Hello!!
Thought I would share the origins of the first chooks!
When we first moved in we were lucky enough to have a lovely coop and yard already built ready for us to use.
OK. Maybe not so ready!
My parents got us the best housewarming present ever! Six chickens!!
First my Dad got right into cleaning out the chook coop and getting it ready for our newcomers.
Dad was up early on Chook Day – breakfasted and jingling the car keys way before I had my bleary eyes open.
Got coffee into me and woke up as fast as possible (Which for me isn’t that fast) Then off to get our chickens!
Lesson. You can stuff 6 chickens into one large cat carrier.
It was hard to get them out of the carrier actually – I think we had to tip it up in the end!
This is baby Screecher!!!!
We blocked up the nesting boxes for a while – they weren’t due to lay for a bit and we wanted them to get up on the perches and not snuggle in the boxes.
It seemed to work
The next day they enjoyed exploring – and starting to go to work on those impressive weeds!
Never having ever had chickens before, I didn’t know what to expect. We found so many positives – eating up scraps, clearing weeds, producing poo, eventually producing eggs (and making money off them!) etc. What took me by surprise was how much we love our chickens and how funny and entertaining they are!
If you have room for chickens but have been hesitant about getting into it – honestly, go for it! They are not hard to take care of! I would be sad without them! (and the eggs!! Oh the taste is amazing when you have your own!!)
Cheers!
I truly love reading your stories. And I appreciate that you add a lot of pictures. I moved to Tennessee to take care of my 85-year-old Daddy who has congestive heart failure. He is doing good now and we get out often to play cards and socialize. We live on the farm he grew up on and we discussed getting some chickens again. I have stage IV pancreatic cancer and some days it is not easy to get up and do much of anything after chemo. That is the only reason we don’t have chickens, fear of not being able to get out and take care of them every day. We do have a huge flock of wild turkeys that roam around and plenty of deer. They require no help from us. LOL And amazingly the deer have not eaten any of the vegetable plants my sister planted around the front yard. We are cohabitating well and I get my “chicken fix” from you and Mavis. LOL I really love your stories and thank you for taking the time to post them.
Hi Kathy! How are you doing? I am glad you enjoy the stories and my funny chickens! I am so sorry you are struggling with cancer! One of the banes of our world isn’t it? It would be so tempting to get chickens again as you know how fun and productive they are! I understand your concern about days that you may not be able to get out to look after them though.
I haven’t even been down to see our girls since I landed in Tasmania yesterday afternoon! I had a wonderful time in the USA and met some lovely people that made me feel like part of their family – and thats a special thing! I have a couple of thousand images to sort out and work with from my trip!
I am also very keen to dive back into my garden and do lots of work there!
Right now Pip is curled up happily under my windcheater (windbreaker) purring his little heart out. I think he is happy to have his Mum home!
Take care and I will get right onto getting back into the swing of things with more blog stories! Stay tuned! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your pictures and memories of “the early days” and for your overall blog.
It’s refreshing to read someone’s work who appreciates family, friends, nature, and hard work and doesn’t resort to negativity or being unkind!
Thank-you Gail! This world can always use a bit of positiveness can’t it? I think that’s one of the reasons I enjoy writing my blog and sharing photos. Life is not always smooth sailing, but focusing on the good and beautiful things is uplifting for me and hopefully some people around me too!
Stay tuned… I have a boatload of travel photos from my trip! 🙂
Gee it’s fun looking back at first lot. How little their combs were, and scrawny. Didn’t remember the coop and duck yard being so lush with weeds. We’ve come a long way doll.
As I have said before, I recently got some chickens. I didn’t realize when they are older you all call them “chooks”, lol! Well anyway, it all started with my 8 year old daughter bringing one home from school that the class had hatched in an incubator. Long story short, we now have 6 laying hens and 2 pullets. We have had the laying hens for a couple weeks and so far we have four eggs. Hopefully, as they get better adjusted, they will lay more. I’m proud of my four eggs, though! We are really entertained by them. They even like for us to pet them like they are puppies, lol!
I am so glad you are enjoying your chickens!! They are a fantastic addition to a backyard! We still get excited over our fresh eggs even after all this time! Its a feeling that doesn’t go away for a while! 🙂 Our girls are being REALLY slack! 10 of them are only producing one egg every other day!! ?? Whats up with that??? I think we need to get a few more laying birds soon. We still love them. haha – some of ours like to be patted, some are not so thrilled! having them from babies means yours will be so much more like pets and really friendly! Lovely!