Three Girls and a Guy

Meet the newest members of our family. Sunday was "Make way for the Chickens" Day. We are now the official owners of Rhode Island Reds: 3 hens and one cockerel.

Rhode Island Reds are a hardy breed; happy to adapt to almost any healthy surrounding. They come highly recommended. They are also excellent layers of light brown eggs. We wanted our birds exclusively for eggs - no meat birds in our future. Did you know that the color of a chicken's ear lobe determines the egg color?

We were a little rushed to prepare the run and coop for them. The run is a old chain link dog pen that, for the last ten years, has been used as a storage area for bags of garden soil and peat moss. It was a bear to clean out. The run is located in the back corner of our lot, where grape vines and sassafrass saplings had completely "swallowed" the dog pen. It was unrecognizable. We've still got some work to do, but it looks a thousand times better!

Since they were raised together in a smaller pen, the  chickens are very happy with their new surroundings. They have lots of room to run around and scratch, peck for bugs and take a dirt bath!

 We are using an old dog house as the coop. The girls won't be ready to lay eggs until the end of the summer. My oldest son wants to paint the coop a funky color; he says it will "be fun for the chickens." Right now it's just boring beige. Did you know that chickens see in full color? I wonder if they respond to color in the way that humans do. Silly thought, I know. I just don't want to freak them out or get them "riled up" by introducing a color that they don't like. Hmm, maybe I do have too much time on my hands...

Anyways, they are here, and I am ecstatic. Thanks to our wonderful friends for raising them for us. We're probably not finished bugging you with our chicken questions, but at least you know we are finished begging you for fresh eggs!

Are any of you considering adding chickens to your family?