Our New Chickens!

We, Nathan and I, have been talking about getting chickens for about a year now. We like the idea of having fresh eggs, teaching the kids the responsibility, and the fun of having animals again. After doing some research of what it takes to raise chickens and Nathan finding out that with our lot size we can have up to four chickens in the city limits. So on March 20th, we went down to Coastal Farm and Ranch and let each child pick out a baby chick!

They have LOVED having them! Andrew wasn't to sure about getting up close at first, but he warmed up to them. Now both boys will "check on" the chickens and give me reports like, "the chicks are okay mom", or "I think the chicks need more water" (Ben will say that even if the water thing is still half full, he wants it to be FULL.) Too cute!

This is Andrew's chick, Bella. She is a Barred Rock Pullet. When she is older she will be black and white striped, so Andrew calls her his "Zebra chicken". He loves zebras, but that is not why we bought her, it just worked out that way!

Here is Ben's chick. He named her "Race" because she's "so fast!" She is an Ameraucana Pullet, or otherwise known as the "Easter Chicken" because she will lay blue and green speckled eggs! How fun is that! I think she is so pretty!

Here is Tatiana's chicken, Sally. She is really cute and her coloring is just like a chipmunk! She is a Speckled Sussex Pullet.

And Nick's is Rhody. She is a Rhode Island Red Pullet. We think she is the friendliest and we also think she really recognized Nick's voice because she will come to him!

I think Nick has gotten into the chickens the most, he loves holding and taking care of them. Yes, he knows we will be having then for dinner in a couple years when their egg production slows down. Nick and Tatiana know that, Ben and Andrew do not. We accidentally said something in front of Ben and he yelled a painful "noooooo!" So when it comes time, hopefully Ben is old enough to understand, or we will have to tell him about the "Happy Chicken Farm" they had to go to and that now we get new baby chicks! I know, I'm so bad.

Nathan drew up his own plans and is building a beautiful chicken coop with an attached pen. He is so talented!!! He is building it in the garage because it has been raining out and will move it to the back yard in sections when we have a few days of no rain.

I am sure I have the cutest handy man ever! I love him so much!