Week 4: They're Here

Although they are camera shy, the chicks are quite happy
in their new home.  They are friendly, quiet, and are known
as good layers.  

Ten Rhode Island Red hens are now living in the studio.  We found a picture frame box that is just right for them now.  I need to find out how much longer they have to stay indoors. They already have feathers and when we picked them up, one of them flew into Sharon's hair.  I think "we're gonna need a bigger box."

Livin' in a box.  Interestingly, this breed was first bred in
America in Little Compton, Rhode Island. We live in
Lecompton, Kansas.  For more fascinating reading check
out this link:  Rhode Island Red.

Week 3: Anxieties Fading

Just when my anxieties about raising chickens were beginning to fade, my friend, Katie, came out to return a house key.  She told me about the black snakes (yes, that's plural) she saw near the garden and on the driveway last fall.  Now, I can just visualize a big black snake with a chicken egg (or, worse, a chicken) in its middle.  I immediately thought of the Little Prince's first masterpiece.  It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. The adults didn't get it. They thought it was a hat and advised him to put away his drawing.  He said that, "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again."  But, unlike the Little Prince, who "abandoned, at the age of six, a magnificent career as an artist," I shall not abandon, at the age of sixty-something, a magnificent opportunity to launch a career as a chicken farmer.

On the Ides of March the walls go up.
Jim and his wife, Cindy, restored two barns on
their property using only recycled materials. The
left-over materials from those barns will now become
a perfectly secure chicken coop. The floor is tongue
and groove maple.  This flooring came from an athletic
center in Topeka that failed.  New owners didn't want the
flooring, so Jim and Cindy bought it -- for a song.  

Jim is building the coop in pieces on his farm.
Here, he and Louie set the wall frames on the base
to check measurements and level.
 And talk about cost-egg-fective.

Week 2: Anticipation

Note the heat lamps and the laser thermometer.  The temperature
starts at 95 degrees and decreases 5 degrees every week.  You'll
know where to find us for the next year.

Well, here's the brooder box that those cute little chicks will live in.  This old frame box will do just fine -- for 6 weeks!  We will purchase our chicks next week.  My manual tells me that chicks require additional care at the outset but give me a chance to get acquainted with my birds as they grow.  Really?  I just knew it.  I will love these chicks.  Oh, what have I gotten myself into?  More about "straight run" or "as hatched" chicks next week when we choose our chicks.  Oh, me.

Week 2: There's no turning back now

Nancy and Wyatt at the Orscheln Chicken workshop
Saturday morning.  Thanks to our friend, Jonathan,
for waking up early and attending with us.  You'll
never know how much your presence calms me, Jon.
I guess it's your lively cynicism that spurs me on.

The Orscheln chicken workshop on Saturday morning actually proved to be somewhat encouraging.  Our instructor, Sharon, was well-informed, easy going and unflappable.  She answered all my questions in a dignified manner, and she didn't condescend. I was especially surprised at the encouraging advice from her eager, seven-year old student, Wyatt. Wyatt is experienced with raising chickens, and he was so confident that I felt a little jealous of his youthful innocence. You just wait, Wyatt.  Sharon knows about those crafty coyotes who lurk in Douglas County.

I confess I carry no sentimental fragments from my childhood about raising chickens.  I only remember being terrified as the headless things ran around with blood spurting from their necks, and the smell of scalding feathers still makes me gag.  Now can you understand part of my hesitation in this adventure?  Oh, and then there's always the coyotes, the dogs, the raccoons, the . . . .

O.K.  So. Who can deny the absolute cuteness of baby
chickens?  Not me.  But thanks to Jon's attentiveness to
the other attendees, these babies will be named extra crispy
and original recipe. 

Week 1: Chicken Tales Begin

This chicken clay sculpture from Mexico will serve
as a totem to encourage me.  The two story tellers
wait for chicken stories which you will read about
here.  No doubt there will be many.  Josephine
Aguilar is the sculptor.  Maybe I'll name all my
chickens Josephine.  Thanks to Tresa Nasi for
taking me to that awesome Mexican import store in
Austin.  

Well, here I go. As promised, I will track progress about the newest project on our ten acres outside Lawrence, Kansas.  My husband, Louie, has been going on and on about raising chickens for the past 3 years. Being the pragmatic one, I have tried to point out to him why this is not a good idea.

First, our valley is full of coyotes, raccoons, opossums, hawks, and snakes.  All these critters just love chickens and/or their eggs.  If not for eating, just for sport.  Raccoon stories frighten me.  They just love to kill chickens for sport according to my sources.  Our valley is also full of domesticated dogs.  I'll bet they will keep the chickens stressed, and stressed chickens don't lay eggs.  Second, we live in a community that is full of folks who already raise chickens and sell them at our local Community Mercantile and other grocery stores.  Third, we like to travel. We haven't adopted a pet since moving out to the country because, as you know, pets tie you down.   Talk about being tied down!  Chickens need daily attention more than any dog or cat.

But, my logic has not detoured Louie's obsession to own chickens.  He has finally worn me down, and I have agreed to try this insane adventure with him.  I have nightmares about those poor chickens getting attacked by all those predators.  I'm thinking that this adventure won't last long.

Louie's real partner in this scheme is our wonderfully talented and smart neighbor, Jim.  I just don't know what has gotten into these two, otherwise rational, men.  Jim is building the chicken coop at his farm and will deliver it in stages to our property.  Believe me, you will want to see this coop.  Anything Jim does is over-the-top quality work.

So. Here's the sketch that started in our kitchen.

Louie's sketches.  Wait 'til you see Jim's
construction.