The story of our flock

So you are going to have to figure out the chronology of the photos yourself here, but I bet you can do it.

This here's the story of our flock of chickens, which is pretty much all Benjamin's fault. He saw some chicks in 2006 and really wanted one, but I wisely said, "Sorry son, but we don't have the room". Well, I may sound that cold-hearted, but deep down I'm not. So, over the next year my head kept thinking on it. Finally, my head tells me that I should use the big box I took in from Artel to make a chicken coop. So, we visited my boss and checked out his chickens and his coop, got ideas, and I figured out I couldn't say no much longer.

Like many things, they start out so darn cute. Well, even though the plans for coop were firmly in my head, they will still there when it came time to buy chickens in Spring 2007. So, we put them in a box in the garage. That box served its purpose, but man what a MESS those chicks made before I got them out. The whole garage was a dusty mess. I never knew how dusty little chicks could be!

As you can see, the kids really loved these chicks, that eventually turned into gangly teenage chicks, and eventually full grown chickens.

In the top photos, you will see that the chicken coop, along with one classy screen house, were finally completed. A lot of work went into these structures, mainly due to the "perfection" mental instability flaw that I inherited from my father, but also so that our place would not become a KFC for the local racoon.

The chickens have been great fun, all except for Fred the Rooster. You can see Fred in the photo. Fred was supposed to be a hen, but decided against that I guess. He learned early on that I am King of this land. But, he still considers himself to be a close #2, and sometimes takes after the other members of our extended flock. Gracie's theory is that Fred likes to peck skinny legs, so that is why sometimes he comes after her.

The chickens only get to roam free on occasion dur to many reasons: 1) we discovered the hard way that there are other critters that think chickens are tasty (like hawks, owls, etc.), 2) Fred's skinny leg fetish, and most importantly 3) these darn birds can be hard on my gardens.

Lastly, our flock consists of 2 Silver-laced Wyandottes (Fred and Ethel Murman), 2 Buff Orpingtons (The Mermaids Ariel and Dandelion), 1 Rhode Island Red (Strawberry, her sister Apple disappeared), 1 Brown Sussex (Skiddy), and NEW in 2008 1 Wyandotte - Orpington mix who was raised by a Sussex named Peepers.