chickens are super weird.
and also very tame… and enjoyable to watch or interact with.
right now i am trying to introduce them to stanley without him chasing them through the yard..jpg)
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on this particular day i moved their water to a new spot.
you would think they never had water in their entire lives before this.
so silly..jpg)
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our black and white chicken is the prettiest but she likes people the least of all of them..jpg)
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then spanky decided it WAS the best water in the whole world and she had to have some too!
see how tame they are… they share! 🙂.jpg)
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then i was working on tricks… getting them to jump for a piece of food.
so funny to watch!
i posted a video on IG in september of annie doing this trick with them.
for these pictures it was only me outside so while sitting on the step i held my camera with my knees and got the focus where i wanted it and then with my left hand i held the treat in the air and with my right hand i pushed the button to take the pictures when they jumped.
i think the jumping pictures are hilarious!.jpg)
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Category Archives: chickens
this was two days of eggs since we forgot the day before. raising these girls has been a fun adventure. Your gals are the cutest. I have said it before but you make me want some every single time you post about them…The neighbors in the field behind us used to have some. Their daughter had a battery operated jeep and she would pick one up, put it under her arm and away her and the chick would drive. I got to be entertained but didn’t have to scoop the poop – no eggs either though. those chickens are hilarious. i love love love your stories…. i’ve been away being a nurse to my son and husband and taking my daughter to her jobs… and trying to keep up with my own work… exhausting!!! so when i get a chance to sit down and breathe, i love looking you up. hugs to you. -tracy I must say I do agree! They are pretty funny and oh so entertaining! and now, I think I must take my kiddos bowling and out for donuts this weekend!!! haha! Now I’m hungry. i love it, i love it, 5 times i love it. chicky pictures are my fave. also, your coop is amazing. Chickens! My brother and sister-in-law just purchased a new home with space for chickens. My nieces are SO excited as they research this venture–fun to see how it’s going for you. Also fun to see your earlier post about IL since I live in that general area. You posted pictures of places that are a short drive from my home. We don’t live in that town but my four-year-old son has been to the Choo Choo restaurant and loves it. 🙂 Been lurking for a while on your blog–I enjoy it. Oh you have a broody hen!! We had one growing up that exact same color who would go broody all the time- she even hatched chicks (from some fertilized eggs we got) and was such a good mama. She would carry the chicks around under her wings. Broody hens are the best (and yes, surprisingly good about you removing the eggs from underneath them) Adorable Chicks. 😉 My mother-in-law lives next door and has chickens too. My two year old and 11-month old both love them! They are funny creatures to watch….(the chickens, not the babies, lol) I don’t know about you, but we can definitely taste a difference in grocery store eggs and eggs from home. We eat scrambled eggs seven days a week. 🙂 Love all of these pics! For some reason my eggs are much cleaner in the summer and can get very poopy in the winter. Trust me, that little bit of poop is nothing 🙂 Sometimes they’re so gross I just throw them away because it grosses me out to think of eating them. Next year you need a white layer and an Americana so you can have blue/green eggs. I love the mixed colors! I have such fond memories of ‘picking eggs’ when I was a little girl on my parents’ farm. My favorite part. I loved reaching under them and pulling a warm egg out from under them. My daughter and my parents have chickens. They are quite poopy, which reminds me of running around barefoot on my Great Aunt Etha’s farm when I was a little girl and having fits when I’d have chicken poop squish between my toes. Yuck! That’s what I always think about when I’m around chickens. 😉 How cool! I love your chickens…and that precious hen house! LOVE it! I lived in a house that had chickens one summer. I was always way too afraid to pick them up and created my on strategies for feeding them without them swarming me. wish I read this BEFORE I ate dinner we just had chicken sorry gals
somedays i just feel so full of joy in the everyday little things of life. some pictures from this last week…. starting with scott’s first high school football game.
this view… it doesn’t get much better on a friday night at 10:30.
getting up early to run on the weekend has made for great weekend DAYS for me. i dare you to try it.
are you singing now? i have been belting it out all morning alone in my house.
i continued on in the series of sermons i listened to last week. how was your weekend?
