This morning, after a sleepless night with a feverish Silas, I woke to the sound of the back door slamming. I hazily remembered Larkspur slipping from our bed a few minutes before and knew just what she was doing.
Her first waking thought must have been the new chicks we picked up yesterday. I climbed out of bed myself, and headed downstairs in her tracks, Keats in mine.
Sure enough, Lark met me at the hen house door, wide eyed from sleep and excitement. “I woke up and came to check on the chicks.”
I will give you more details on our new little flock soon. Right now, I am headed back out to the coop to change bedding, check little chick bottoms, and enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with babies.
*so thankful*
Happy first day of spring to you all!
Hi, we have a batch of chicks now too. I’ve been raising chicks for a few years and was curious about your checking chick bottoms. Is there a reason other than they are cute and fuzzy? Are you checking for illness?
Thanks!
Linda
We watch to make sure they are clean. We had a chick die after getting a “pasty butt” a few years ago. http://www.pet-chicken.com/pet-chickens/what-is-pasty-butt
Thanks so much for the info. I do have one with pasty butt and cleaned it today. But the whole time I held her while cleaning and keeping her warm and drying her, she never pooped. She looks like she has prolapse. Hopefully she’ll recover. Thanks again!
i would have woken up early too. 🙂
I just saw a book on your sidebar that is on my list. “bringing Lent home with Mother Teresa”. We are Methodist and I am sad that Lent isnt practiced in our church like other denominations. A dear friend read several of the days readings last week as tears streamed hot down my face. Your photos are beautiful…….. thank you for sharing with us.
All your photos are just lovely:) They remind me of what is beautiful in my own life.
I, also, was going to ask about your coop. It is a great design. Happy Spring!
Chicks certainly bring the feeling of Spring!
P.S. We live down the street from an egg farm, so I’ll have to come up with another reason to get chickens…. tick reduction! 🙂
I think you’ll have to get guinea fowl to deal with the ticks. I don’t think our hens did much to help in that area. We are hoping to add a handful of guineas soon to help with ticks and insects in the garden!
I guess you missed all those fresh eggs, huh? 🙂 I can’t wait until I have time and energy for chickens. Some day I’d like to buy and hatch our own eggs, like a 4-H project. Someday…
We buy fresh eggs from a local farm, but we think ours tasted better 🙂
It ‘s all LOVE!! Enjoy spring!! ♥ Herma
Love the photo of the chubby puss on the path!
That’s Grace. She did get a bit chubby over the winter!
Oh I am so happy that you are getting more chickens! We have 3 little chicks residing in our laundry room at the moment. So excited about our new venture into raising chickens!
How fun Leah!! It is exciting, isn’t it!
Did you build your beautiful coop? What design did you use? Do you have any chicken books you would recommend?
My husband built the coop about three years ago, without plans. He just made it up using what we had or could obtain most easily and cheaply. My latest favorite chicken book is The Small Scale Poultry Flock http://www.amazon.com/Small-Scale-Poultry-Flock-All-Natural-Growers-/dp/1603582908/ref=as_li_tf_mfw?&linkCode=wey&tag=smalthin-20
we just brought home three Barred Rocks chicks last week…love cuddling these “babies” too 🙂
We wanted barred rocks this time around, but it didn’t work out 🙁 They were the most curious funny girls in our last flock.
Happy Spring! Those chicks look so sweet 🙂
I love your coop! No chickens allowed in our city limits, but I’m hoping to change that soon. We have a new simple living group starting up next week and I’d like to work together to get a new ordinance passed. Maybe someday soon I’ll have baby chicks too!
Good Luck!!
Enjoy them!
It looks like you changed your mind. I do hope chicks are in our not too distant future.
I think we changed our minds the day after our last flock left, although it was really good to be chicken free over the past few months so that Jonny could finish up the front porch without dealing with chickens walking on the wet concrete or using the bathroom there!
One day, when the Army quits moving us around, I will have chickens! Till then, I’ll just admire yours.
I promise lots of pictures!
Happy first day of Spring! I love the little peeps of baby chicks over coffee.
happy spring!
I’m so glad you didn’t stay away from chickens for too long! When I first saw the picture of your coop I thought, “It must be hard to have a coop like that in Spring just empty.” I was so relieved to see little chicks in there! Chicks are so much fun! We’re going to try meat birds this year for the first time. I need to order them soon…
It was too hard! I am glad to have chickens again. We want to try meat birds as well, but will probably wait until we are in our next home. Hoping that is in the next year or two max.
How fun… I would love to have some chickens but we just don’t have the yard for it. Enjoy the first day of spring!
What a beautiful first day of Spring it is, too! Up here (Ontario) we’ve had summer like weather, up to 26 Celsius – hot!!
Happy Day!!!!
Happy First Day to you too!