The first chick…

…

4 more are working their way out!

And the hatching…

…begins! 

Woke up to 2 of these this morning and didn’t even care that I was pulled out of bed at 7:30 on a Saturday to see them.  I love a good, strong rooster.  Now I’m hoping for much more action before the soccer game at noon and definitely before I leave for dinner and Keith’s concert  at 4:30 (yes, Keith Urban, but you should all know by now that we’re on a first name basis).

Stay tuned…

Is it bad…

…when you’re dreaming at night that a room in your house is overrun with baby chicks and you can’t find en empty container big enough to put them all in?  Is it bad that in the same dream you ran over to the incubator and realized that even more chicks were still in there waiting to be taken out?

5 days….

Different…

…days around the homestead since the kids went back to school.  Cross country meets and practices, soccer practice, basketball practice, working in a quiet home without interruption, cooler days…

There are some days, when I’ve typed for 5 hours straight, haven’t gotten out of my PJ’s and am thinking of the errands I should run that it all can seem a little mundane and isolating.  But then I look to my left, my right and behind me (or at my feet serving as a footstool) and there are sleeping companions everywhere.  If I get up, they get up.  Go to the kitchen?  No problem, we’ll lay in here.  Need to fold laundry?  Don’t sweat it, we’ll go to the bedroom and hang out there.  Oh, really?  You’re leaving?  OK, let us walk you to the door.  I am of course talking about my dogs.

The kids make fun of me because I talk to them.  I don’t just say come, sit and stay.  I have conversations.  I reason with them.  I’m telling you they listen and they understand.  But as Alden puts it, “Mom, you’re home alone too much.  You’re talking to the dogs like they’re humans.”  What can I say?  If these faces were looking up at you 24/7, willing to listen (which is more than I can say for most), to love, to adore and willing to follow wouldn’t you talk to them?

Realizing…

…that my boys aren’t as grown up as they’d like everyone to think.    As a matter of fact, they’re a lesson in contradictions.  Take Alden for instance.  A few days ago at the breakfast table as he talked about cell phones, girls and possible careers he came across as very mature, very scary-like savvy for a boy of almost 11 years.  Then he said, “Oh, mommy….”  Uh-huh…you’re words betray you little boy.

Then there is Powell.  The normally even-keeled one.  All of the sudden we’re seeing surges of hormones in his temperament, evidence on his face and let’s just say I didn’t know his eyes could roll until very recently.  There is a struggle going on inside; he wants to be independent and push us away yet in the quiet moments when he isn’t worried about what anyone is thinking his cuddling betrays him.

Take…

…TWO!

What is the saying?  Winner, winner, chicken dinner?  We hope to be saying that in about 20-21 days.  Here we go again and we’ve been assured this time there were some strong roosters involved.  We’ve got 3 different kinds going.  First up is the White Legorn (if the picture doesn’t show, I’m so sorry, I’ve tried to upload it for 1/2 hour now and for some reason, WordPress just doesn’t like this photo):

(thanks to mypetchicken.com for the photos)

 

White Leghorns are the chickens you usually eat but they’re also great layers.  I got the eggs from a mother of 6 who lives nearby and raises chickens with her kids.  FUN.  They just got 2 silkies (dad, you can click on that ’silkies’ and it’ll take you to a picture) and I have to say, if we get the chicken thing down they may be in our future.  At any rate, their eggs are the lighter brown eggs mixed in above.  Next up are the Australorps.

Cute little chick but I must say the hen looks rather ugly.  Should be pretty standing next to the white legorns though….contrast in the coop!  Their eggs are the darker browns you see above.  And finally, the Araucanas. 

I definitely think they are the cutest and they also lay the little greenish eggs you see up top.  I know we’re not raising chickens based on the cute factor, but it doesn’t hurt and the green eggs make me feel so Martha.

Now you may be wondering how in the world we’re going to manage the 30 chicks that will potentially hatch.  Well, we’re told to plan on only 15 hatching and after we pick our 4-6 that will leave many that can go to a friend’s friend who raises chickens or, enterprising young children that I have, sell them on Craigslist.  They actually have a whole scheme ‘hatched’ on how they’ll incubate and sell baby chicks to pay for the chicken feed.  We’re thinking about letting them give it a whirl.

So, say a little prayer and in another 20-21 days we’ll be ready to hatch!

Sadly…

…our little ladies didn’t make it.  They tried valiantly but just couldn’t.  We were very sad and have been told we got a batch of eggs from a weak rooster.  A rooster who couldn’t do his job and apparently ’shot some blanks’ and some that were damaged.  Both of our little ladies had some issues structurally when we performed an autopsy of sorts.  I don’t want to show the pictures of them trying to hatch because knowing they died, well, I just don’t want to show them.

One a happier note a new batch arrives today!  We are looking forward to trying again and have been assured this rooster is virile and young and strong and able to fertilize eggs.

The kids are back at school, Lee has moved on and the house is quiet once again.  Seems odd to be at the beginning of August with an empty house but it is what it is.  Now I organize and clean the effects of  summer on my home….