[…] And so when I get nostalgic about country living, I just hang out with these online friends. Ree and Myquillyn and Meg. […] Yay for morning runs and for Kansas. And I think you should add that picture of the sunrise and the road to your canvas prints. I know i would buy one. 🙂 I appreciate everything you share with us! And I wanted to share another podcast with you of one of my favorite pastors to listen to. Hey there! I’ve been reading your blog for about a year now, maybe a little longer. I never realized you were in Kansas until you said in this last post how much you love Kansas. I am in Kansas also. Serving a mission for 18 months, in Dodge City. HI CUTE NEIGHBOR! As a girl from Kansas that has been permanently transplanted to Texas I would love to have that corn picture on a canvas. Reminds me of my Dad and growing up on the farm outside of Lawrence. Anyway you could make that happen? Katie Maybe I am a scaredy cat but I don’t know about running at 7am on a long deserted road. Abduction comes to my head…but the scenery is beautiful none the less. love these pictures…so much to smile about. i need to get out and capture some of the beauty around me…it’s been a little too long. Beautiful morning pictures on your runs. And don’t EVER forget – “Once you’re wet, you’re wet.” Even in the rain – just keep running 🙂 Such a great week! If God wasn’t so amazing ehat on earth would we do with ourselves? Glad you had a wonderful week! Thank you for the reminder to be grateful and cheerful in our gladness! Lioking forward to more weeks ahead! I love this picture! How do you get the web to show up so well? It’s amazing! Hello Meg! My favorite picture is your 10:30pm outside, love, love it. And then there is the cows. But tell me, dumb question, what happens with all those sunflowers? Are they harvested for bouquets or seeds or ?? Beautiful! Your face is looking skinny, too! Not that it hasn’t always… Do you feel weird when you compliment someone on their weight? Like, what if they’re actually offended? Anywho… 🙂 I missed the post about listening to sermons. My husband keeps telling me I need to listen to a recent sermon I missed about the Trinity by our Sunday night pastor (He’s actually our collegiate minister, and is really good.). Here’s the link: http://fbcfayetteville.org/media.php?pageID=17 To hear the one on The Trinity, you have to scroll down to 7/21/13. Maybe I’ll finally go listen to it now too! 🙂 I often feel overwhelmed with gratitude about the mundane daily things of my life. It’s not that my life is so fabulous, but it really is, you know? Compared to what it could be, I am so thankful. Love your pictures. You want to hear powerful sermons? Check out the podcasts from Venture Christian Church on iTunes. Pastor Chip Ingram and Pastor Tim Lundy. Both are down to earth and preach truth like no other Pastor I’ve ever heard. Love your positive attitude! I should have read it earlier today. My kids got me cranky this evening. Tomorrow is a new day. Also, I wish we had sunflowers like that in MN! Stunning! Your pictures make me miss Kansas so much! Born and raised there, for 23 years. Now have lived in Colorado for 22 years, beautiful here, however Kansas is still home… you have such a gift…to see and capture the stunning beauty all around us. I love reading about people figuring things out. It makes me feel like I’m not the only mid-30’s gal still figuring things out. I love this post. Life is good indeed 🙂 I love this post. And I agree. Life is sweet, and I always need reminders to turn my mind to the things that are good and sweet and lovely. And to turn my mind off of ALL the clutter! Wow!! Those sunflowers! I would HAVE to walk or ride my bike past those beauties every day! #notarunner =) What are you listening to on your runs? I would love to change it up! You running girls are amazing. I just want to become a walking girl again. You are GREAT!! Life IS good! But I wish I lived where there are sunflower fields! morning Meg! (I may have asked you this before- but are most of these pics from your phone? when I try upload my camera pics to my blog they have to be super small or they are blurry) : ( Would love to know how you do it! I prefer music when I exercise. I am already talking in my head, so someone else talking would just make things crowded. I love Texas like you love Kansas. Morning runs are the best. I love clearing my mind and then focusing on what God has for me. It’s a lovely way to start the day. Now if you ask me to run in the afternoons I’m toast. Can’t hit a lick with a stick in the afternoons. Love your chickens. My daughter’s family has goats, chickens and honeybees. We love visiting and watching the three-year-old boss all the animals around, except for the bees. 😉 this IS a whole lotta happy stuff right here. love that you’re getting up early. I LOVE getting up early before my kids…it just doesn’t happen right now and I hate that. yuck. you make me want to run. I’m almost 10 years ahead of you on early mornings….I have been loving them for several years now. Bliss. We had our 10th grader’s first football game last week, too. Like Scott, he didn’t play last year and we are so so glad he decided to play. He’s trying to be like his older varsity playing 12th grade brother 🙂 His bro is a good role model, thank goodness!! I loved all the answers on your instagram photo too! These posts always make me miss Kansas something fierce! I was born and raised there but am a Georgia transplant now. I always say I have half my heart in Georgia and half in Kansas! I love them both! But miss my beautiful home state. Thanks for the pictures! life IS good. Jealous of those sunflower fields. Gorgeous
raising chickens has been really fun.
Pan Fry is a lady. our family is just having the best time living out here in the country.
how weird are chicken’s feet?!!
i have a ridiculous fear of spiders but i am amazed at the webs. they puff up like this all the time when they are cleaning themselves. FUNNY!
yesterday morning talby went outside to check if the chickens had laid an egg yet.
it was a fun way to send them off to the bus.
later that evening Sean said “I’m going to go check to see if there is one more egg from today” i was cooking dinner in the kitchen and he came in with TWELVE eggs. well… we were excited about one egg! You can imagine the JOY that came from 12 more!
And they even found two more that night! they aren’t laying their eggs in the nesting boxes or even in the house of their coop… they are being stinkers and hiding them under the house which is why we didn’t see them. i am not sure how to fix this… but maybe it will fix itself. 🙂 seriously… SUCH A GREAT DAY! i smiled a lot. it was worth the wait. and of course… omelets for dinner tonight!
