Meet the Clucks

Last August we needed to get some chickens. Not that we hadn't tried, but the big box stores insist that you buy 6 at a time... and then never seem to have any in stock. So the next best thing? A Facebook search turned up some 4-month-old pullets (females) of the Cream Legbar Variety. It was mid-afternoon when I set off to collect them. On my way out of the garage, I grabbed a large empty moving box and threw it into the back of the car.

The drive took me west and down some narrow one-lane roads, that for some reason were all paved!!! I did hear a bit of music while driving that sounded a little like the soundtrack from the movie Deliverance! Several times I questioned the GPS but eventually, I arrived at the destination.

The lady has a big spread all fenced in with free-range goats, sheep, chickens- several varieties, turkey 2 varieties, a bunch of dogs and cats... and maybe more critters that I didn't see. We exchanged the money for chickens, put them in the empty box, and I left for home.

The look on the DH's face when I opened the box and 6 half-grown chickens popped out. He was expecting chickens that fit in your hand. We locked up the pen and left them to explore their habitat.
The next day we explored more of what chickens need and set about acquiring the supplies. Finding chickens was so difficult that we were not prepared for immediate occupancy, but quickly caught up.

Its been about 8 months and the chickens love free-ranging around the yard. When we open the gate every morning to let them out 4 head immediately for the pond and a drink. Nevermind that they do that at the watering bucket first thing out of their coop too. Only 3 of the chickens actually have names. Loooucy and Ethel are the 2 that are least worried about people and Chicken Little. The name is obvious if you know the story. That chicken is afraid of her own shadow.

When I was growing up my dad used to call them "cackleberries", but we call them 'squakberries'. These girls are supplying us with 1-2 dozen every week, (even during the cold winter), so we are eating lots of eggs and giving some away as well. The girls lay eggs ranging in colors of pale mint green to a bright pale blue and they have large bright creamy yolks. The egg on the bottom is a store-bought egg for reference. Although now, most of the eggs are all a big Medium!

Its time to start recording some information about living here, the weather, rain amounts, additions or subtractions and the work or improvements we are making... on the farm. So far the weather this spring has been up and down temperature-wise, from the upper 20's at night to the highs in the daytime as high as 80 degrees. Many days that have been sunny have been tempered with a frigid wind from the north/northwest. The warmest just last week with a taste of the humidity that will soon be here. Typical for the power shift of the north versus the south for control of where the storms come from. This week we have had weather suitable for shorts and yesterday long pants and jackets. High winds are predicted from most of the day, up to 50 mph. An inch of rain fell on Sunday 4/13/2020 and 3/4 of an inch before sunrise on Monday.

As Always More Later! Beth