With a chick, chick here...

I think I may have gone completely crazy. We just added FOUR more animals to our brood. Yes, you read that right, FOUR. Now, not only do we have a dog, a pig, and two turtles, we also have four chickens.

Bah is an animal lover - through and through. She is the pig whisper, worm charmer, and bug catcher. She has been asking for baby chicks for a few weeks now, and I kept telling her we had enough to keep us busy and didn't need any more animals. Then, her cousins got baby chicks and she (in her own words) just "couldn't stop thinking about baby chicks!" So after Boots and I had a long talk, we decided that maybe chickens would fit in fine with our little zoo. His reasoning was that he likes giving the kids responsibility and teaching them about where their food comes from. They know better than that food comes from the grocery store, but since we are not raising cows or meat-pigs, they do not have first hand experience with food-to-table animals. Therefore, we figured chickens would be a good place to start.

As much as I love animals, I am new to animal husbandry. However, I am very excited to begin the process of caring for animals that will not only be companions but will also help sustain us. The girls are super-excited to be able to begin collecting eggs.

Since I am new to this, and we purchased the chicks on much more of a whim than the pig, I am not caught up on the research and am doing it more as I go. Luckily, though, my sister-in-law is just beginning her chicken adventure too and has a friend who is a chicken pro and can help us on our journey.

For now, the cute chicks are in an extra large storage bin with shavings, food, water, and a heat lamp. They will stay in there until their feathers come in. Then, they will move into a chicken coop. We have gathered a few ideas online, and Brett is confident that he can get one put together for us. Meanwhile, we are just enjoying some baby chick snuggles.

Getting them settled in their new home

The kids are clearly in love already. They have even made little signs to decorate the chick area.

Bubs and his chick, Brown

Bah and Goldie

Boo and Freckle-ina

Little chicks snuggled under the heat lamp

Festus had to check out the new noise-makers, too

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