all I can think about when i look at those chicken feet is our trip to China to bring Lydia home. every single restaurant we ate at offered fried chicken feet to us. gross. apparently, chicken feet that are fried are all the rage in china. You won the egg lottery! So exciting! I love country living, and you capture the joy of it and your home through the photos perfectly. The critters around your home now give even more to the fun of your photos. We out here in Cali approve of the Cubs shirt by the way. 🙂 Go Cubs Go! Ditto to the comments about leaving the hens in for the first part of the day. . . they’ll learn soon to lay in the nesting boxes. Once they do you can let them back out for the day at an earlier time. You technically don’t have to get rid of the rooster. He is quite handsome, btw! Chicks won’t develop unless the hens lay on them for a certain amount of time keeping them at the right temp. So if you’re collecting eggs a couple of times a day you’ll be good with no chicks. We have 2 roosters and they are to be butchered soon! I don’t mind the noise but one is terribly mean and attacks all of us but my husband. At first our oldest (who is just 6) named him “Meanie” because he would “attack” the hens, if you know what I mean. 😉 But since he’s started attacking us his name has been changed to “Dinner”! Yay for eggs! Chickens are SO fun! I had a couple chickens last year and they would lay their eggs all over the place and then after awhile, they would eat them if we didn’t get them fast enough :/ Someone told me to put some golf balls where you want the eggs to be laid and then they will lay their eggs there too, it’s weird but it worked great! Congrats on the eggs! Very exciting! I am always in awe of your photos! They are so beautiful to see. God has given you a gift, Meg! You are so talented! Every picture you post with your flowers amazes me! Please share…do you have a secret to getting your planters so full and lush? Do you use a certain kind of soil or fertilizer? They are so gorgeous, and they have me looking at my pathetic planters wondering how I can get them to look more like yours. 🙂 Beautiful photos meg! I enjoy your pictures so much . . . your lovely flowers, especially the lantana, all your pretty colors like the little blue bench under the greenery, the colors of your hens, though my favorite are your KITTENS! I just LOVE the little orange tabby. Whenever I need a little shot of happy, I come to your blog and just enjoy your photos (or to my Pinterest page where I’ve pinned several of your Kansas photos). Thanks for sharing what makes you happy – it makes a lot of other people happy, too. This is going to sound stalkerish, but every time I see photos of your house I always think, “I want all of the stuff in her house it all looks so beautiful! But I will never find any cool stuff like that in thrift stores here!” WELL, today, looking at these pictures I saw that you have the same ALL laundry detergent bucket I have that I got last summer at a thrift store… yay! But why does yours look so much more awesome than mine?! (My husband thinks I was crazy for buying it, btw. Hooray for the girls! 🙂 Aren’t chickens the funniest? I love watching ours wander around the yard. We have a rooster and find that he’s good at protecting his girls and he’s good at directing them towards food. I saw him looking at a weed the other day, thinking he was going to eat it, but he let one of the girls have it instead. Very gentlemanly haha. I’ve heard that they tend to lay their eggs at a certain time of day (possibly earlier on) so if you keep them locked up at that time they’ll get used to laying there. I’ve heard of The Cat In The Hat. But the cat in a bucket? Loved the kitty in the bucket (?pail?) photos! We just got chickens this spring too and the way we trained our 12 to lay in the boxes or atleast the coop is to place 5 or 6 plastic easter eggs in the boxes…this shows the chickens that “other” chikens are laying there too and therefore a safe place to lay. This trick worked like a charm! I would do this or any other tips right away so raccoons and other critters don’t get the eggs or chickens first! Good Luck! I have some old, wooden eggs that my kids had in their play kitchen that I leave in nesting boxes to “show” m’ladies where to lay. Works like a charm! Amazing photos! So exciting!! what we did with our chickens is we kept them in their run and coop and let them free roam after dinner and they all started laying their eggs in the nesting boxes:) I love the pics in this post! I wouldn’t even consider myself a cat person, but if I lived on a farm I would be for sure! Love that pic of the cat walking on the chairs 🙂 That first egg is sooooo eggsiting!I see lots of people have mentioned plastic or wooden eggs. You can also use their own eggs. But, with free range chickens, you may have to keep them in the coop for the first part of the day (until early afternoon) if you want them to lay in the coop. If not, there are just too many wonderful places to lay out on your little farm. I live in the country too and it is the BEST! Beautiful pictures, as always! You make me want chickens all over again but maybe I can just admire yours from afar : ) Get yourself a golf ball retriever. Then you can pick them from the hard to reach places they like to hide them. LOL.. Your noisy comment made me laugh – I said no roosters, that coop is way to close to our bedroom window!! 😉 What a wonderful experience for you and your family. All the colour, flowers and animals in your photos are so inspiring. I need to find a way to surround myself with things like that that make me happy. You only get one life to live – so why not fill it with colour! We had the same issue with our first batch of chickens. We just put one egg back in each of the nesting boxes and within 24 hours they were laying in the correct spot. This is where the term “nest egg” comes from. Farmers have wooden eggs that they would put in the nest to train their chickens. So the “nest egg” gets things started! Yep eggs or balls in the nesting boxes will help. I wish I could have chickens. Jealous Plastic eggs, golf balls or ping pong balls placed in the boxes should do the trick- might take them a little while, but usually they catch on eventually! Hi Meg. Can you tell me what camera you are using and do you edit the photo’s and if so what program.Iam always interested in your photo’s and especially the lighting. I am a city girl in the desert so seeing your pics from the country are always interesting.Keep more coming as you are my daily read. I love these pictures!! What a fun place to live for your children. I hate spiders too but saw two baby snakes while walking my dogs on the path today so right now I hate snakes worse!! I was carrying a stick to knock down any spider webs at the time!! 😛 Yea for the eggs! 😀 I read if you put a couple of fake eggs in the nesting boxes it will encourage them to lay there. We have just 1 chicken and I CAN NOT wait for her to lay 🙂 Awesome pics and hooray for the eggs! check out this site for how tos on chickens: Love that story! Last fall our hens were 6 months old and we were waiting anxiously to see eggs. I remember our sweet daughter was SO sick with a throw-up virus but Daddy found the first egg and it made our pitiful girl smile so big. It’s just so exciting when they do!!! I kept telling our “golden girls” how proud Mama was of them! Our buff orpies laid their eggs on the floor of the coop and in other weird places at first, too. They learned soon on their own to lay them in the nesting box. But if they don’t, you can buy some hollow plastic “dummy” eggs and place them where you want them to lay…that SHOULD help them learn quicker. Aren’t hens the most joyful pets?! They’re just so entertaining and adorable. we have had a FULL week with more excitement still to come. life skills being taught….
waffle was naughty and completely dorky as usual.
read this in The Message
"His love was not cautious but extravagant"
the kids tried to dress up the chickens with american girl doll clothes.
one of these days those chicks will be gone & we will know that they learned how to hot wire Barbie's car…
i like having lunch with my kids.
campfires are pretty much the best thing ever.
then i went straight back in my room while they cleaned it up. best mother's day i have had in many years.
gardening this year in pots only….this is a huge relief to me.
lauren is done with high school. her graduation is sunday afternoon.
this is what happens on a daily basis here.
i sported pigtails today. it was short & sweet but felt so good to remember that i did still know how to run. :)
as i drank my second cup of coffee i looked down and realized i was a rainbow of colors.
so… we have a very busy weekend filled with parties to attend & to give, basketball, shopping, cleaning, rainbow cake making, graduation cermony and grandparents coming. what do you have going on in your life?