Hmmm…

…we are watching and waiting; anxiously I must say.  It appears that many of the eggs we were given were never fertilized but there are 2 that are trying so hard.  They started Saturday evening and as of right now we can see the struggle and the feathers but we think they’ve fallen asleep (baby chicks sleep 99% of the time so it makes sense they’d sleep that much in the egg too).  Concerned because it’s taking so long but hopeful it’ll end soon!

Word is….

 

…these little eggs will be hatching on Friday and/or Saturday.  They’ve been sitting still doing nothing for almost 21 days now.  Until this morning.  This morning little peeps started and as we go about our normal business we hear little baby peeps coming from inside their shells.  So fun.  We’ve come up with more Bible Chick names but I’ll save that for later.  Until then we’ve got the shavings ready, the baby feed stocked and are camera ready for the hatching to begin!

Word is….

…this little girl will turn 9 on Friday.  She is pretty excited the chicks will hatch on her birthday.  Wait until she sees the American Girl doll loot that awaits her.

Word is…

…this little piggy is off to market and not home again, home again, jiggity jig.  It was too funny.  Driving down the freeway.  Had to take the shot.  The kids may not eat pork for a few weeks now.

Word is…

This Momma and these babies will have to say goodbye to summer break in a mere 6 days.  So.not.ready.    We’ve enjoyed our days, barely left the house and could stand for a few more weeks of it.  But alas, they must be educated so I will pack the lunches, kiss the faces and send them off.

Stay tuned for pictures of babies as they arrive.

Ready, set…

GO!

That could be what I’m saying in an effort to play catch up on this blog, in my house or in my creative endeavors.  It could also be used to describe what this summer has felt like up until this point.  Isn’t it funny how you can go into something with one picture of it and then once you’re in the middle you realize it looks NOTHING like your plans?  God is funny that way.

My relaxing summer has been a whirlwind and all-together NOT relaxing.  But it’s OK, it’s where things are at right now and the kids are happy just the same.  It’s been good…I was able to make some strides with work and it’s paid off nicely.  I’ve been able to dig deeper with God and I’m right where He wants me at this moment.  Lee is staying with us for a few weeks and the kids are soooo happy with that situation; he’s so good to them and so easy to have around that it would be difficult to complain about a long-term houseguest.

We’ve left our church.  It’s been a grueling, haneous and not-so-pretty process.  People can act quite ugly…people who you never thought could, can.  Anyway, it was basically a church split and while it’s been excrutiating it has also been very exciting.  There is a rather large group of us meeting here at the house every Wednesday and Sunday.  We worship, fellowship, learn and share visions of ministries God has placed on our hearts.  It appears people that we’re planting a church.  Some are still afraid to call that spade a spade but it’s what we’re doing and it doesn’t freak me out even one little bit.    We’ll see what God has in store there…

This week we’re off to Mammoth Caves with the kids, horseback riding, some pottery painting and I’ve been promised a Friday night date!  It will be the first since Valentine’s Day so I’m very much looking forward to that.  But catch-up blog postings aren’t all that exciting without a good story to tell.  It starts off very sad but even that has been turned around quickly and we’re all really excited.

OK, remember these sweet girls:

Well, the flew the coop.  The literally flew the coop.  One day while I was working on some laundry Kaitlynn came running in and said, “Mom, this is reeeeeeaaallllllly bad.  Are you ready?”  (Right about here is where we Mom’s are hedging on what is drama and what is really, truly bad)  I told her ‘yes.’  She told me the girls were not in their coop.  I thought maybe they were hiding in a corner, a bush or underneath their roosts but no, they were not in the coop.  Then I saw Ruth.  She was in the grass and not moving, at all.  As a matter of fact, I couldn’t even see her head.  I thought some zombie chicken had come and killed her, eaten her brain and left again.  I later found her head tucked under her body.  I’ll spare you all the details but none of the girls survived.  It was handled fairly well by the kids until later that night at the drive-in when all of the sudden the tears started flowing and reality set in.  The Bible Chicks were gone. 

With church being at our house it was only a short while until news spread and everyone knew what happened.  But you know what?  Our little church has experience with chickens.  As a matter of fact, one man grew up on a chicken farm, raised 9000 chickens at a time.  Another had 250 chickens of his own until about 2 years ago and yet another has a brother with a working chicken farm now.  It took all of 10 minutes for these men to hatch (no pun intended) an idea for my kids.  One had an incubator, another had a brother with plenty of fertilized eggs and another had the know-how to help figure out how to put a roof on our coop (it has taken my dad, Tim and many others to even come up with a plan).  Now we have this at our house:

It’s an egg incubator and inside are 24 little fertilized eggs.  They tilt from side to side and they’re warm and on August 1st these

should start hatching and when they’re grown they’ll turn into these:

Pretty little things, aren’t they?  So we are missing our girls and we are sad they died but we are happy for the opportunity for our kids to hatch 24 eggs and raise them for a while.  We’ll keep some and send the rest back to the chicken farm their eggs came from.  We’ll also continue to count our blessings that we have friends who love our children enough to come up with a plan and help us execute it.