An Early Spring???

We have had a mild winter thus far.
There was snowfall but it was brief and temperatures were unusually warm again in just a couple of days.
In contrast to this past summer when temperatures soared and the animals suffered and some died due to the heat, this winter of mild temps has been welcomed. Of course, this being Oklahoma, the weather can take a turn for the worst without nary a moment's notice.
But for now, while I'm taxiing kids here, there, and everywhere it's nice that I'm not nervous about icy roads or whether-or-not one of the sweet cherubs has forgotten their coat.
Walking in the woods, back by the lake last week, the children and I spotted many signs of spring creeping in early. Up here at the house, the tulips that I put in last fall are pushing up through the ground as well as the other early-flowering plants.
Before we know it spring will be here in all her glory!





Spring here means tornado weather, in other words scanning the clouds for rotation within wall clouds, cleaning out the cellar, baseball practices and games, and bucket-calves arriving.
It means yelling at the kids to take their shoes off before coming into the house due to the increased trips to the barn to take care of new calves.





The smell of milk replacement permeates the house and the presence of large feeding bottles begging to be washed constantly causes irritation to all those trying to get to the kitchen sink.
This past Sunday I made a trip to town for groceries and stopped by one of the local farm supply stores. They already had their chicks, ducks, and guineas for sale. Wonderfully, I walked around the large tubs lit up bright yellow by their individual heat lamps and peered in at all the sweet, fluffy cuteness.
Peep, peep, peep, peep...as the little fluffy tushes scurried about or huddled sleepily together.
I told myself, "Resist and the devil, will flee," or in my case the temptation to call my husband and plead that we could put just a few in the schoolroom for just a few weeks and then kick them out to the coop.
But who was I kidding, winter is not over, and this is Oklahoma after all.
Besides, the large rubber feeding tub I've used in the past for the small ones was currently out in the calf pen being used by the five bovine behemoth's and their offspring.
There were strikes against me from all sides, I was hemmed in, and there was no getting around it.
No farm supply chicks this late winter/spring!
But I have a plan.



Remember Mr. Incredible...the incredibly mean rooster that my husband killed last summer? Well, the one sole survivor of the chick crop from last summer lives on. That's right, Mr Incredible has a son, and he's the spittin' image of his cantankerous dad. And rather fittingly his name is, Dash.
Dash and his harem will supply me with a fresh crop of chickens, I just know it...or I think so anyway.
We will see, we will see.
Counting my chickens before they hatch,
& looking forward to Spring,
Julie

The Skinny

A Little Catch-up on the Chickens, the Children, and Church.

1. The Chickens

This past spring, I put twenty fertilized eggs into an incubator that our local extension office had let us borrow. Twelve chicks hatched out and stayed in the schoolroom for almost five weeks. I then kicked them out to the coop. They did great for four days and then on the fifth day, that morning, I went out to feed them and every last one of them were GONE. There was evidence from the coop door that an animal had pushed the chicken wire up and had gotten in. We think the dogs took part in this little soiree as there were little piles of feathers amongst their large cow bones out by the cellar.
I'm still not speaking to them.

After the baby chick massacre we had two hens go broody, a Wyandotte and a Buff Orpington. The Wyandotte hatched out two chicks and the BO hatched out one chick. Just two days after the Wyandotte had hatched out her two, I discovered that one of them had been killed and eaten by a very large and still digesting his chicken nugget, rat snake. The husband and I pounded on him with two hoes and he is no more.

This morning I went out to feed and discovered the other chick belonging to Ms. Wyandotte had gone the way of the first and yes, the culprit being a very large rat snake was still present digesting a much larger chicken nugget meal (and just gotta mention here that the whole scene was worthy of a nature documentary on snakes). Needless to say the husband and I were most helpful in seeing that another Mr. Snake would be enjoying no more meals via the coop.

So now we have the Buff Orpington raising her lone chick that I'm just sure is a pullet (yay me). This afternoon I went out to check on the whole lot and found yet another snake (very large garter snake) skulking about the coop and snuffed him out with my trusty hoe.