Love the kitchen sink pic…I keep up with the dishes but not so much the clutter and piles…sigh meg, you have to read this blog post I discovered your blog a few weeks ago, and I have to tell you I’m addicted. I love how you show your real life, (with real messes in kitchens), the Scriptures, life with kids, the crafts (oh how I’d LOVE to be able to come to a craft weekend!!), the photos, etc. I have 3 kids and my oldest will graduate next year. It’s already hard on me, so I look forward to hearing how you make it through the change in seasons. So thank you for sharing your life with us! 🙂 Have a happy day! Love your post today I laughed at those crazy chicks~~ and congrats on everything!!!! Oh my goodness, how is she old enough to graduate! They are growing up (too quickly) before our very eyes! Congratulations Lauren! Excited to see what the next step for her is! Love that you showed your dishes. my three kids are under five and this is how my kitchen looks after 24 hours of no doing dishes. Refreshing to see real life with kids. I used to panic when there would be a knock on the door when the kitchen looked like this, I am learning more and more that this is real life and it is good to share real life with people. Thanks for being real it helps me continue to be authentic too. Congratulations on the graduate! I know you guys must be proud. Oh, those chicken pictures make my heart happy – and the verse from the message makes it happier yet! Congratulations to your daughter!! Thanks for the honest picture of your kitchen….nice to know I’m not alone! congrats to lauren! that is great… My three year old boy (who happened to be naked at the time) saw the chickens in the car and said “MOMMY! Get my clothes on! I want to go to that family’s house!” 🙂 Such a great post… I love the part about keeping expectations low on mother’s day so you can enjoy it. Congrats to your oldest graduating from high school.. how wonderful that she let you announce it on the blog… 12 years of school done.. not a small achievement for her or for you. Hi Meg, could you please tell me what translation of the Bible you have? Thanks for the beautiful post! Barb I love that you and your family love those chickens so much! I’m so glad you had a nice Mother’s Day too. Congratulations to Lauren! What a beautiful young woman (must take after her mama!). Animal teeth always crack me up! My Dad has shingles 🙁 My daughter who has been vaccinated against chicken pox got them this week. Blisters, itchiness and one upset girl who couldn’t go to school. My son goes into hospital next Monday for surgery. We asked him what he wanted for a treat dinner the night before his operation. He said SMORES. We had them at Yosemite NP last year. So I went out and got ingredients as close to SMORES as you could find in Australia. And we are all ready for SMORES tonight and tomorrow. Here’s hoping we get through next week with God’s help and grace. My son just turned 17, i am mentally wigging out about graduation next year. Dogs are smart! Waffle had got your #. Please photograph the Chicken Run, hilarious. Its so hard not to vent with your girls, but God is right there is a dofference between venting and back-biting, sigggh. How did none of your kids get your eyes? They are striking! Enjoy your weekend, im off to have another malibu-bu. TGIF. Love all your pictures…and that Waffle….he is a hoot! 🙂 What a lovely post! The chicken pictures and Waffle’s close-up made me laugh :). Congrats to Lauren! I imagine it’s a bittersweet time for you…..I hope all your graduation festivities are lovely (I’d be bawling like a baby…..I’m tearing up at the thought even and I still have two tiny babies! Oh dear) That looks like our dog. Exactly! Love the potted plants and love having an older set and younger set of kids as well : ) WOW, Congratulations Lauren! Seriously where does the time go?! My oldest(9) is at a two day sleepover and Im getting ready to take my baby girl(ahem…7) to gymnastics. I remember the days of crying in the church nursery thinking “I’m NEVER gonna sit in another adult service ever again…I’ll be here FOREVER!!!” I blinked and those days are gone. But yet theres so much great stuff to look forward to also. I try to eat with my boys at least once a month at school. Of course, little sister is usually with me. But they love that. One likes to go off campus, one likes to have it brought to him and eat in the cafeteria. Hilarious. But it’s always fun. Of course, despite saying I’d shoot for once a month, I think this second semester I did it twice. And that includes this week. {ouch} By the way, love that pic of Lauren. She’s beautiful!!! congratulations to Lauren, well done. Here in the UK it is still quite cold and I.ve just put the heating on to warm it up a bit. Also still having a lot of rain. We were hoping to go sailing tomorrow, but the winds will be too strong, so I probably will do a bit of gardening. I hope your weather is a lot better. Have a lovely time Sunday, you must be so proud of your daughter. i’m totally tripping that lauren is graduating. Awww, your daughter is so beautiful!! Congrats to her and so happy we got to see her. 😉 I’m sure you are proud! I just read depressing news in the local newspaper about the economy and I came here and now I am smiling and Happy!! That is why I LOVE your blog…I leave happy!! 🙂 My happy moment this week was when the canvas of your wet watercolors photo arrived here! HAPPY DAY! I smile every time I walk by it. Thank you! I adore your messy kitchen picture. Wish more people would share those 😉 My eye caught “basketball.” Basketball? In May? Really? It’s all baseball and soccer around here now. And recitals – oh the recitals! Last week piano, this week ballet. After that it’s all planning for vacay. It’s T-11 days! So READY!!! Oh, how I cried when my first child graduated. Happy and sad all at the same time. I love the honesty of your kitchen picture. I have been reading your blog forever but I am not much of a commenter. My youngest is graduating from HS and I have a grad party pin board – http://pinterest.com/nancyhts/graduation/ Hey..hey what are you doing taking pictures of MY kitchen.. he he.. our kitchen always looks like that.. I have to stop ask myself, “why when I fill the dishwasher are there still dishes left that won’t fit” High school graduation, how exciting!!! Congrats to Lauren! Congrates to you and your daughter. my oldest son just graduated from College. Take tissue with you to the ceramony!!! i am not wordy today.
