Henny Penny and friends

Here are the surving kindergarten chicks. Well six of them anyway. Another four went to a different home. Others wanted the baby chicks until they found out that Rhode Island Reds really cannot be sexed until they are almost grown. Seems everyone wants fresh eggs, but no one wants a rooster.

Well we cannot keep a rooster either but we do know about the live animal auctions and so we will keep our fingers crossed that all are lady hens:>)

Of the class chicks only our two classroom ones were named, K.C. and Lovechick. I have secretly named the chicks from each room by their teachers names however so we have two Mrs Harjus, two Mrs Lakes, and two Mrs Lynches.

Right now the ladies are happily warm in the teen area of the cellar. I am still working out how to introduce what are now 3 ages of hens to one another when the time comes with a minimum of pecking order meanness.

All the children in the classroom were fascinated by their visitors and spent quite a bit of time as budding scientists observing them. We did chicken math papers and chicken story papers and chicken color papers. But now the ladies have retired from their school career and as soon as they outgrow their Mason and Mason paper box, shall begin their lives in the barn as farm hens.

I think they will spend some time in the nursery part of the barn in a large wire dog crate where they can see their older chicken mates without being bothered by them until they too reach their adult size. Apparently I will shortly there after introduce the teenage chickens to the 6 adult hens under the cover of darkness.

While all the chickens sleep so the theory goes, I am to slip the 22 teens in with the 6 snoozing adults. Then come morning I am suppose to make a big ruckus startling them all out to their outdoor pen while I rattle feed and water buckets around. Then they all rush in to eat. Evidently chickens are meant to eat and flee together and doing this will thus help bond them all, therefore reducing hen pecking. Think it will work?

You think your life is complicated? Imagine trying to design order from chaos in the chicken world!

Meanwhile I get to enjoy the thrill of baby chicks again. Although now I am on the lookout for 2 fertile duck eggs because we have a mini incubator that fits 3 chick eggs or 2 duck eggs. Since we have our fill of chickens we thought two duckies would be just right. They are a hoot to watch play in a paddle pool. Plus they remove unwanted ticks. In addition their eggs, much larger than chicken eggs are a dream for cooking with.

So we work with the buns and chicks, prepare the farm garden and get ready for our own little milk supply, who arrives the day before Easter, little son on a bottle, little mama ready to eat the poison ivy and briars around and pay us back in rich goat milk.

I plot, plan, and prepare....thankful for the warmish days and hopeful for a nice long productive summer!