We are now at ten hens and one pullet. Which isn't really that bad as we've dealt with record breaking heat this summer and I was sure we would lose more. Mr. Incredible (the very large and very mean rooster) died, but he doesn't count, sorry, if that sounds callous but I didn't like him, you wouldn't have either...trust me on this one.

2. The Children

The children have dived headfirst into school. Actually we're doing some serious review work right now while I wait for our stuff from Rainbow to make it here.
They're also gearing up and preparing for the county fair that is at the end of this month.



Both girls will be participating in the 4H Horse Show and all three cherubs will be showing their calves at the Bucket Calf Show.



 Honestly it's been a long summer and I think we were ready to have a full-time school schedule again.
We did keep up with math throughout the summer and some language arts though.

3. Church

Recently a friend of mine emailed me and very sensitively and tactfully inquired about how we're going about searching for a church. Her email touched my heart as it was evident that she in no way wanted to offend but was curious as to how we were going about making this very important decision.
We do have somewhat of a checklist if you will, but first and most importantly we're bathing this with prayer and I'm talking a serious soaking of prayer.
But getting back to the checklist, there must be truth in the pulpit with sound biblical teaching. Tim and I both are in agreement that we won't settle for mediocrity or the dumbing down of the gospel that is becoming widespread in too many pulpits today. I'll stop there regarding the deception of flock leaders.
We also desire to be a part of a fellowship where those in leadership are loving, transparent, and not arrogant. For us the leaders must be above reproach, not perfect mind you, but quick to repent and ask forgiveness if confronted with sin.
The churches we've visited have primarily been Southern Baptist Churches as that is where we believe we're to be. We're not the Seeker Sensitive types, so when we see these practices being implemented we steer clear. 

Of course, there are other factors such as distance. We want to be active in whatever church the Lord leads us to. We were at our former church. We enjoy serving. And we live so far out in the country that we are limited as to how many churches are that close. Tim commutes an hour round trip Monday through Friday, so distance is definitely a factor.

Anyway, that's the skinny of what's up here and I do desire your prayers regarding our Lord's direction. A part of me believes we're still going through a great deal of forgiving and healing spiritually and won't be free to enter another fellowship until we've dealt with the baggage that we keep finding ourselves dragging around.

We haven't been popular regarding some, but we know we're on the right road and really that's all that matters.

Blessings, Julie

Oh and by the way, we've been getting rain and the temperatures have come down to the upper 90's in the daytime. Thanks for your prayers regarding the drought in Oklahoma. We're still experiencing drought but the recent rains have been so encouraging!

Life @ Forty Acre Farm

The rooster died this morning.
That would be Mr. Incredible.
We ran him ragged yesterday evening in temperatures that were well above 100. No, we were'nt trying to run some pounds off of him but catch him to put him in the chicken tractor that Tim had built. Tim also wanted to show him at our county fair at the end of August...won't happen now. And yes one of my more recent posts had detailed his demise. Well, the evening before the "killin'" we wisely surmised the pot was too small. That was when Tim decided to keep him and show him at the county fair...won't happen now.

In early June, I put my mother in a nursing home. She's closer in proximity now. We visit her often.
She's not happy with me.
I'm dealin' with it.
Life is like that.
You've just gotta deal with it and not shirk your responsibilities. One odd thing though, when visiting her, I find myself observing the other residents. There are some that nearly seem unconcious,  they're strapped in wheelchairs or strapped in mobil beds. They're silent, usually looking downward and seemingly oblivious to what's going on around them. Some are in wheelchairs, propelling themselves forward through the halls and nodding their heads at us or giving us sweet smiles when we walk by them. Many times what they say is unintelligible, I smile, pat them, and say, "I'm so glad to see you today!" (meaning every word).
And then there are many using walkers like my mom, that seem a bit confused like my mom, but are delightful to talk to and so so sweet, like my mom (she's just unhappy with me part of the time).
So here's where I'm goin' with this....I'm wondering what I will be like when I hit this stage of life???
Will I be like some I've seen that repeat the same phrases over and over and over. We've seen one woman that does this. She's either yelling, "Help me, help me, help me!" or muttering, "I hate, I hate, I hate."
When I am old and no longer in control of my faculties, will all the fears and grotesqueness of my life bubble forth upon the ears of my loved ones and strangers? And am I foolish to even wonder upon such things? Not a pleasant subject, huh?

