The Chicklets

For years I've wanted chickens.

Not so much for the normal reasons people have chickens, rather because I'm a gardener. I raise tons of tomatoes every year and various fruits and veggies that I preserve for my family's use through the winter.

Unfortunately my soil is heavy clay.

I mean I could probably throw pots out of this soil it's so heavy.

Isn't this one of the funniest things you every seen?
My chicks came home in a Timbits like box!
A box of little chirpers!

If I was back in Michigan where my family lives, I would have all the fertilizer I needed to make my soil more arable in the form of cow manure, but alas, I do not and buying that much manure is very cost prohibited.

So, in come the chickens. Chicken manure is very hot but once mixed with their bedding, it becomes something your plants can use without burning them. Add in the benefit of eggs and it's a win/win.

When I lived on our farm, we had chickens but with water, food and an entire barn to sleep in, they pretty much fended for themselves. We never really did anything with them, they just were kind of there.

So this weekend I took the plunge. After debating and debating about getting them, I did it.
I mean, if you are constantly waiting for an ideal time to do something, it will never come will it?










So here are the girls. And needless to say, I think we are all in love with them.

I don't think it's mutual though. I think to them we are just a big scary hand but they'll get used to it.



Each of us got to name two chicks. Here are their names.









Of course they all look a like at this stage so these names
aren't really attached to any of them.


 

Dixon's Chicks:

Chica
Toy Chica

 

Steve's Chicks


Marrianne
Ginger

 

 

Stacey's Chicks
Holly
Quinn

 

 

 

Yeah, we are big on cartoons in our family.







The chicks are set up with a big heat lamp and their water and food. In about a month and a half they should be all set to go out to their permanent home, a chicken tractor. They already are scratching for non-existent bugs so look out Japanese Beetles your days are numbered this year!

The Chicklets are coming!