We have chicks!

Twelve cute little downy chicks are getting themselves settled in the old chicken coop tonight, the first chickens to have made their home here in about 30 years.

We've been working on the old chicken coop little by little -- basically when Dave finds time to spare. First there was a lot of cleaning to do -- we'd been using one corner for storage, so all that needed to find new homes (luckily -- sort of -- many of the books were water damaged, so it was easy to decide throw them out), and then a layer of accumulated dirt and debris needed to be cleaned out. Making sure the electricity worked was important; the little chicks need a heat lamp for the first few weeks. That didn't take too much trouble, thankfully -- just the replacing of a few fuses. Then we had to make sure the building was tight enough to keep predators out. That took a little more doing -- a number of windows needed covering (we might repair them later) and some cracking/crumbling foundation issues needed filling with Quickrete. An little Shopvac-ing and the place was ready for new life!

Dave and Sofi went to get the chicks and all the necessary equipment this afternoon. Sofi is very excited about all this -- she had to tell me all about the equipment, and she held one of the chicks, though she's still working on getting up the nerve to pick one up by herself.

We have three breeds: Buff Orpington, "a good beginner bird and popular throughout the world" (quotes are from Dave's birthday present book "Keeping Chickens" by Jeremy Hobson and Celia Lewis); Australorp, "easy to keep and become very tame, so they make good pets for children"; and Silver Laced Wyandotte, described as "docile, hardy, friendly, and attractive" and "the ideal beginner's breed." Not the frequent use of "beginner" and "easy"! The Buff Orpingtons will be a lovely light brown, the Australorps will be black with a green iridescent sheen, and the Wyandottes will have white feathers with black edges -- very pretty, all of them! And this is a laying flock -- with no rooster -- and they all lay brown eggs.

Dave and Sofi brought them home in a cardboard box with little windows cut into it for air holes.

They were not very happy when we first moved them into their new digs -- it was too cold, and they just climbed all over one another trying to stay warm.

The heat lamp took a while to get warmed up -- in the meantime they huddled in a corner. Poor little things!

But pretty soon then settled in. And started drinking and eating. I had not realized how much those little things will eat -- in the next 10 weeks, each of them is going to eat 10 pounds of chicken feed!

Sofi and Erik got as close as they could to get a good look. (Erik might have hopped in if we'd let him.)

We'll keep you updated on how all this turns out! I was thinking today, now why doesn't everybody have chickens? They provide eggs, meat and great compost, and they'll keep the bugs down in the berry patch and work up new garden beds! The downside, of course, is that everything loves to eat chickens -- we are now at war with not only all wild predators but our dogs and cats as well.

Next step in the plan: Building a chicken tractor!

Here's a little video of the chicks ... they are very calming to watch, I think.