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| the Funny Farm truck cap coop and pen |
Well I am so eager to have chickens I can hardly stand it. Our own eggs, can you imagine? It is truly hard to believe that we are just getting to it, but whatever, so is life. About six weeks back we set out one day to Tractor Supply because we called ahead and they had 40 plus chicks available and it was easy. By the time we got there about 1.5 hours had passed and only 6 meat birds were left. Not totally what we were going for but what the heck. Slightly disappointed but not defeated, we took home our first baby chicks. I do not think I will go into much about the meat bird crosses other than they grow super quick and we are going to eat them. They are doing good and the best story there is probably the truck cap home and its attached pen they reside in. We made due with what we had and for the short 8ish weeks they are alive it will suffice. It is ghetto and we love it.
So finally after deciding chasing chicks down all over Maine to buy off craigslist was silly, we placed an order for about 30 chicks of random varieties due to come in the first week of June. To be continued...
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| before today Biff, Buff and Boff together |
Meanwhile, we found the Silly Goat Farm around the corner downsizing and found ourselves with three Buff Orpingtons chicks about 3 weeks old, while we were there to pig up a couple pigs. The chicks have been living in our friend's horse trailer that is parked in our yard while we finish the free-range-but-not-really chicken pen, which a week later is still unfinished. Unfinished pen and all, I headed back to the Silly Goat Farm today to grab the next hatch of Buff Orpington chicks they had, but to no avail, no chicks. Not wanting to send me home empty handed, they offered me a pair of Bantams. A beautiful pair, a hen and a rooster and in the rubbermaid they went. Surely, a fine way to finish the pen, a bit of forceful pressure. I got them home and decided to stick them in with Biff, Buff and Boff, the aforementioned Orpington chicks while we really finished the pen fence. Bad Move. Two of chicks freaked out and made their way quickly out of the closed trailer, squeezing thru the door. The rooster, Cogburn, bailed too, up and out the highest hole in the door- it all happened so quick. Damn.
Left with one beautiful new hen, Henrietta and Buff the only Orpington chick that didn't escape, we temporarily make-shifted the pen closures and put them in there. I can still see Henrietta waddling around, and Buff was hiding under the brush pile for awhile, but has been spotted. Although I do not know if we will ever catch Cogburn, he is maintaining the outside perimeter of the pen staying close to his lady. A love story unfolding. The other two chicks, Biff and Boff, well they were close to the edge of the woods for awhile, sticking close together, but now they are nowhere to be seen. Exploring the woods before they come home is what I'd like to think.
A learning experience for sure, my chicken experience so far...
Chicken Saga Update: Next Day: Everyone is accounted for. Cogburn is now in the pen and Henrietta is out. The love story continues. Biff and Boff hang closely to their Buff, on the outside of the pen, and I almost had them this morning... we are trying to coax them in another way... We will see.
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| Biff, Buff and Boff together again |
Day Two: Well I have learned that chickens are like homing pigeons even if they are not familiar with their home! Everyone is home. Henrietta and Cogburn waddle side by side most every moment of the day. Lovers reunited and grateful. Biff and Boff found their way back to Buff and they too hang pretty tight with one another. And so it goes a new chapter in my book of chicken experiences, or at the very least a few paragraphs...;-)!
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| Henrietta and Cogburn: "Reunited and it feels so good..." |