Pan Fry is doing just fine. my plans for a coop fell through. i have a sweet pinterset board going… i know what i like and what i don't. i know that ashley is a complete stud and built hers with a NAIL GUN! maybe mr. duerksen would be willing to build one with me??? or maybe you know the perfect thing for me and i am overthinking this. ———————————————————————————————————————-
3.5 days until the half marathon. oy!
Hi meg! Search shutterlily on Instagram. She just built a coop for her chickies out of a children’s playhouse.(all documented on IG!) Adorable! Good luck!-Jen. My parents modified our old Wendy house for their chicken coop. They just added some perches for the hens and created an area at the back where the hens lay their eggs (basically it’s raised a bit to keep them safe[r] from rats). They also cut a hatch at the back so they could reach in and collect the eggs without having to actually go into the smelly coop! Your photos are amazing. I grew up on a ranch….it was a wonderful experience. How awesome for your kiddos to be surrounded with life everyday. I love the chicks among the grape hyacinths — one of my very favorite flowers and a perfect scale comparison. I’m so excited for you as you begin your chick adventure. Here is a link to our first coop. Since then we’ve graduated to two larger coops, 75 chickens, and … moved to a farm! 🙂 Love the pictures of your chicks with the chicks! Also just wanted to wish you the best at the marathon….if I could do one thing in my life that I would be eternally proud of it would be to run a marathon- (ps it’s never going to happen haha) YOU GO GIRL! Love, love, love your photos of yur littles with the chickies. You are so brave to do the chick thing. I might be too much of a city girl even though I live in the suburbs 😉 I think for know I will live through you and your chicks. The photos made me smile once again. My dad built one for their chickens. He calls it their “cottage”. Too bad we live so darn far away, otherwise I’m sure he would enjoy building you one! some of my favorites: http://pinterest.com/serenityfarmsa/chickens-coops/ My advice is to make it simple and make it easy to clean. (and get going on it because those birds will need to be out there in the next couple of weeks 🙂 You can look up all of the dimensions you need on-line. It doesn’t have to be terribly big if they’ll be able to get out during the day. I think they say you need 12-18 inches of roosting bar/bird. If they’re going to be in it all the time it will need to be pretty big. The roosting bars must be at the highest point of the coop. Their instincts tell them to go up at night so if the roosting bar is below the nesting boxes, the will sleep (and poop) in their nesting boxes. They poop all night directly below the roosting bar -again, easy access/clean up of that area is a must. Nesting boxes don’t need to be anything special. About a foot square opening. I’ve seen lots of people make them out of buckets tipped on their sides. I have had up to 14 chickens and three nesting boxes have been more than enough. They like to all lay in the same one. And then you have to know the critters in your area. Our main ones are chicken hawks and coyotes. My chickens roam in a pretty big fenced in yard. At one point we didn’t have that secure and lost 10 of the 11 in one night to a coyote. (It’s secure now.) However, the area is big enough that I can’t really keep the hawks away and have lost one to a hawk. Meg-you rock! God will see you through, just as you said. I can’t wait to read your post-race post! FINISH STRONG!! Sending you a big hug and a smile from Colorado! Seriously the cutest pictures of your girls with those chicks. I agree with the Craig’s List thing. We just received chicks about a week ago(ordered them through the mail). My husband was talking about building one but I talked him into getting one. By the time you spend the money and the time, you could have had one made. He looked and looked, and finally ordered one from a gentleman off Craig’s List. My dad spent $600 on making his own! We are going to build a pen to move around the yard. HOPEFULLY, they will go from coop to yard and back every morning and evening. My eldest daughter is going to take one in 4-H. She is VERY excited. Go check out your local feed stores. Ours always have those handy coops for sale that look like mini barns. The only problem you are going to have with finding something is that most pre-made chicken houses and runs are for 2-3 full size chickens. You could do something like that if you plan to move them around all the time— or let them free range. Im sure you have really cold winters so checking with your feed store will really help with specific directions for Kansas! Great pics!! I seriously want chickens…and a cute chicken coop! Meg–you should check craigslist. I live in Benton, KS and we just got a few chickens too. I was checking out craigs list and there was an already built coop with 11 or 12 nesting holes for $100 🙂 Love the chick-chicks pix! I was just thinking of you & your chicks the other day. My husband built a lovely fence for us to keep our girls on one side of our yard, away from my plants & patio. Two of the lil’smarties found a way over the fence. The 3rd, is too big to hop up high enough. Reminded me of PanFry. She doesn’t lay eggs, she’s just a pet/company. I could never eat her + we get plenty of eggs from our other two girls. Hey, Megan 🙂 Check out @tiffanyruda on Instagram. She built a super simple one from scrap material. Oh, I went to the link and you have to scroll down almost to the bottom (or go into archives to Sept. 15, 2010) for her Coop tour. It’s also a really neat and creatively done coop. Lots of ideas! http://www.thefancyfarmgirl.com/page/24/ I wish I had chicken coop advice. One with a huge run! I reluctantly gave up my chickens last year. They were mostly free ranging and the amount of poo was ridiculous. Runnings sells a small chicken coop. I am not sure how many chickens the size is perfect for. I also am not sure if you have Runnings in your neck of the woods:) I think the price seemed fairly reasonable though. May be worth a try! what about those cool coop trailers? that way you can move it when you move! I’m sure you can’t wait for the chickens to give you yummy egs. Those are happy pics, Miss Meg. 🙂 Best of luck with the 1/2! Have you seen this shirt? This woman (Karen) has made a fabulous chicken coop. How about this one? I am amazed at how fast those chicks grow! I need to take pics of mine I think we have some of the same breed. I only have four so bought a tiny coop. Without a doubt build one – or maybe could buy from Menards one of those sheds and make it into a coop? Probably expensive though. we have eleven chicks in a box in our basement.
