Now what??

I got the call!  My brother, Kelly, called me on Saturday morning to tell me he'd found me some chickens!  So on Sunday Bob, Kaylee, and I went to pick out three of the six new ones he'd bought.  He'd told me earlier on the phone that my niece, Erin, thought that one of the chickens might be a rooster.  Well, I for sure didn't want a rooster! Or maybe I should say that my neighbors don't want a rooster.  Anyway, I stayed away from that iffey one as I chose carefully which hens would go home with us.  After we left, Kelly called to report that Erin's rooster had just laid an egg!  Hilarious!  Thanks, Erin, for allowing us to laugh WITH you! 

It occurred to me as we were driving home with our precious cargo that other than seeing Kelly's chickens a couple of times and those of a friend once, the only contact I've had with chickens was when I was six.  And it wasn't a positive experience.  I was terrified of mostly the roosters because they chased me.  It was during one of these races for my life that I tripped and fell, dropping the coke bottles I was carrying and cutting my wrist on the broken glass, resulting in a hospital visit and stitches. 

Reliving that experience in my head as I listened to the (surely) harmless hens quietly clucking in the back, I realized I was a little.............well, nervous, about my new friends.  But I had them now and there was no backing out.  And I wasn't about to let a little apprehension keep me from my fresh eggs.  

So we got them home and into their new little coop/trailor and the ladies and I are getting to know each other.  It's taken them a couple of days to get used to things but I think I'm growing on them!  I get into their pen to change the food and water and I've even come VERY close to petting one but...........oh, stop laughing!!!!  I have to work my way into these things slowly!  I figure the more they see me as the one who feeds them then they'll surely love me and come right to me.  It's ridiculous, I know!  But I've never once made the claim of being brave!  

The hens have been spending lots of time in their nesting boxes which I didn't expect so much.  My brother, the expert and my go-to guy for chicken info, assured me that they only stay there long enough to lay eggs.  Well, Kelly should've reminded them of this before he handed them over to me.  For whatever reason, they're there a lot which means that the boxes are getting kind of nasty.  Anyway, a little boy I take to school asked me this morning if there was anything he could do for me to make a little money so I told him he could clean the nesting boxes out for me.  He loved that idea so after school he showed up ready to work.  The thing I didn't expect though was questions about eggs, the difference between the ones you eat and the ones that have chicks in them, and how eggs can happen without roosters!  Are you kidding me??  Cody's friend, Colt, showed up about that time so now I had two 5th grade boys looking to me for answers on the sexual functioning of chickens.  Good grief!

Things are looking up though because this afternoon I discovered our fist egg!  Thanks, Kelly, for buying me the best chickens ever!       

Buff (Buff Orpington), Link (Sex Link), and Rock (Barred Rock)
That may be the closest I ever get to naming them.

Our very first egg!  Amazing!

Going, going, gone!

So, when is the last time you went to a poultry auction?  Oh, you haven't been to one?  Well, imagine that!  Hasn't everyone been to at least one poultry auction?  As of last night I have and I must say it's.............well, unique might be the word I'm looking for. 

On my quest to find just the right chickens for my new chicken tractor my brother, Kelly, enthusiastically suggested we attend his local bi-weekly poultry auction just on the other side of the river in Oklahoma.  That should have been my first clue!  My next clue should've been when he told me that the last auction a couple of weeks ago went till midnight!  What??  I mean, how many chickens could there be to auction off?  It had to be a fluke, a one-time thing.  Surely this time it would be different.........I was wrong!

We got there early because you have to if you want a parking spot closer than a mile away.  The event was out in the country but up a long winding driveway to a huge barn.  The first part of the auction is spent outside where there is junk to be had.  It would be one thing if there was one person willing to buy the junk but this was an auction so there were actually multiple people bidding on the junk.  Amazing!

It was almost dark and getting colder so we took a quick look at the outside auction items before heading into the warmth of the barn.  And when I say warmth, I mean maybe 5 degrees warmer than the cold of outside, which got down below freezing last night, I might add.  Yeah, it gets better! 

I've got to tell you right here that walking into this huge metal building was a step into a world that is very hard to believe, much less describe.  It was set up like a meeting place with about 100 chairs and not one of them matched another.  And around every wall was piles of........well, I'm just not sure, really!  There was a layer of dust on most of it and under the dust was just stuff.  And on the floor in front of the stuff, circling the rows of chairs, were cages and cages of poultry and various and sundry animals.  There were chickens, guineas, ducks, geese, rabbits, and even one goat.  

It was exciting at first.  Oh, Kelly and I made lists of which hens we would bid on, how many we wanted, and what our top price would be.  We were pumped!  And then we sat down to wait for the chicken part of the auction to start.  And wait we did!  Three hours, two helpings of hot chocolate, and several trips to the lovely powder room (NOT) later, the auction started and by now we were freezing our little fannies off.  Everybody else apparently got the memo because they all had their coveralls on.  I have coveralls!  Well, Bob does anyway, so I was kicking myself that I didn't think to wear them.  There were a few little heaters set around the room but we weren't one of the lucky few to secure one of those coveted spots.  

But the auction finally started and we knew just what we wanted.  It didn't take too long for them to get to ours and it didn't take too long for someone to outbid us and take all nine of our beautiful black and white striped Barred Rock hens.  Kelly was able to win one Ameraucana hen but by that time it was 11:30 (way past my bedtime) and I was done.  Done and quickly turning into an iscicle.

So as soon as Kelly settled up we toted our lone little hen out to the truck, turned on the blessed heater, and thawed out as we drove away from my very first............and maybe last (give me a couple of days) chicken auction.  What a hoot!         

Winter Sowing

I love after Christmas because that means hunkering down for Texas' two month version of a winter and then .........SPRING!

I love looking forward to Spring and one of the ways I do that is winter sowing.  When I'm out and about in my SPAN van I'll sometimes glean seeds from pretty flowers I see along the way and sometimes I'll find them when I walk or ride my bike.  Free is always the best way to grow flowers, right?

So I cut my milk jugs in half, fill the bottom with potting soil, plant my tiny little future beauties, and then wait.  Wait till they freeze and thaw a few times and when it starts getting warmer they'll peek their little heads out in their personal green house and start growing.  When they get too big for the jug I'll pick out the strongest plants and transplant them to bigger pots or the ground.  Two years ago I enjoyed a real beauty called a castor plant.  When it didn't come back on it's own I went searching and found seeds at a house over by the university.  I can't wait to have that plant grace my garden once again. 

Chickity Doo Doo!

It's real!  Seriously!  There really is something called Chickity Doo Doo!  It's a fertilizer made from.....well, the title describes it aptly.  And I don't need any!  Why, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you anyway.  Because this is what I got for Christmas!!!!

It's a chicken tractor!  I've wanted to have chickens for awhile and I guess Bob and the kids got tired of hearing me talk about it so they've given me a push.  A huge one!  The Bob's gave up their week off to build it and that just makes it that much more special.  Now I'm committed.  I have to carry on with my plan.  The really big reason I've put it off so long is because, technically, well, legally, actually, I'm not allowed to have chickens in my neighborhood.  But two code enforcement people have told me that they really don't check on things like that unless somebody complains.  So that was my yes, sort of, so I'm at least trying it.

Now I get to shop for chickens and I'll be sure to keep you "posted" (ha!) on them......and the eggs, of course.......and my very own chickity doo doo!!