Chick Life

For some reason I, or maybe we, find ourselves out by the coop or in the barn quite more often now than before the fair. There is a sort of peace about watching our feathered friends eat off the land, and to watch their pecking order. My grandfather has recently started stopping by to "check on the chickens", and he has also started bringing our out of town family by to see Cluckenbock as if it's a tourist attraction. It makes us quite proud to say the least! 

This is our coop, Cluckenbock, Texas! Population - 18

Our chickens are very social and they each have their own unique personalities. We have 1 Americauna, 1 Buff, 10 Silver Laced Polish Frizzles, 5 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 1 Golden Polish Frizzle. They each have names, except the Wyandottes are all called "Willies" because they do not have distinct marking for use to tell them apart. My kids and I are OBSESSED with Duck Dynasty.  So much so, we have chickens named after them. There is Miss Kay, Si, the Willies, Jase, and Phil. I think the Duck Dynasty crew would be quite flattered to have chickens named after them. ;)

Here is one of our Silver Laced Polish named, Highlight.

Here is Lucky.

Here is some of the crew feasting on bugs, grass, and fruit rinds that we frequently throw out for their pecking pleasure.

Hopefully soon I will have time to post about our new babies. We currently have 50 Cornish Rock chicks that we are raising for meat. Stay tuned....

In the beginning....

First off, let me say that I am far from a writer. It is not my forte. At all! However, this past year and a half has compelled me to start this blog not only to entertain, but also to inform you all how much my life has changed since we got our gosh, darn chickens! 

It all started last fall (2012) when we signed our 2 children up for Junior FFA and decided to let them raise chickens for the county fair. I mean, how hard could it really be?! They're chickens for crying out loud! We put our order forms in November, and picked up our 50 1-day old chicks from the fair grounds in early March. I used to consider myself a "city slicker", someone that always thought I'd live in the "loop" in Houston to say the least. If you want me to delve back to my high school dreams, I always thought I would leave my hometown, go to law school, and move to NYC and live in a high-rise loft. OK, back to reality...I still live in my hometown, and recently bought a house in a more rural part of our area. We have 3 acres, a pond, a barn, a pool, and the most perfect house for our sweet family. So why wouldn't it be a good idea to have some livestock, right?! 

Avorie, our daughter is the biggest animal lover EVER! Cade, our son could really go either way at this point. So when we told them about raising chickens, we specifically said THEY ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT NAME THEM!!! How could you possibly name 50 chickens and tell them apart?!?! Oh yeah, that's right, because each and every one of them are tagged with numbers. So instead of names, we called them by numbers. We loved #49! Oh, yeah, and fat ol' #53. We could tell the family (my mom included....who would come daily to check on them...the chickens, not the kids) had a growing affinity for those sweet yellow chicks. 

It was a quick 6-week project of several feedings throughout the day...dry feed...wet feed...fat...protein. Certain concoctions that would make most people nauseous during the preparations, however, we were numb to textures, smells, and early morning feedings. Fair time came, and with all of the hard work, one of our pens made 3rd place out of around 80 pens. It was an amazing feeling, and a great accomplishment. 

Their spiffy, high-class tote for the ride home when we picked them up from the fair grounds. 

Avorie just loved those sweet babies!

Cade loved fat  ol'  #53!

The birds out and about in the pen. 

Checking weight

This is how they had to hold them when they showed them at the fair. 

Fair Time!

Fair Time!

This was taken right before the chicken show. I was a nervous wreck!

WAHOOOO!! 3rd place!!!

Shortly after the fair, we had to take the rest of the birds to the slaughter house. It was a task that none of us were excited about. We drove to a nearby town to have the birds processed, and to my dismay, they did not come WRAPPED!! Holy moly! I spent the next 4 hours rinsing, washing, and wrapping whole chickens...half chickens...chicken wings...chicken legs...chicken thighs...chicken breasts. I know, I know...I just went a little Bubba Gump, but seriously, it was a whole lotta chicken! I may save the slaughter house story for another post. ;)