The Buff Orpingtons Arrive!!!!

As mentioned in an earlier post, Stephen and John Alexander have talked about getting chickens for several years. Back in March on JA's spring break, they really became excited after traveling to NC State to a workshop about raising backyard chickens. Many books were read and hours of research conducted to gather information and early in June, I couldn't say, "No," anymore, because making the most of every minute that JA is home during the summer is so important. Gathering fresh eggs was my desired outcome, thus my qualifier was that we only buy hens...no roosters!

After MUCH deliberation, John Alexander and Stephen decided that considering the size of our yard and the chicken coop to be built, that three chickens were as many as we wanted to purchase. Buying chicks online was not an option because hens take about four months to begin laying (and we wanted eggs ASAP) and minimum online orders typically designate 25 chicks. After calling around the local area, we found a man in Ayden who raises and sells a variety of chicken breeds. We visited several times and put three Buff Orpingtons "on the chicken layaway plan" until we could build a coop.

Building that coop (that is called the Chicken Palace....remember that Stephen is an architect) has become a LONG TERM project that will take at least several more posts to fully describe. As weeks ticked away and we came to realize that only several weeks remained before John Alexander heads back to Colorado to CSU, last weekend became the target date to bring the hens home. Last Sunday at noon after the boys had worked all day Friday and Saturday on the chicken house, it was still far from finished. So, in lightning fast time (3 hours), they built a temporary pen for the hens that has allowed us to move them about the yard all week so they could have fresh insects, grass, and shade.

Neighbors and friends have come from far and wide to visit the three sisters...two of whom JA swears are twins. They seem quite content and John Alexander is very taken with his new pets, whom he has affectionately named Amber, Honey, and Molly (short for Molasses). Our neighbor, "JoJo" across the street tried to convince JA to name them K, F, and C, but he was certain that they needed to be named respectfully, in honor of their beautifully colored feathers.

Yesterday, the girls busily chomped on two ears of fresh corn from the Farmer's Market and made real "pigs of themselves." They "zero" in any bug that happens by their cage and happily let John Alexander hold them whenever he wants. Of course, he already has them eating out of his hand!

The Chicken Palace is still UNDER CONSTRUCTION. We all worked until dark last night and the boys are outside working now as I write...more later!