The coop is here ... Chicks are almost 3 weeks old!

  Our coop is finally in it's place in our yard, complete with some sand for the floor.  We still will need some more sand to make it deep enough.  Maybe tomorrow when it is warm I will take them out for a while to visit their new home.
  Here is their new coop :)

Here is Ivy

Here is Evie

Here is Henrietta

And ... Here is Gertrude

Tomorrow we'll try outdoors for a while :)

The Chicks Are Home :)

  After much searching, our little darlings are home!  We got four baby chicks; one Buff Orpington named Gertrude, One Wyandotte named Henrietta, one Rhode Island Red named Evie, and one Chochin named Ivy.

  They are two weeks old, and will need to stay indoors for another two weeks.  Then they will be ready to head out to their new coop.  Here is a picture of what their coop will look like.  We have picked out a nice shady spot next to our house so they don't get too hot in the summer.

  The chicks are happily settled in their brooder for now.  When we got home, they were all pooped!  Here's a picture of them all sacked out and sleepy.

  Then we had to get their heat lamp all squared away.  The first bulb was too hot, it was the only one they had where I got the chicks.  So, we tried a regular bulb, but it was too cold.  So we got a nice little 75 watt infared, and it works just perfect.

   Here is Karsen and his favorite chicken, Evie, the Rhode Island Red chick.

  Here is Karsen holding Ivy, the Cochin, she has feathery feet :)

  The light chick is Gertrude the Buff Orpington.

   Henrietta is the Wyandotte and she has lacy white edges on her feathers.  She is the one all of the way to the right in this picture.

That is it for today, time to enjoy the chicks :)

Did anyone say chickens?

  We are talking about getting chickens ... more than talking as we have ordered a custom coop :)  So today will be all about looking for chickens, and getting things set up.  Feed stores to call about what kind of chickens they have and a few local chicken breeders too.  
  Decisions, decisions ... baby laying chicks or pullets that will lay sooner.  Karsen would love to play with baby chicks, and they would bond to us really well.  But the pullets would lay eggs sooner ... hmmm.
  Some types we are looking at are Americaunas, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons and Blue Andalusians.  It would be so fun to have two or three, each a different type :).  Frizzles are also really cute with wavy feathers.   Here are pictures of a Buff Orpington, an Americauna, a Rhode Island Red, and a Blue Andalusian hen.