And changing the subject, but I just wanted to let some of you know that Google doesn't like me. Yes, before it was Facebook. But now it's Google. I've tried to comment at some of your sites and it won't let me. This is very frustrating as bloggers like Homeschool on the Croft are so wonderful about leaving comments here but I can't comment back and I have tried. It's just so frustrating because just recently at HOTC site she had a post about a vegetable I had never even heard of nor seen before! I think this whole problem has to do with cookies of which the computer kind and I'm completely ignorant of, (sigh). And before I have one of my witty friends comment concerning the "cookies" term, let me just cut him off by saying, "No, I did not lose my cookies!"
But I also lost my "followers" gadget. Strange because when I first noticed it gone, I thought no one liked me anymore but then quickly decided it just couldn't be me. I mean what's not to like?! And by the way, that last statement is an inside joke between my husband and I. Believe me, you'd understand if you knew the full story...again (sigh, really really big SIGH).

There's a lot more "life" going on here. The whole chicken drama has been a bit much and I'll tell more another time and then there's the searching for a new church home which has been a journey in and of itself! But that's a subject I will probably have to tiptoe through. God is so faithful, generous, and loving and He provides what we need when we need it! He definitely won't leave us where we're at (spiritually speaking of course) if we're willing to move forward in Him.

Be a blessing! Julie

  

Lots of Shtuff & A Planned Butcherin'

This wonderful Red Spotted Purple butterfly visited me a couple of days ago and I just had to get it's picture. Okay, so it wasn't visiting me but checking out the "eats" around the place.



Here, it is on the bumper of my van. The van that nearly seriously injured and maimed (aren't those the same?) the children and I coming home from Shtuffmart yesterday.
The power steering went "bye bye" as I was pulling into the drive and I ended up underneath one of the water-sucking red cedars that poses as a dust barrier to the side of the driveway.
I've informed the husband that I will no longer be driving the death mobile or will the children be entering the unsubmissive monster until it has had a thorough goin' over.



So I'm without wheels for the time being, but we've got lots of shtuff, thank you, Shtuffmart. And do you remember the hair-raising adventure I had after getting back from a Shtuffmart run this past winter?

And another question concerning Shtuffmart. Why did they stop selling Campells Cream of Asparagus Soup? You don't know...neither did one of the friendly Shtuffmart workers. Oh well.

My son is in Scouts. This was taken at the Boy Scout Banquet this past winter.
I'm really proud of the little guy...the big guy, too, of course.
But I think you'll understand where I'm coming from when I share that he's really developed a love for reading!
That's a big deal for my husband and I as we're "readers."
The whole family is now officially a bunch of bookworms...I love it!



And now I must share that the large red cantankerous bird that goes by the moniker (wow, I've never used that word in a post!) of Mr. Incredible has run out of time. Remember, he's the beady-eyed rooster in the post right before this one.
Okay, here's a picture.



That's right, he's oooouuutttaaa here!
Today was his last. Tomorrow morning he goes the way of chicken and rice.
I will video. No not the messy stuff. But the husband trying to catch him. I'm too chicken (sorry, I couldn't resist) to get anywhere near him. He's a mean one.

Stay tuned for more later,
Julie

Birds On The Brain...Again

We have been seeing a plethora of birds this past week on our little homestead. Just yesterday morning the children and I spotted a male painted bunting, a male indigo bunting, and a male blue grossbeak within inches of each other in one of the hackberry trees in the backyard!