the kids come home from school and go straight to the chicks.
waffle is used to it now and leaves them alone… mostly.
this brown chick is the one i claimed for myself. (please be chill and don't freak out in the comment section about this ok? people have eaten chickens everyday since the beginning of time. it is all going to be alright.)
we let them loose in our garden area that is fenced with chicken wire to keep the dogs out. we laughed a lot. enjoy a few seconds of the sounds of our chicks in the leafy garden. i think we are going to love having these ladies around. The chicks are darling! Lol at “Pan Fry”. My daughter summoned the courage to hold her first baby chick a few weeks ago. I’m sure she would not be able to handle the thought of eating them either. what beautiful pictures!!! I laughed when I read about your meat eater. I hope she isn’t. Unfortunately I did not know what that meant and assumed she would eat meat if I gave it to her…… how naïve! Anyway I raised them like any other chicken an didn’t think much about it until they started to out grow the other chickens…significantly! I finally called a friend who explained that we would need to butcher them. By this time they were so big that they could not even walk, they would wobble. She said that it was the merciful thing to butcher them because their weight would get to the point where their legs would break. Sad huh? Anyway she helped to butcher them and one ended up weighing 17 pounds!!!! We tried to eat the meat but it was stringy and tough. A total loss. Learn from my mistakes, good luck to you! Keep the beautiful posts coming! Miss Jodi The feathered feet chickens are my absolute favorites!! They are called cochens, said coach-en. They are the friendliest things ever. And they grow up to be soo big and fluffy, and they look like they have feather saddlebags. It’s like a giant pile of feathers waddling around. So stinking funny. Love them, hope you do too! are, not is…sorry! When your banties (little hens) lay eggs, the eggs will be smaller That’s what I was thinking too:) I bet Pan Fry will be just fine. LOVE THE CHICKS!!! We’ve been raising chicks and chickens for about 10 years now. And when we order them, we always order females, and always end up with a rooster. lol Some nice, some NOT SO MUCH. I did want to mention 2 things in what I’ve learned and need to pass on. When the chicks are little, and you let them out in an open area, make sure the kids are there to watch them. We’ve had chicken hawks swoop down and carry off chicks (and a kitten once….sigh). Chicken hawks will even swoop down and carry off a full grown chicken. We have a netting on the top of our coop and run area so this can’t happen. Also, I have a friend who got her kids baby chicks for Easter. The 4 year old played with them nonstop, but then got really sick, like fever, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea. She contracted salmonella from the chicks. So make sure your kids wash their hands after playing with them. Hate to put in the negative stuff, but just wanted to pass it on so the kids don’t get sick. She’s been in the hospital now for a week. 🙁 And to keep your chickens laying eggs, always feed them laying mash. If you just feed the corn or regular pellets, they won’t lay as much. Enjoy!!! 🙂 I luv luv luv the human chicken corral! Adorable team work! You are an amazing photographer…I adore your photos Our kindergarten classes at school just hatched chicks. Last year they had a few ducks that were SOooooOOoo cute, but this year was all chicks. One of the little yellow ones was born with deformed feet. He couldn’t walk around, but was super sweet. He loved to be held, but the other chicks were mean to him and just kept pecking at him until he bled 🙁 I saw your post about the chicks and imagined bringing little Cheese (the kids named him) to your house so your kiddos could love on him a little bit 🙂 My old cat likes your video of the chicks! 😉 😉 Your pictures are beautiful! Meat chickens can live pretty normally if they are free ranging. If they have the chance to forage and be a chicken, they usually don’t develop the weight problems (ha!) and the poor broken legs. Also, if they are fed a layer feed, it has less protein and they won’t gain as much. You should be able to tell by about 4-5 weeks old if it is going to do ok. If not, you are right in wanting to harvest it. Melinda, Same thing happened to us. One out of our 4 was a rooster, since we are in suburbia & not in a rural area I had to bring him back to the feed store. He was so beutiful & sweet, the owner of the store brought him home. Look at those little farmers. 🙂 This is too cute! Very good advice. We just bought 8 more to add to our flock and I know my daughter kept an eye on the bum area and kept them clean. SO cute!! We just bought 8 more to go with our other 5. We love them and the eggs are amazing!!! that is what i thought too which is why we brought it home anyway. but then the more we were told about it… the “meat” chickens are genetically made to get huge and soon their legs won’t be able to hold them up. they will just sit and eat until they get so fat that they die. when i left with it i thought “i will just keep her even she never lays eggs and that is fine” but didn’t know about the huge fat and dying thing. My son named our chickens after types of chicken dishes…Alfredo, Fried, and BBQ. I renamed them because if bothered me so much! Though I compromised and named them after spices, Ginger, our buff orpington, Pepper,our black and white striped and Salty our white hen. Some of our chicks were male, even though we bought what we thought were females, they can’t always tell when small, so you end up with some roosters anyway. Have fun with your new chicks! People eat chickens?! Seriously, that side note was my favorite part of the post. My kids loved the video…especially Pan Fry pooping 🙂 I have no problem killing and eating chicken ( I love it in fact!) I’m confused though, what exactly differentiates meat and egg chickens? If their your chickens couldn’t you just decide to keep pan fry as a pet? or is there some practical reason why you don’t keep meat chickens in with egg chickens? again, not hating at all, I am just curious about the whole thing! Thanks. ME four! Me three 🙂 oh so fun! my kiddos would love having them too! love love the human chick corral 🙂 We got baby chicks a few weeks ago and we spend hours watching those cute little buggers run around. We call it “Chick TV”. It’s so great because our friends and our daughters friends enjoy it too! 2 words, Meal