I think I forgot to mention . . .

The same week the chicks came home, we also opened our hearts to another dog.  Her name is Blue and she's a lover.

She is also a bird dog and leaves next week for a couple of weeks of bird training.  Isn't all this ironic?  Chickens and a second bird dog.  

We were a bit concerned about how our 3 year old Stella would be around the new pup.

It's been a no-brainer.  Love at first sight.  BFFs

I know this is a bit late, but . . .

Happy Easter from Minnesota. 

Two Week Check In

Chicks grow fast.  Very fast.

And since they grow so fast, they need a bigger brooder - fast.

I sat down one morning to check on them and out flew Bismo Funyun.

Say hello, Bismo.  She seemed to think nothing of it and after a few minutes of looking around the family room, she flew back into the coop.  I was astonished to say the least and immediately set up a newer, larger, ENCLOSED brooder.  

As soon as the chicks were big enough, they graduated to a hanging waterer.  If you don't do this, you will be changing the dirty water several times a day.  By hanging it a few inches off the ground, the chicks are less likely to kick bedding and poo into their water source.  With the new waterer, I am only changing it once every 24 hours.

Personality abounds.  This is Dan and she is the friendliest of the group.  I'm not sure if 'friendly' is an apt description.  She's simply very curious.  She will hop out while I clean the brooder and be the first to come and inspect what I'm doing.  The chicks fight and bicker and fly at each other.  Sparkle is terrified of anyone and anything and will run and hollers, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" all day long.  My kids tried to have a sleepover in the same room and were kept up all night by her anxious peeping.

 Dan and Bismo rule the roost.  They are also the most social with humans.  Jessica, the golden child, could care less about any of us but will put up with us when we want to pick her up.

The heat lamp is only giving them around 80 degrees F at this point because it's so much higher than their perch.  Oh, I bought a tiny little perch for them to sit on.  My husband said that buying a perch from a store "is such a girl thing to do."  Hmph.  

They are all huddled in the corner in the morning, trying to stay warm.  I'll tweak this by adding a new roost bar a little higher off the ground, closer to the heat.  Then they will have some options based on their comfort.  I'm not sure what is too hot and what is too cold.  I figure they will self-regulate if given the opportunity and that's just what they've done.   When they are little, you need a corner of the brooder to be around 95 F.  I had it at 100-104 and they didn't like that very much.  

The starter food that I use is water-soluble, which means the chicks don't need grit with their food.  Apparently, chickens need a dish of grit to eat with their food.  It helps them to digest.  When they graduate from their chick feed, I will have to add a grit feeder to the coop. 

So far - raising chicks = easy peasy

Now we are one

We are one week old today.  Would you believe we are flapping our tiny wings and trying to fly around the coop.  Well, one of us, anyway.

Bismo flapping those winglettes.

We no longer run screeching from any hands that come into our small plastic home.

We are learning to roost and finding out who rules the roost (see first picture).

And we are quite proud of our big girl feathers that seem to grow in over night.

Jess and her big girl feathers.

By the way, this is much more fun that I thought it would be.

Which chickens should I get?

I was going to find out how many breeds of chickens are in existence today, but I got lazy so let's just say there are hundreds.

You can go for the ultimate in Adorable with a Silkie.

Silkie photo courtesy of http://www.cacklehatchery.com/silkie.htm

Or show off your hipster side with a David Bowie look alike - the Polish chicken.

photo courtesy of http://ninjakitties.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/bringing-the-urban-chicken-movement-to-reykjavik/

These breeds are fine and dandy if climate is not an issue for you.  In the case of Minnesota, temperatures drop to -30 degrees and can reach 100 degrees-with-humidity.  How do you pick the right breed for your little backyard flock?

Because I live in Minnesota, I wanted winter hardy breeds that could withstand the sub-zero temps of January (ok, and February . . . sometimes December.  And then there was that foot of snow we got in April) without the aid of warm bubble baths and red wine.  These ladies of the coop need to be robust and hardy; fearless and defiant of the north winds.  I spent about a year reading every frickin' book on breeds, stalked blogs and websites and took chicken keeping classes to figure out just exactly what type of chickens I would want.

It's pretty easy if you have a groovy farm store close by that deals with chickens on a regular basis.  They will already know which chickens have been tested tried and true within your climate.  They also have experience with which breeds tend to be quiet and friendly.  If you live in tight quarters with your neighbors, quiet is a necessity.

http://www.thelinemedia.com/features/eggplant12611.aspx

Egg/Plant Urban Farm Store was one step ahead of me.  They already new which breeds do best in Minnesota so when I pulled up their chicken-order webpage - my breeds were already there.  I made a compulsive one-time phone call to the store, ordered my chicks and voila - I was an expectant mother.

I waited a few days before I put this information on my husbands desk.  One must be artful in the arena of spousal manipulation.  In this case, I decided to be direct.  Grill some fish, have an ice-cold beer waiting for him when he got home from work and BOOM - I put the 14 page coop-building blueprint/plans in front of him and told him he had until exactly May 15 to get it done.  The chicks will be 6 weeks old and able to move outside.  Oh, and I forgot to tell you, dear - they might need to be in your home office for part (all) of it

I also gave him first pick of the girls.

