How it All Began...

It was decided today that we will be getting chickens, something I have been looking forward to the last 11 years. I took an embryology class in high school and we raised chicks from eggs and imprinted them on us. There is a window early in their life where they will imprint to something around them, usually their mother, but in an unnatural setting you can imprint them to a pair of shoes or a stuffed animal. What it really means is that you will get some super sweet and tame chicks.
I apologize for the terrible quality of these photos - our scanner doesn't work, so I just took pictures of old pictures. At night. I'm sorry!

I raised 7 (I took classmates that couldn't keep them anymore) chicks at home until they were big enough to go to a neighbor's house.


A friend and I stuck them in Easter baskets and took pictures



This was my favorite chicken, Leilani. She was horribly neglected by her owner (not his fault really, we weren't properly educated on how to care for these animals). She had been fed oatmeal and kept in a dark box for most of the day everyday. When I got her, her down was falling out from malnutrition and when I gave her water she drank so quickly she threw it all back up. It was a sad state.


Leilani all grown up and beautiful!


My mom and I would go and visit them almost every night. My mom grew up with chickens and loved spending time with them too. I called for them when I got there and they would all run to me, happy to see their mother! I would sit in the barn and they would all hop up on my lap.


And sleep in my arms. Awwww, I can't wait to have chickens again!


We have been talking about getting chickens here for a year - our landlord is all for it. We just didn't know where we were going next or if we would be able to keep them. We still don't, but I decided I didn't want to put it off anymore! The landlord is coming over tomorrow to talk about plans and once we settle on a design, Aaron can start building. We've gotten a ton of wood from around town, so hopefully we can keep costs low. Our little farm is taking off!