worms! They love them. It’s like chicken crack. When my girls see the little white container coming they go nuts! They go crazy for them and chase each other around. Oh goodness… I just fell out of my chair laughing. SOOOO neeeded this today. I’d like to freak out in your comment section. About all the cuteness. We bought 5 chicks a few years ago…named them all after the Golden Girls..until we found out 2 were males…when they were babies I whistled to them, like calling a dog, and when they grew up, they came running when I whistled…we have only 2 left and seeing your pictures makes me tempted to get some new babies…if only our new puppy wouldn’t hurt them! Enjoy them! They are so much fun! Your post made a great ending to my day! We are just preparing to live in the country and I would l-o-v-e for my 4 boys to experience chicks/ chickens. I especially love the part of your video where Talby is moving the leaves so Pan Fry can get to the dirt – she has a tender heart for those chicks (it seems like your younger 3 are all really loving them, though!). I love your blog, Meg! I read it every day and so enjoy how refreshingly real you are with your life and journey. Keep up the great work! Oh, I love it. I’m so glad you and the family are enjoying them so much. Don’t you just wish they could stay that cute forever? My parents get chicks every spring (the meat kind). But they have the egg laying kind too. Your comment about that cracked me up. Didn’t want another turtle episode? Also, I couldn’t help but smile at the irony that I was eating a cadbury egg while reading your post. No lie. So cute! And the part about being chill in the comments was hysterical!! Happy post. 🙂 your chicks are adorable….I cant wait to watch what happens with them. I would love to have some but don’t even know where we would begin…… Love the disclaimer and love your chick photos! My cousin (at age three) became a vegetarian when she realized that yes, people eat chickens and yes, they really ARE chickens! Too funny! That’s why I’m reading ;o) Those with the feathery legs are going to be so pretty. I saw them at a farm at the World’s Longest Yard Sale detour we took when we saw a sign that said “barn loft sale” turn here. Great detour. The chickens were so pretty and the farmer said their eggs have the yellowest yolks of all and were delicious. So you have that to look forward too. Yeah you and your ladies!!! I am in love with your chicks. I so want some. HOA says “no”, but I am SO up for challenging them to defend why. I have serious chicken envy!!!! What is your coop going to be like? I even have a Coop Dreams board on Pinterest. You lucky woman. I know! I totally had to read the comment section due to that disclaimer. Hilarious! LOVE your chickens! I’m part of a group in my town trying to get permission to have 3 or so chickens in our yards. So I’m a bit jealous of your puffy feathery sweetie pies! As for Pan Fry… even if she is a MEAT chicken (we’re having fried chicken tonight…) I don’t think I could eat her. She looks too cute! Best of luck- I look forward to seeing updates on them. 🙂 You will love your buff orpies!! They are so big and fluffy and beautiful and SWEET!! We have all buff orpies and they’re just wonderful. They’re our little flock of “golden girls.” Enjoy!!! 🙂 Fried chicken…yum! Who knew there was a difference in chicken? You’re educational and hilarious… Between your and Ashley Ann’s chick pics I really want some chickens not only for eggs but to have some baby chick photos. The human chick corral is an awesome shot!! Hope you have recovered from Craft weekend! The chicks are so darn cute. My favorite part is the upcoming awkward teenage stage (they go through it too!). Holy Cow!! Sean is turning into a replica version of your husband before our very eyes! That instagram “corral” shot — I had to look twice to be sure it wasn’t Craig! hahaha. Teenage boys are scary as they are growing almost as fast as those baby chicks! I have girls and I’ve always been amazed at what happens to boys from the ages of 12 to 17. Yikes. Your disclaimer is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time. Hope the haters stay away. Chicken is yummy! And your chicks are adorable. Can’t wait to see photos of the eggs some day… They are so cute! I have never wanted chickens (because of how much I hear the stink, ha) but when I see them I want them! Don’t eat Pan Fry, keep her small forever! (Don’t you wish you could?!) Hope she is an egg chicken! (I eat chicken, btw, but with a name like Pan Fry and seeing how cute she is I don’t want that fate for her!) seriously. Chicken are cute! oh my goodness. they are so cute. and yes, they look weird all armless like that 🙂 meat chickens… I have never heard that term, but it make sense. I eat chicken, so no disclaimer needed… though now that I have seen their sweet little armless, hairy-legged, leaf-digging cuteness, I am going to think twice on my next bite 🙂 Oh my gosh how stinking cute! I just got four chicks over the weekend – precious little things So cute!!!! I want some 🙂 Actually, I’m thinking about getting just a couple next year. I had to crack up when you made the ‘meat chicken’ comment…cause as soon as I read that I thought “oh God, someone’s gonna go all PETA on her” hehe Mmmm…chicken. JUST kidding 🙂 I loved your side note…made me smile 🙂 I love love love your blog! My dream is to one day come to craft weekend. I have 32 chickens, 22 of which we just put outside with the big ladies. I noticed that your chick you were helping “dig” with in the video looks a little “pasted up”. Until they feather out (loose the little fluff they have now and get their big girl feathers) you need to check their bottoms. That downy soft fluff seems to have the poop sick to it and closes over their vent (bottoms!). When this happens they can’t go potty and could die. Just hold them in your hand, run some warm water over the poo and their bottoms until it gets soft enough to pick off…. gross I know, but it’s sorta the equivalent of changing diapers! 🙂 You should only need to do it for a week or two. I just take a wash cloth and make sure that they are nice and dry then back under the heat lamp they go! what?! people eat chickens?! 😉 Your comment in parenthesis made me laugh out loud! I love it! Enjoy your chickens and hopefully you won’t have to eat Pan Fry when he/she gets bigger. 