I am yet to see an oriole, but have an oriole feeder out in case one happens by. So far the hummingbirds are enjoying it's offerrings.

And speaking of painted buntings, one crashed into our dining room window Saturday morning while the husband and kids were shopping for another calf at the local salebarn. The painted bunting was quite shook up and I knew if I didn't rescue him from the deck he would be a cat snack. So I carefully put him into a box to monitor him. After an hour or so, I noticed he wasn't moving much and had been bleeding a little from his beak.


He died just before the children and my husband got home.
It was quite interesting to get such a close look at such a beautiful bird and the kids thought so too. Yet we were saddened that he died.



Speaking of birds, I just have to mention my oversized, ridiculously ferocious yardbird, Mr. Incredible.
Mr. Incredible is our resident rooster and soon to be included in a chicken casserole of some type because of his cantankerous ways.
But currently we're keeping him around so that we can have fertilized eggs.
For the past several days I've been adding eggs to the incubator. We're hoping to hatch out a whole new crew of egg layers. I'm going to go ahead and get my egg license and sell eggs to a local health foods store.



A bird we enjoy but have yet to see is the Whip-poor-Will.
We hear these at dusk and at dawn.
I'm pleased that with the bird units we've done over the past years that the children can now identify many different types of birds and appreciate their beauty.
They are such a testament to our Lord's wonderful variety of beauty that He has so generously bestowed on His creation!

Seeing Him in the simple things, Julie

Regarding my photos: I would like to add that I'm so thankful my husband got me the macro lens that I'm using here last Christmas...it's really made a difference in my picture taking!

Botany, Eggs, & A Snakeskin

Our Spring has gotten off to a late start. We've been dry here in central Oklahoma. Actually, most of the state has been experiencing drought.
Wonderfully, the past couple of days have brought rain. And it's amazing how quickly the flowers play catch-up!



I had purposely planned a Botany unit for the kids this Spring as we could take advantage of so much of the plantworld beginning the cycle of life.



When in grade school, I personally enjoyed drawing diagrams of the subjects we were studying...labeling them and coloring them with great care. My kids enjoy doing so, also.



It's interesting to watch them...and the learning process is made so much easier when it's a hands-on lesson.
I had gone out to the garden and found several different bean seeds and sprouts in different stages of developement. The children were able to put them in order of growth, label the part of the seed, tell me whether or not the bean plant is a dicotyledon or monocotyledon and then explain as well as show me how they knew that.



We're using Apologia's Botany for our core of study, but I've supplemented from other sources also and will omit the material from Apologia we've already learned. I'm excited about this unit and have lots of plans regarding instruction, experiments, and field trips.

Along with the flowers blooming in the pasture, veggies growing in the garden, and the trees leafing out, other signs of Spring abound.
Interestingly, we have a Wyandotte female chicken that has gone broody (she's ready to lay a clutch of eggs and hatch them out).
From what I've read chickens go broody more so in the Spring. She left her clutch of eggs for a short time to eat and another chicken hopped in the Wyandotte's nest to lay her daily egg. This confused the Wyandotte and she took up nesting in the nest nextdoor to the one she had been in.
Needless to say, the clutch of eggs that she had been on for nearly five days was abandoned after the interloper had laid her egg and went on her merry way.
So this morning I brought the eggs into the house so the kids and I could check to see if they were fertilized and how far along in developement they were.
There is a wonderful website here that shows pictures for every day of developement. We used this website to identify that yes, our eggs were fertilized and they ranged from three to four days developed. I didn't take any pictures but we're now excited about trying to hatch eggs out in an incubator we've borrowed from our local extension office. I'll definitely keep you posted on how that goes.

Speaking of eggs, I gathered eggs from the coop and from the nests that my free range chickens make in the yard just the other day. I cracked open three, one yolk ran, but the other two yolks stayed intact.
By looking at the two intact yolks in the picture below, can you tell which is the cooped chicken's egg and which is the free range chicken's egg? If you said the more orange one is the free range chicken's egg...you're right! The free range chickens get a more varied diet and their eggs are much more nutritous. 