He chose the soon to be large-breasted and blonde - Buff Orpington.  Isn't that a great name?  Orpington.  Say it out loud.  ORPington. Nice, huh?  He has chosen the name Jessica Simpson.  She is a sweet little thing with a social nature as soft as her soft yellow fluff. She will be a good layer of large brown eggs.

Jess - the Buff Orpington

This is what a Buff Orpington should look like when full grown.

http://www.thekuhnfamilyfarm.com/id77.html

My 15 year old chose the Lace-Wing Wyandotte - a bold little gal and the largest of the bunch.  He has decided to name this little one after one of his favorite Key and Peele skits.  He can't decide between "Quackadilly Blip" and "Bismo Funyuns".   I'm leaning towards Bismo.

Watchful Bismo

Bismo is the one in focus.  She will be a beaut when she is all grown up.  This is a full grown Lace-Winged Wyandotte.

http://naomisorganic.blogspot.com/p/hens-chicks-ducks.html

My 11 year old daughter chose the runt of the litter - a Barred Rock.  She has the funniest little white rump.  Paste free, remember - but be sure to keep checking those tiny tooters.  So cute.  "Sparkle"

Little Sparkle - the runt Barred Rock

Sparkle will also be a good looking' gal when she matures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Barred_Rock_hen_in_backyard.jpg

And my middle kid picked the Silver Ameraucana and named her Dan.  He's weird like that.

Dan is the yellow gal looking at the camera.

We have high hopes that Dan will lay us blue or green eggs.  Maybe even pink.  We won't know until she grows up into something like this:

http://www.ameraucana.org/scrapbook.html

Americauna's are not as consistent in their coloring as the other breeds I choose, but you can tell by the color of chick what they will look like.  Check out the link on the picture to see the difference in chick color and adult color.  One can't always be sure of the egg color, either.  She may end up with plain old brown eggs.  I don't think they are very handsome, either, but she's supposed to be a sturdy, reliable chicken.  And of the bunch, she is my favorite so far.  Curious and friendly.

There you go.  You've been introduced to the flock.

Death by Cuteness

Prepare yourselves.  You just might die when you see how cute these babies are.

I drove my booty over to St. Paul and picked up  my chicks.  Here's how it works.  You show up; you pay; you pick your chicks and you drive home with them peeping all the way from inside a small cardboard box that you have lovingly seat-belted into the passenger seat next to you.  The store owners will not ask you if you own a hungry boa constrictor.  They store owners will tell you to keep the box closed for their protection but you will immediately open it so you can take pictures and send them to all your relatives and so that the little biddies won't be scared of the dark.  You are their mother now and it is time to start acting like it.  You are now - a farmer.  Welcome.

They look a little scared of me in this picture.

You can bypass your friendly urban farm supply store or local feed store and order your own chicks . . . if you dare.  You can order from a chick supplier, but they usually have a minimum order of say . . . 15.  The number is to ensure that they will keep each other warm.  And it is my hunch that they include a few extra in case the flock looses a few on the way.  I couldn't bear the idea of opening up a perforated cardboard box to day-old deceased chicks.  Also - they can't ensure that they are ALL females and I can assure you that even if your city is chicken friendly, they are not rooster friendly.  You can try to keep him a secret and good luck with that.  You will have to dispose of him eventually and that was not something I wanted to put on The Husband's desk.  I'm seriously pushing my luck as it is.

So I opted for #2.  Go pick them up from the farm store.  In my case, we have a very hip, urban farm store in St. Paul - here's the link Egg/Plant - and they take orders and get the chicks delivered to their store.  They take care of the first few days when the chicks are learning how not to eat pine shavings and how to drink water.  The kind staff also deals with the aptly named "pasty butt" (it's exactly what it sounds like).  All of this is taken care of if you wait a few days after they arrive.  In my case, they were born on Monday and I picked them up Thursday, free of butt paste and healthy as can be.

New Adventures of Rani

Is it just me, or does it seem like there are a lot of knitting blogs out there that turned into chicken keeping blogs.  Remember way back when - there were a handful of us uber-knitting-nerds who couldn't get enough bloggy goodness about other peoples yarn and pattern yumminess?  And then some of the blogs evolved into cooking and cleaning an organizing and some blogs even showed us just how OCD some of our crafty friends could be.

I still knit.  I really do.  And crochet.  Still working on my big, ugly afghan. But I'm so run-around-like-crazy-like-a-chicken-with-its-head-cut-off, that I haven't really had time to sit and knit and tell you all about it.  And yes, I miss it.  And mostly - I miss all of you.

But now that I've mentioned chickens.  I may as well tell you that after about four years of researching and scratching my head and lobbying heavily at the doorstep of The Husband - I finally called my local happy-hippy farmer store and ordered four chicks.  You know, they are not expensive and they don't even do a background check.  What if I also happen to own a boa-constrictor?  Wouldn't you want to know if you were selling chicks?  I would.

I don't have a boa, but I do have a bird dog.  Did they sell them to me anyway - YES!  And they were very nice about it.  And did the husband approve?  Kind of.  Did my city approve?  Nope.  Am I going ahead with it anyway? Yup.

So for now, this little bloggy will be about my new adventure with my little hens.  I know there are people out there like me who have about a million questions about raising chickens and so hopefully I will entertain you and answer some questions along the way.  But it will be a learn as we go, people.  I'm just figuring all this out in real time.  

And now . . . . ONWARD!