Newest Neighbors

My favorite friend and neighbor finally got the chickens she's always wanted! They are adorable and she couldn't be more excited about them. The first day they were delivered, she said she must have walked back and forth to the coop to check on them at least ten times, all the way up to 9:00 that night! I probably would have done the same thing if it was me. She and I both are so attached to our animals.

She started out with a rooster and five hens and they are already laying eggs for her each day. She says she gets about three to four eggs from them daily, which is awesome! No more buying eggs from the store!

The rooster is beautiful and she named him Lil' Jerry. He's part Dominique and is mostly white with black spots. He's very handsome and regal and quite the protector of his harem. The hens are Black Sex-links and they are so fat and cute. Their bottoms have downy fluff feathers that poof out and their necks have varied sheens of red in them. They are so pretty. She named one Tiny because it was the smallest hen, and one she named Lucy because she had the most red on her head and neck. You have to pronounce it Luuuuuuucy though, like Ricky Ricardo on "I Love Lucy."

She's got them in a temporary home for now, out by the goats. The shed is adorable and cozy and she has two iron hay feeders nailed to the inside of each wall and filled with straw. One of the hens claimed one of the wall feeders right away for her nesting spot and got comfortable. She has an adorable two-story nesting box against one wall that looks like a chicken condo. It has four nesting boxes on top and four on the bottom, but none of the hens liked that for some reason. She also laid some five-gallon buckets on their sides and filled them with straw and surprisingly, those were what the hens loved the most and fought over for nesting spots. The hens would crawl into the buckets and sit down in the straw and then remove or add more straw with their beaks as needed to fluff them up or thin them out. It was so cute to watch.

In the corners of the shed, she had placed tree branches across to form roosts for the chickens to sleep on and they'd fly up there to roost. It was just so cute and rustic. This house is just temporary for them though, because her husband is building her the most adorable chicken house. It's almost complete, but he's trying to finish the fencing around the chicken yard so the foxes and hawks can't get in and harm the chickens.

I'm so jealous! I wish my husband would let me have my very own chickens too, but he says I've got my hands full enough with three donkeys for now. I'm going to keep trying to wear him down though. When and if I ever get my own brood of chicks, I'll be sure to let you know! Until then, I'll just enjoy my new neighbors as much as I can!