the Taj Mahal of chicken coops. Luckily, we have a couple of weeks before the chicks are ready to be moved out there. I'll be posting the progress of that as we go along. This definitely lit the fire to get that project moving.
For the moment we modified a collapsible dog crate to make their "temporary housing". Hubby just wrapped the chicken wire we had around the crate and a separate piece on the door. We are supporting the heat lamp with the clamp and additional paracord to keep it up high for extra precaution. The bedding gets kicked out the sides fairly easily, but we just sweep it up and drop it back in.
We might need a little help and inspiration to name ALL of the babies. So far we have named:
Midnight and Sunshine
Stone
Butter
Penguin (she looks like Mumble!)
Oreo (I have to confess that she's my favorite)
There will be a Belina once I figure out which yellow one I want to name that. If you have any great clever names, I would love to hear them!
Stay tuned for progress on their growth and the coop conversion. Maybe even some posts about piggies and goats in the future.
