The Ladies

I think the chicks are officially chickens. They’re 9 weeks old and are mostly weaned from the heat lamp – I’m still turning it on at night for them; but that stops this weekend! They also finally got their big run put in this past weekend and they are loving it. People tease me practically daily for being so excited about my chickens, but watching them grow into chickens has been so. much. fun. I feel like I was born for homestead living. Besides the whole bit about murdering your animals for food and all. Hopefully I graduate to being okay with beef cows and pigs because I really do believe growing your own food is a much better option for the animals (and us). I don’t know that I’ll ever be okay with eating my own chickens. But. I will gratefully eat the eggs that they provide!

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You can see in the image that shows the coop their original plot – the square that was once grass before the chicks! I was worried about the grass in their run getting too long and needing maintenance before I saw how they demolished the grass in their little yard! I’m not so worried about it anymore.

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We’ve really been enjoying finding things to feed the chickens as well. They’re so accustomed to me bringing something yummy in to peck at that any time I go near the coop during the day they all flap-run over to wherever I am and follow me around. If you haven’t witnessed a chicken flap-run, you should definitely put it on your bucket list. It’s the most adorable thing.

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Their new run is pretty big! We went down to the marina and found some old fishing net in the trash that was big enough to put over the run so that the eagles won’t be able to get in. And the fence is tall enough to walk right in! My husband (the giant!) has to duck a bit, but he has to most places he goes anyway :). We actually purchased the fencing for Maverick before we even got the property; it was marketed as a deer fence for gardens and is exceptionally tall. As Maverick has been very good about staying on the property (he’s far too lazy to wander outside the 28 acres!) we haven’t worried about fencing him in. Thank goodness because the garden and chickens needed it more!