 

And speaking of the varied diet of a free range chicken, did you know they will eat baby snakes? I've seen for myself three baby snakes killed and eaten by two of my hens.
I'll transition there to the subject of these last two photos.
Last week my little guy came to me with a long snakeskin he had found in the backyard. When I told him I wanted to measure it, he said that the tail had torn off when he was picking it up off the ground. We went ahead and measured the majority of the skin.




After measuring the snakeskin, my little guy insisted on going and finding the "tail" so that we could get a full and more accurate measurement of the snake. He came running back with it just moments later and we were able to measure the tail and then add that to our measurement of the larger part of the skin to get a total of four feet ten inches long! There's a seriously long snake out there somewhere. I'm just hopin' he's of the nonvenomous type!



I really didn't want to leave you with visions of the monster snake "slithering around" in your head, so I posted another photo of the Irises that are beside the driveway to the house. I took these in the morning when the sunlight was just peering over the horizon of the property to the east of us. It had rained in the night and left behind some welcomed moisture on the blooms.

Seeing His blessings in the small things, Julie

Goodbye Pharaoh...and Empress

Yesterday, when going out to feed the chickens, the small bantam rooster, Pharaoh, flogged my Bata industrial boots (mucking boots)...it was the first time he had dared to do something so rooster-like.
Poor thing didn't know that I had been thinking how he and his mate, Empress, were more trouble than they were worth. His flogging performance sort of sealed the deal of their departure. But breaking it to their owner, my youngest daughter, wouldn't be so simple.


Pharaoh as a chick. See that glint in his eye...already scheming on me, he was.

You see, I've been wanting free-range chickens since we made our big move out here to the wilds of Oklahoma. And just last year that desire to have chickens came to fruition.
Last Spring we purchased six pullets and they're definitely high production egg layers! The three gold sex-links average five eggs a week per chicken and they're producing large to extra-large size eggs. The three white rocks have performed almost as satisfactory although their eggs are a bit smaller, but I've been happy with these six hens.
The newer crop of chicks we purchased last Fall, have started to mature. My oldest girl's Wyandottes have both started laying and one of my Buff Orpingtons has started laying. We still have another Buff Orpington that hasn't. We also have Mr. Incredible, our incredibly handsome Buff Orpington rooster, that seems to be a bit on the dull side...but that's okay because I'm not scared of him. And with that, we come back to Pharaoh and his queen, Empress...both of which would become cat chow in a heartbeat should I let them out with the rest of the chickens.
I'm a practical woman and Tim has indulged me quite enough with this chicken dream of mine. I can't ask him to build an extra coop for the small ones as an extra run and coop was built this past Fall for any hens that go broody and decide to raise some chicks this Summer.
Enough is enough...and all this was explained to my darling daughter as tactfully as possible. Yes, there was crying and pleading, but I wouldn't be moved from my decision. She understands now and is already planning how she can get back into the whole chicken project here at our little farm.
But I can't help but suspect that one day when she's all grown and she has a place of her own there will be bantams there, lots of them.
Have a safe and blessed weekend, Julie

My Montage

Officially it's not winter, but it sure feels a lot like it here.
Owning a farm, albeit small, has its disadvantages when the temps dip below the freezing mark. Animals must have water and don't have the ability to break ice on their own. I'm sure it has to do with the whole opposable thumb thing. So as responsible pet and livestock owners the job of breaking ice falls to the capable humans...Us (better defined as husband and I). He breaks ice for the larger animals and my job is to break ice or provide water for the chickens. Which I may add...again....don't appreciate it. We've already gotten rid of one youngster that thought it his duty to peck me (showed him) and now I have another that is thoroughly misguided. Yesterday, while reaching into the coop to get their feed dish, young Mr. Cockerell gave me a sharp peck on the arm. I was cold, it was early, and I haven't got the Christmas tree up, which adds up to harried middle-age woman jerking young cockerell off of his feet before-he-knew-what-happened and giving him a good hard shaking.
Honestly, it made me feel lots better.
Chick-fil-A's motto is, "Eat more chicken."
Mine is, "Shake a chicken."



