Homesteading Dreams Coming to Fruition

A peeping package

Our homestead dreams are starting to come to fruition. We now have chicks! Friday morning Baby F and I were woken by the sound of chicks peeping loudly in our bedroom. The post office called around 7:15 to let us know they were there and Kevin and the three oldest kids went to pick them up.

We have 17 in all: 3 Americana, 2 Buff Orpington, 2 Barred Rock, 2 Golden Laced Wyandotte, 2 Light Brahma, 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 2 Speckled Sussex and 2 Welsummer. My children are beside themselves with excitement for these sweet little babies – Well, three of them are. Baby F is feeling a bit unhappy about them at the moment because he is not at the center of his sibling’s attention. He’ll come around though, especially since the 2 Buff Orpington chicks are his.

We have spent the past month or so waiting for these little ladies to arrive and during that time we grew some herbs that will help their health and did our homework on how to care for them. These two books were recommended to us and have helped us immensely: Fresh Eggs Daily, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, and a third book I purchased on a whim ended up being a huge hit: A Kid’s Guide to Keeping Chickens. The children have had it by their bedsides every night with all the pages dogeared and notes written here and there.

I think it really helped them to take on the chickens as their own. Each child also has 2 – 4 of their very own chicks to name and care for. We don’t have them all named but once we do I will be sure to share them here. So far the names chosen are rather interesting! I plan on giving my Speckled Sussex a Downton Abbey name – just haven’t decided who to name her after yet. 😉 Any suggestions?

Now that they are here we need to get to work on their coop. It will need to be very strong to keep out the abundant predators we have in our neck of the woods and also cozy and warm for the harsh winters. That shouldn’t be too hard, right??? 😜 Wish us luck!