😉 When I was in college, I worked at the Houston rodeo in the AgVenture exhibit. One of my jobs was to monitor the hatching baby chicks for NINE hours a day! They were cute after they dried and started running around, but oh man I wanted to speed up the hatching process for some of them. So excited that you’re doing this! You will know soon if PanFry needs to be eaten. If she’s truly a meat bird she won’t be able to walk after about 8-10 weeks. Her breast will be dragging on the ground :(. There are lots of breeds that are good for eggs and meat so hopefully that’s what you have and she will live a long, happy, egg laying life. As they get a bit bigger it will be much easier to tell what they are. So many look the same when they’re chicks. I love Buffs – so big and pretty. And I’m guessing the other little ones are some type of silky? Love it!! We have had chicks the past few years and the baby stage is so adorable!! Wait until they hit the preteen stage where they start to lose their fluff…kind of ugly, but also cute and kind of reminiscent of my junior high years..you might want to be cautious with pan fry because some meat breeds are bred to grow big breasts and they can “get down in the legs” with the extra weight. I’m all for eating chickens too (we always butchered our own), but you may want to take her somewhere to be butchered sooner rather than later because its always sad to see them hurting. Usually three months time until they are ready. Oh my goodness!!! They are so cute! My girls are wanting to get some but I am afraid one of our 3 dogs or the cat would get them. I was wondering what does Annie think abot them??? whaaaaaaat?!! people eat chickens?! 😉 Hmmm…since Pan Fry was in the meat chicken bin are you sure she is a she? Could be a he! Good Luck! Chickens are fun. do you have plans to keep them outdoors permanently? a chicken coup? I imagine you’re waiting for warm weather 24/7. I love your blog. I read it everyday!!! I love your chicks, so sweet. The Pan Fry name is the best! I wish we could have cute chicks, our dogs would eat them though!! I love the chicken eating disclaimer…too funny! Great background music to the video. I have a friend that has chickens and my girls love checking them out. They lay eggs all the time! Pan Fry, what a great name.. And I wouldn’t eat her either.. We a have a new Rural King store that has chicks and I want some too but NO :> I love your blog and will keep reading.. I would love to see more videos. So jealous! I have wanted a coup for a while but right now its just not feasable. Do you have any idea if the smaller ones will get picked on by the bigger ones? This past weekend I got some farm fresh eggs at our farmers market – nom nom! Love all the chick pics you and Ashley are sharing. My favorite of these is the one of Talby w/ the sleepy chick… so sweet. Enjoy them 🙂 Love it! I want to move to the country and get chickens!!! I love the furry legged ones! They’re still so cute when they’re grown! My neice had one named Percy. I love that name for a chicken! Of course, Pan Fry is good too! lol Super cute! Looks like your family is really enjoying being chicken farmers. 🙂 I think the small ones are bantams. I received my 2 maps from your shop the other day. THANK YOU! |
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Josy - So funny! #jumpingchickens should be a new hashtag!
Susan W - Jumping chickens — hilarious! Love those photos! Looks like Spanky wants to be in the Ladies club. So we really can all just get along- why can’t it always be that easy?
Thanks for the smile you gave me and for sharing all that you do!
Your a blessing!
phyllis - hahahaaaa!!!! so very cute!!! I have 11 chickens, mostly bantams and they are my precious babies. We do lots of things but I had not thought of jumping photos! Maybe you can capture a chest bump!
maryp - Here’s something stupid: I don’t like the black and white chickens because I think that they look so pretty and soft and cuddly, which makes me want to hug them for 45 minutes…but I know that they wouldn’t like that and that makes me sad.
I’m full of logic like that.
Karen Gerstenberger - You’re right – the jumping pictures ARE hilarious! Thanks for sharing.
Mindy - Oh how I love your “ladies” and the jumping pictures just made my day – fantastic!
Dianne - I laughed way too hard at the jumping chicken pictures. You should put them on a canvas!!!
Julie - Oh, I want some chickens so bad! Our next house is going to be an acreage with plenty of space for roaming chickens! Their poop is perhaps the best part — great fertilizer! My only little hangup is that they always look so mad, what with their down-turned beaks. It makes me a little frightened, they look so feisty all the time. 😉
Michele - I can’t stop laughing at the jumping pictures!!
Jackie - I don’t think I have ever given much thought to a jumping chicken, too funny!
Jan - Chickens are funny. We had them years ago and my son loved to feed them and gather the eggs. Your pictures make me miss them!
Mj - Hilarious! Who would have thought jumping chickens!
Michelle Whitlow - Wow, they have gotten BIG!!! How old are they now??
Ruth - Those pictures are hilarious. But how do you deal with the chicken poop? Does it track in on your shoes? Are your chickens potty-trained? 🙂
Tiffany - I am fascinated. I am a self proclaimed CITY girl (Philly), I now live in the ‘burbs. I an floored that you have chickens for pets. Floored that you own SIX chickens. I am looking at these pictures searching for the buffalo wing parts (sad but true). Wondering what you do with all the eggs? Wondering if they need to be entertained? What temperatures do they like? Do they get cold? What do they eat? Why are they so tame? So many questions. Fascinated I tell you. Thank you world wide web for opening up my little bitty world.
Susan - We had a hen an a rooster raised from eggs (school project) for about 6 months and they were so much fun! Our rooster would sit in my husband’s lap and loved to have under his chin scratched! I miss those days but we live in the city and the neighbors were getting tired of the 5:00 wake up call!
dana - They look like they’re having a tea party at the table. 🙂 What kind is your black girl? Our prettiest chicken is the least friendly, too…until this week when she FINALLY at 9 months old started laying. She saved her feathers by days.
Necole@seriouslysassymama - I love chickens. I am about to go eat some right now. (Sorry, not really funny, but funny just the same.) My husband wants some so bad, but you have to have more than 3 acres where we live to have them, which I think is dumb because people have dogs.
julie - Thanks for my first laugh of the morning! Great shots.!
KirstenP - The jumping pictures ARE hilarious!!!! Thanks for adding a chuckle to my snowy, very cold day!