I posted a while back that we adventured in to the life of raising backyard chickens and I realize I have yet to update on our newest feathered friends since then. Sadly, 3 weeks ago, we had what we can call nothing other than “the chicken incident”. One Saturday morning while I was out doing errands, hubby and the kids went outside and the chicken coop was open, all of them were missing, and one was dead in our yard. Hubby found one of them just on the other side of our fence and the other two have been MIA since. It was so sad. We had gone into this adventure gleefully and thought little about such a thing happening. We still don’t know what did happen. Left with only one chicken, we went that afternoon and got 4 more, so now we have 5. The kids have taken to calling the older one the mama.
We say she’s all knowing. She’s the only one who knows what happened and let me tell you, it makes me sad. She’s skittish and cranky. The Black Stars are so sweet and friendly. They are such cuddlers. Total opposite of cranky mama chicken.
My kids cannot get enough of the chickens. We have had so. many. talks about just letting them be and letting them roam. All the kids want them to do is curl up in their laps to take a nap like a puppy. The chickens are very sweet and patient. My son, all 3 year old boy of him, tried to play soccer with one last week. Not like using it as a soccer ball but like trying to get it to kick the ball back and forth with him. I had one disappointed little guy when he found out it just wasn’t going to happen.
He’ll just have to settle for it climbing on his lap to get a better view of the world.
Hubby built the chicken coop himself.
Backyard Chickens has been a wonderful resource for all of our questions about what to expect in all of this. For those who are probably wondering, we won’t eat the chickens. We will be eating lots of backyard eggs soon enough though!
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Your chicken photos are beautiful. We can’t wait to get a coop and start raising our own as well. I’m so sorry you had an ‘incident’. Be sure to keep them locked-up at night for safety. I had a friend down the road who came home one day & found all hers with their heads off.. thank goodness her kids weren’t with her but she was heart broken
It’s so easy to fall in love with your chickens, eh?
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yikes, that last comment : (
I too am sorry about your chickens. big bummer. thankfully, you got more though. I have a love/hate relationship with my chickens. Really, it is more of a love. One loves to get out of the yard and actually followed me to the mailbox the other day. I have to ask, have your kids been pooped on yet?
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Poop: The kids have not been pooped on.
I have.
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I’m impressed that you have chickens. That is just so awesome of you, Emily…very cool for your kids. Very sad about the unfortunate incident, though!
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Wow. They are cute. So how much maintenance is the coop, and how badly does it smell?
I love the idea of fresh eggs!
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Hooray! A chicken update!
I’m so impressed with your coop. It looks great. I love all of the pictures, but my favorite is the first one — your daughter’s expression is excellent!
So sorry about the “incident,” but glad you all have made a nice recovery from it.
We’ve been getting eggs from some neighbors who have chickens and they’re amazing. The yolks are much darker and really do taste better than store-bought eggs.
Best of luck with your chicken adventure.
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Aww sorry about your incident! I fear that chickens just attract mean animals lol We live right in the ‘city’ (as city as you can get in Eastern Maine) and will probably get chickens (for eggs only!) next summer! I am looking forward to hearing how the eggs are!
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So sad about the incident
I am trying to cajole my husband into ‘chickening’ as I call it…I am so into the idea of backyard eggs.
Thanks for the update!
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Having chickens is fabulous! I had them once when I lived in Maine and I loved every minute of them. I always tell my hubby that we need to buy a few acres on the edge of town, so we can keep chickens and a have a big garden.
I love that your son wanted the chicken to play soccer with him. It doesn’t get any cuter than that! Great pictures.
-FringeGirl
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I just come across your blog and had to comment on this post. We 2 also decided to raise some chicken and they are now almost 4 weeks old and have been in the garage in their coop since we got them when they where 1 day old. We are now working on a pen to put them in and now I am nerveous about keeping them safe!
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The all knowing mama makes me laugh…my parents had two fish and one tried to commit suicide by leaping out of the bowl about four times until he finally bit the dust. They got another fish after that and THAT one did the same thing. The other guy must have been putting those thoughts in their head. ; )
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Your pictures are really amazing. I grew up with chickens and they are so sweet.
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Now I almost want, like, chickens myself! Those are just adorable. Sorry to hear about the “incident”, I hope the missing ones are ok.. Maybe they went to stay at a nice little farm somewhere with lots of other chickens for ever and ever? That’s what I believe anyway.
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