But other than farm stuff, there is all the other hullabaloo regarding raising kids. As of late, I feel more like a taxi driver/schedule organizer. Yes, yes, I know that it's my duty as a mother. But we've fallen into the trap of too many activities.
Spreading oneself too thin is one thing but when a whole family spreads itself too thin it makes for a miserable ride! Yet the kids seem to keep excelling, much to my amazement. Shame on me for not having more confidence in their abilities to overcome. And really maybe it's just my tirades they're having to "overcome."



Anyway, all that to say that middle child did wonderfully at the county 4-H speech contest. She won Reserve Grand Champion on her speech, "The Basic Anatomy of a Chicken and What to Feed it."



Both girls did fantastically at our local spelling bee. The oldest placed second in her division and middle child won first in her age division. Both girls will be competing at regionals. This is the third year in a row for the oldest to compete at regionals and we're hoping this is the year she'll win it and progress to the state bee.



Lately, we've made frequent trips out to Southwest Oklahoma to see my mom and arrange surgery for her knee. My sister and I took guardianship of her this past fall and have been busy with seeing that she is being provided with her medicine and the care that she needs. It is an answer to prayer that my husbands parents live just a short distance (35 miles) from my mom so that the children are able to stay with them while I tend to my mom personally.
Nick, the gimpy-leg dog, is still in the tack room mending from his multi-fractured leg. We will probably stay home this Christmas so that our wonderful friends/neighbors (6 miles away) don't have to come let him out three to four times-a-day to do his business. There are limits.



This past weekend the whole family took a road trip to see Tim Hawkins the Christian comedian. The added bonus was getting to see some dear friends that we don't see often enough. I cry everytime I see them, I know...odd, but he baptized me and married Tim and I. She, his wife, is one of the most gentle spirited and wisest of women that I've ever met. And their daughter, joyful, ever-youthful and someone to whom I owe so much. But she would be surprised to even think that.
I'll wrap it up there...except to say I have a post rattlin' around in my head that will detail an afternoon a couple of weeks ago where I had to climb to the top of the house to save the day.
Stay warm and cozy!
Blessings, Julie

Obsessions: Another Chicken Post

I've been trying to figure out just how many roosters we actually have.
I found this information about observing the differences of sexes in chickens at a young age at The Poultry Site . 

Cockerel at 5 weeks of age


Comb
Medium size, pinkish
Legs
Sturdy, long
Tail
Stumpy, curved
Back
Downy with thin line of stub feathers down centre
Side of neck, crop and flanks
Feathering poorly advanced
Wing bows
Bare, showing wing covert quills
Carriage
Erect and alert



Pullet at 5 weeks of age


Comb
Small, yellowish
Legs
Finer, shorter
Tail
Longer, straight
Back
More advanced feathering along centre & flanks
Side of neck, crop & flanks
Feathering well advanced
Wing bows
Covered with small feathers
Carriage
Lower set

It seems that if my observations are correct, that we may have three roosters out of the five Buff Orpingtons.
If so, we will keep the dominant one and name him Mr. Incredible.
The others will either be sold or given away.

Wanna rooster?

And I've just got to give out some major kudos to my six girls out there in the hen house!



Most day we're getting six eggs and we've had two double yolkers within a three week period.



Anyone got some great egg recipes out there? I'm running out.
Hope your week is off to a great start!
Blessings, Julie

Anyone Seen My Marbles?

So yesterday we had to drive into town because both girls are in homeschool band and I had about a gazillion errands to get done.
While the middle child, who, by-the-way is in beginner band, wowed everyone with her talent playing the xylophone, our oldest child received knitting lessons from a fellow homeschooling mom. I also made good use of this time by working with my youngest kiddo on his reading skills.
When beginner band was over, my oldest with clarinet in tow joined her fellow intermediate band players and I whisked both middle and younger into the van to go get a fraction of those gazillion errands accomplished.



