Poor Bo, he is literally surrounded by chicks now. A wife, 2 daughters, a girl dog, and now 4 pullet chicks. Bo gave in to my dream of raising chickens in our backyard last weekend. We went to Callahan's and bought 4 chicks. 2 Buff Orpingtons and 2 Dominiques. They are currently living in our house in an old camp trunk of mine under a heat lamp. We have had fun holding them and letting them play in the yard. There names are: Goldilocks & Princess Buttercup (the Buff Orpingtons) and the Dominiques are Snow White and Boots(as in Dora and Boots):) They will stay inside with us until they completely feather out. Right now the only feathers are on their wings.
Bo is going to use his amazing carpentry skills to build us a chicken coop out of repurposed materials and I can't wait to design and paint it! Also, the chickens will smell much better outside than inside:) We do not have the luxury of a garage!
They should begin to lay eggs in the next 4-5 months and they will begin eating the bugs in our yard immediately! Maybe next year we will get the vegetable garden up and going next to their pin. I wound up just doing pots this spring. Things were a little too crazy for a full garden. But so far, we have 4 different tomato plants, sage, cilantro, parsley, basil, citronella, and mint. I have been using the herbs a lot in my cooking and the plants seem to be thriving so far!
So veggies and herbs, a dog, now chickens....what's next? Well, Sadie and I saw a miniature pig at the feed store;) Maybe I'll work on Bo for a pig for next year! Yes, I am an animal lover, unless it is a cat! Growing up my Dad would take me to the pet shop for fun or to go look at puppies and horses for sale out in the country. I love that Austin embraces the urban garden, backyard chicken coop/farm animal lifestyle. Here are a few picks of the chicks and some of what they will look like full grown.
how fun!! I've always wanted chickens out in the yard, too- I'll have to live vicariously through you :) And please please please get the pig
ReplyDeleteoh my word! that is crazy! Bo is a good man. I can't see that flying around here :) We can't wait to come see the chicks, maybe this week? I'll also be over to check out the garden, I've got a brown thumb, but maybe you can inspire!
ReplyDeleteChickens are fun. Chicken poop is not. We got rid of ours after Caton fell down and was covered head to toe in chicken poop. We only had 3 and it was too much to keep up with.
ReplyDeleteI do miss their super cute personalities....they are quite funny. Will share stories sometime. And the eggs were amazing! It'll spoil you for sure!
I am soo excited for you all! We have 5!! Had six... But that is another story:(. We have 3 buff or introns and 2 americanas. Ours are 4 months old now. If Bo wants to check out our coop, let me know and I will send you pics. Allen just added on to it today in fact. Can't wait to have eggs! Xo kristin
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to be"buff orpingtons"... Love spell check!
ReplyDelete