Here Chicky, Chicky!

So it looks like our chicken population plan may be back in action! A friend from church posted that, due to expecting a winter baby, their family is downsizing their chicken population. One year old birds, already laying! Hearty enough to get through the winter, well cared for, AND my friend was willing to teach us all about chicken farming!

It turned out to be a really fun morning! Their property is waaaay out in the country, and I had no idea how "Amish" (as she kept calling herself jokingly) they are. Surrounded by cornfields, they've just built a beautiful new home on property that has been passed down through the family. They've got an orphan cow set-up in their yard (they call it their pasture). The cows, including one very expectant momma who chose to wait to deliver til the next day despite my assurances that seeing her bring her calf into the world would be an educational experience for my children, were kept from the neighboring garden by an electric fence.

I grew up with electric fences, usually that were comprised of more than one wire. We quickly learned, "Don't touch the hot fence." Well, my city kids . . . Graysen ran up to see the cows and YOUCH!!! He didn't say anything to me til later, but he was like "Hey, mom. That fence zapped me. They should really put up a sign." Throughout the day, he'd have little mini flashbacks, "I could feel that in my whole body!" Knowing that he wasn't in any danger from a zap, and having never forgotten the way it feels from when I was a kid, I found this just a little bit funny (shh, don't tell him :) So did Buck. Why we didn't think to mention that the cow fence was electrified, I don't know. I guess we were just absorbing all the other cool stuff on the little farm :)

So, next to the cows was a giant garden . . . probably as long and wide as the top of our first hill where our little garden now resides :) They have a greenhouse and a chicken house next to these, and all their plants get their start under the glass. Once grown, the extra produce either gets thrown to the cows or to the chickens--straight from the plants--and the circle of life continues :) I thought it was a pretty neat, well-maintained set up. And when my friend's little girls started snatching bell peppers from the plants and eating them like apples, I was like, "Yes!! This is rad!"

Before long, each of my kids was hauling a bucket and filling it with garden produce. S said, "I'm so done with canning and putting up food, take ALL you want, and COME BACK for more." We gathered cabbages, three kinds of peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, even a watermelon! I love that kind of generosity--help yourself!

Now, on the other side of the garden/green house/chicken coop was the chicken pen. Buck estimated they probably had 40 or 50 birds, with a few ducks included. Their little girls were snatching those birds up like the were grown farm hands--it was hilarious to see the two-year-old scoop up a hen and kiss her head feathers and call her Princess Poppy.

We decided to tag the flock we'd like to bring home next month (we still have to get neighbor signatures, do the permit/inspection, and per our new knowledge make a few improvements to our coop). To do this, the chickens the kids liked had to be caught, brought over to S, and a purple zip tie put on a chicken leg. The boys watched those little girls grab the chickens by the tails, then the feet, and they were in!! I think they had more fun chasing chickens and catching them than they've had in a long time :) They even caught the chickens their sisters liked . . . and once a rooster--we had to put him back.

What's more, if we want chicks, S said she'll bring us fertilized eggs to incubate, so we can observe that whole process and add to our flock. She was remarkably low-key and informative about teaching us. She said her grandma taught her all she knows, and she misses her grandma, so she loves to teach others about farm life. Very special!

Once we had our chickens tagged and our buckets filled with goodness, S's little girls (they homeschool too, so that's why the girls were there to help us :) mentioned baby kitties. Oh my goodness, those darlin' baby kitties!

Even Graysen, who is convinced cats don't like him, was willing to snuggle a four-week-old ball of adorableness. Soon enough, those babies were crying for their mama! It's amazing how "hungry" has the same sound regardless of species :) Our kids set the babies down on tiny, shaky legs and watched them nurse. I feel like our kids had so many neat opportunities to experience things that were pretty normal for me growing up, but they don't have the same access to in our current living situation (which I'm, for the most part, okay with--I don't need a mama cat and kittens under the deck right now ;)

Yes, the babies were too young to leave their mama, too cat to interact with our rodent-related pet population, and too hard to keep as an outdoor cat in town. But with an open invitation to visit whenever we're up to the drive, I'm sure it won't be the last of those baby kittens we'll see. AND there is a new baby calf to visit now, too!










Seriously! Look at all that food! Awesome!