Monday, April 27, 2009

Let me tell you about the time I took Mr. Dog and the boys out to pick up chicks.

So last week I was complaining about not feeling the urge to write. I was lost on what to blog about and really was about to give up. Then on Saturday all of that changed. Mostly because I decided to try new things. And after a busy morning, I took the boys and my husband out to pick up chicks. Hot chicks. Well, it was really more like I was picking up the chicks because the boys fell asleep in the car and Mr. Dog opted to watch the boys sleep while I selected the chicks we were going to bring home. That was fine with me since I have strong opinions about this kind of thing.

So I went in and found four good looking chicks to bring home. They put them in a paper bag for me...ok, you realize I'm talking about chickens, right? We got baby chickens. Four of them. And I'm super excited.

I recently got this bee in my bonnet. Not a real bee nor a real bonnet, just the mad desire to have chickens. And it turns out it is legal in Seattle. Better than just legal, there is a chicken keeping renaissance. Lots of people in Seattle are keeping backyard chickens, lots. Last I read they estimated about 1,000 coops in the city. And Seattle Tilth teaches classes for those of us who don't trust our own chicken rearing instincts. I took that class on Saturday morning. I felt empowered to make my chicken dreams into chicken reality.

So we now have four tiny fluffy chicks at our house. They currently reside in a brooder made of a giant Rubbermaid tub some wire mesh and a heat lamp set to 95 degrees in the playroom. I can hear them happily peeping away as I type this. Two are Easter eggers, they'll eventually grow up to lay blue or green eggs. One of these was named Chicky by Big Dog, the other one was named Chicky-chicky-chicky by Little Dog in a fit of inspiration. (I will probably quietly give them other names at some point.) I got to name one, a Barred Plymouth Rock. Her name is Odile. Mr. Dog has naming rights for the last chick, a Black Australorp, but has yet to choose a name. We have resorted to calling her "The Unnamed Chick". I'm hoping he'll remedy this soon because honestly, that is a mouthful.

Anyhow, look forward to lots of exciting post about urban chicken keeping and adorable pictures of chicks, and later, hens. Like these!











Exciting news! Mr. Dog has named his chick. Her name is Drumstick.

7 comments:

geekymummy said...

peep!

Beth said...

You just made me want to move to Seattle. You can have chickens?! How cool!

followthatdog said...

Beth, you should check your city laws, you might be able to have chickens there too. Before Seattle we lived in San Francisco and I just looked that up, guess what? Yeah, you can have chickens there too!

ML said...

We're in Asheville, NC and there's a whole urban chickens thing going on here, too! Bumperstickers, T-shirts and SSOOOOO many eggs!! I'm not inspired, but have great admiration.

chihuahua5 said...

what about naming the last one TUCK (abbreviated for The Unnamed ChicK)

chihuahua5 said...

never mind!!! just read about drumstick!!! love it!!!

followthatdog said...

chihuahua- Little Dog is mightily confused by the name change. He is convinced that Odile is now named Drumstick and the Unnamed Chick is still called "the Unnamed Chick" We've gone over it a dozen times. It certainly doesn't help that they both look pretty similar apart from a dot on Odile's head.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...