Tomorrow will be the day...

So Ryan and I have welcomed home six new chicks this spring...sadly, one went the way of the dodo bird.   

So we're down to five - two Golden Laced Wyandottes, one Easter Egger, one Rhode Island Red, and one Sussex.  We got the Sussex a bit after the other four, and you can tell by their size.  

So Ryan and I have had a dilemma...when do we transition the bigger girls outside to the hen house?  We don't want them to be run over by the hens.  Believe me, they can really throw their weight around.    
But we have just about had our fill of them in the second bathroom.  

Leaving the house today Ryan closed that door because their aroma had started to permeate the house.  Not ideal.  But this would prove a critical, perhaps providential, decision.

So when I got home today and checked on the little feathery fluff balls, I got a surprise....

Chicken poo on the floor. 
CHICKEN POO ON THE FLOOR!!  

We had an escapee...
someone had peaced out...
flown our cardboard coop...

And she had the courage to show her face...

Cheep! Cheep!!

Moral of the story - when chicks can fly...they can fly their way outside to the big girls' coop.  Tomorrow will be the day.  So nice of them to decide for us. 

When the Chickens are Chicken...

With all the snow and colder temps that have stuck around from the end of December through the beginning of this year, the chickens (until today) have been hesitant...squeamish...well, just plain CHICKEN about coming out of the coop!  

Here they are on New Year's Day - perched on the threshold of the chicken door.  I imagine their conversation to be like kids looking outside on a cold winter day, wondering if it's going to be worth their while to go out and play when it's down-right frigid out there.  The hens ultimately decided that it was not worth their while.  Which, in some ways, may have been correct since there would be no worm for the early bird to get.  

Despite the fact that all our hens are "winter hardy", my guess is they're all wishing they had flown south with the rest of the snow birds.  

Carpe Di-HEN

Many of us are familiar with the latin phrase "carpe diem" meaning "seize the day."  

'Round these here parts, we Carpe Di-hen...this is how the chicks "seize the day!" 

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Well, here are a few miscellaneous updates from the farmstead - 

1. Our brood is down to nine. How could this be?!?!  I know, such tragedy is hard to bear.  *sniff*  
No really...we're doing ok with handling such a blow... 
*soft sobbs* ...
*soft sobbs turn to ugly crying*
Baaaaaa!!!!

Really...Really...I'm doing ok...I'm working through the stages of grief...I was in denial up until 8:30AM this morning... but I'm on my way toward resolution.  I should be there by Tuesday.  *sniff*  

So here's the story...Last Friday our suspicions were confirmed - Kinzie was the chicken assassin.  I was casually washing a few dishes when I glanced out the window around dusk.  And what should I see? Kinzie, at the edge of our lawn....in a heap of SOMETHING!!  This cannot be happening, I thought.  So I flamed out the back door and past our precious other dog, Casey. And horror of horrors - in front of Kinzie, amid a bounty of auburn feathers, lies a Red, open from stem to stern.  And Kinzie, being the nonsensical dog she is, sat up and started wagging her tail.  "BAD DOG!! BAD DOG!!" I said with all the sternness in my body.  Her tail continued to wag.  

*Grrrrrrrrrrrrr....*

(that was me, not the dog.)


2. I've been asked by some for a picture of our house (more correctly, the house we rent).  So here it is... 

Some have called it the Red Roof Inn...but we like to call it home. 

3. AMAZING RACE STARTS TOMORROW!!! *All hearts rejoice*  

Yes, get ready for the premier of Amazing Race, season 21, which will start tomorrow (8/30), at 7PM (Central, 8PM for you folks in the Eastern time zone). 

This is consistently THE show Ryan and I always try to watch...every week.  And I think you'd enjoy it too! 

4.  Last, and most important, my Beloved's birthday is this upcoming Wednesday (10/3). I'll give you a hint as to how old he'll be...Take the number of pictures below times 10.  

(He is a sight to behold, if I do say so myself.)

 Equal parts masculine, sweet, and cool.  

Dixie Chickens

Check out the article from Southern Living magazine - Raising Chickens in the South.  It tells of the growing popularity of raising chickens as well as some of the reasons why.  Who knew chickens allowed to run the lawn eating bugs lay eggs that have less cholesterol and saturated fat?!?  

(How cute is this coop?!?)

We've Got Eggs!

It was a usual evening - taking chicken feed and water into the coop for the girls before nightfall.  Earlier in the afternoon I had heard some awfully loud clucking coming from the coop - what our veterinarian friends said was a sure sign of a hen laying an egg.  So I decided to look around a bit...and then I spotted it...a small, but perfectly smooth brown egg!  Then I saw the second one!  The girls had been busy!


I felt like Charlie finding the golden ticket!...

*singing and dancing* "I've got a golden ticket!  I've got a golden twinkle in my eye! 'Cause I've got a golden ticket...It's a golden day!!" 


I feel like we should throw them a coming out party...a Quinceanara...a debutante ball!! Our girls are no longer chicks...they're HENS!!!


Here are the pretty little eggs - 

AND...for some bigger news...


The chickens have their own Twitter feed!  Yep, that's right! You can follow all the drama and hoopla moment by moment!
You'll find the Wood Cluckers at @HenHouseHoopla.