First, the library. Easy enough as I had all fifty plus books and assorted DVD's, video cassettes, CD's, and books on CD in the front passenger seat so that all I had to do was pull up to the book- drop and slamdunk them as quickly as possible. And I've just gotta ask here...am I the only one that feels some kind of displaced pressure to get this done as quickly as possible?
Just asking.
Both kiddos sat calmly in the back discussing things like who's turn it was to check eggs when we got home and Wipeout, a primetime show they never get to watch unless daddy is supervising them.



Finished that errand and we were off to the Farm Bureau office to deliver our Bucket Calf Program thank you cards for the program sponsors...that are a week overdue. Sigh.
There, we were pleasently surprised that the girls had made more money than originally thought on showing their calves. So what followed was the middle child wanting to know how much she can keep.



The bank was the next stop so that I could withdraw grocery money (cash) for the next two weeks. We're avid Dave Ramsey fans and have budgeted this way for the last seven years. It works for us.

Then back to the church where homeschool band lessons are held to pick up oldest daughter.
En route, I called my husband to see if he would like to meet us for lunch at one of our favorite Chinese buffets. Yes, he would, good...things were clicking right along.
It was during lunch that things started to unravel in a very unsuspecting way.

Cue the Twilight Zone music:

Idle chatter and the normal food eating noises.

Someone (probably me) mentions chickens (we are after all at a Chinese restaurant where chicken is in every dish possible) and quite honestly I still cannot remember how our local farm store came into the conversation and my husband mentioned that they had chicks on sale. But that's all I heard...

CHICKS ON SALE

My mind raced and started to quickly review all the opportunities that adding more chickens to our little flock of six would provide for our family:

More eggs (selling eggs at our local farmers market and to friends)
Meat (We have friends that have butchered their birds and I've wanted to since observing them do it)
Hatching out chicks (I would like to eventually sell baby birds)
Showing chickens at the county fair and winning the big bucks (I hear you laughing, Misty)
And last, but certainly not least, the educational experience (no explanation necessary, right)

My head was spinning with the possibilites...but first, I had to get the go-ahead from my husband, of course.
I had that they were on sale on my side.
I asked and he okayed.
The kids were giddy!
I was giddy.
My husband, not so much giddy...but agreeable to the whole nutty idea of purchasing more livestock that we had not yet made room for. Sigh.
Okay, so after lunch, the kids and I rushed to our local farm store to check out their bargain chicks.
And may I just add here that baby chickens are everything that the word cute was meant to describe!



The kids each wanted one and made hasty promises to pay me back with their county fair earnings.
Oldest picked out two Silver Laced Wyandottes, Middle picked out two Bantams, and Youngest picked out a single Buff Orpington (his fair earnings were a bit measly this year). I went ahead and picked out four more Buff Orpingtons and we called it good.
Total: 9 new chicks to add to our 6 hens at home. Bringing the chicken population to 15.
Can you say, lunacy?



Oh, and I forgot to mention that seven of the new chicks were "straight run." For those that may not know, straight run means that you don't know whether your chicks are male or female. I'm hoping that one of the BOs is a rooster so that we can breed those and I'm okay with one of the Bantams being a rooster, BUT THAT'S IT! Anymore roosters and they'll be a part of that butcherin' I mentioned above.
(Deep Sigh)



So as I sit here typing this and praying (really) that I don't lose this post to cyberspace, I'm accompanied by nine little creatures scratching, pecking, and peeping in a tub with a heatlamp hanging overhead. The kids have been thoroughly entertained with holding them and just observing.
Me? Well, I'm completely taken with their sweetness but still...but still questioning my sanity.



Hope you're having a perfectly sane and productive day,
Blessings, The Chicken Lady