We got chickens! We also celebrated our one-year anniversary, bought a house, and um, lived without a fully working bathroom for about 3 months, so there’s a lot of catching up to do! Showers too.
And of course there have been weddings. And flowers. And flower crowns (for dogs).
BUT I’m getting ahead of myself, so for now, let’s just look at baby pictures shall we?
You may be wondering where one finds chicks in Los Angeles.
Answer, the internet.
And then…
(insert that wide-eyed emoji here)
they are delivered via USPS:
We stained that floor ourselves, btw.
I expected they’d be a little spent from their journey, maybe a little wilted like wedding flowers when they first arrive, but nope, they were jumping up and down chirping when I opened the box.
I played mama bird, dipping their little beaks in water and showing them their food, and THEY HAVEN’T STOPPED EATING SINCE.
Here they are at one week old:
Ruth Bader Chicksburg, a Blue Americauna
Dolly Bird, an Olive Egger, aka the runt
Name TBD, but most likely Audre, a Black Copper Maran
Name TBD, maybe Simone de Oeuffvoir? A Cream Legbar
Name TBD, Judith or Annie? A Rhode Island Red
At one week: They all have wing feathers, and 4 of them have tail feathers too. They love to eat chicken scratch from the palm of your hand, tolerate being held, and flap their little wings in excitement, but no actual flying yet. The ginger does use strategic wing movements to block her sisters from eating on occasion.
And one more…
Notorious RBC, in repose.
Do you have chickens? Good chicken names?
Send any funny, punny, and/or feminist chicken names you can think of our way!
I saw the ginger and immediately thought of Lucille Ball.
That’s a good one too! Decisions, decision!
OK so you have chickens. That’s good but chickens are wonderful way for your neighbor to hate you. Here are a few ways you can own chickens while being neighborhood friendly. I’m assuming since your naming them they are not fryers but layers. So when you build your coop insulate the walls and ceiling. On the inside of the coop staple up egg crate material. This will give you a real great sound barrier. Now I suggest building a floor. This stops predators and makes the coop less likely to have light leaks. Now this coop is also a training area. It needs to be dark with no light leaks while being properly vented. The easiest way to achieve this is vent through the floor. you’re outside vents near the ceiling to extend out of the structure and a 90° turn. Now once built you have to make sure you have no light leaks so someone needs to be in there with the door shut. This always means someone gets locked in a chicken coop. Now once complete you can trick your chickens to an adjusted light schedule. Open the pen at a appointed time religiously. Now you have to have a cock there’s just no way around it. Layers will stop laying without a nearby cock. Now the best cocks are the smaller breed that cannot mate with the larger hens. A lone cock may get an attitude so don’t be afraid to smack your cock around a bit. Make sure he knows you have a firm yet gentle touch. The only other thing is if any of your chicks or chickens get injured or sick segregate the animal as soon as you can. Enjoy your chickens. They make a great pet if you treat them right. Plus free eggs. Ohhh dog food is way cheaper than chicken feed and the eggs come out amazing.
Thanks for all the great advice Billy! Luckily we aren’t the only chicken keepers in our neighborhood, so our neighbors are pretty used to all the clucking, lol! 🙂
The ginger looks like Tilda Swinton to me.
Ooh! That’s a good one Laura!
How cute are they!!
Right? They’re pretty ridiculous!