From 2 to 14

We recently went from owning two pets, one bunny named Daisy and one Pomeranian named Buddy, to owning 14 pets. My loving husband grew up on a farm where they had lots of animals. Horses, cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, pheasants, geese and one or two dogs thrown in the mix. He has always wanted to get back to that kind of life. Unfortunately, our path through life hasn't brought us those opportunities. Until now. I don't really know how it started but Sam had A LOT to do with it and Kyle was nothing but enthusiastic. The bird pen at Grandma and Grandpa's house is one of Sam's favorite places to be and he will spend hours with the birds. So this past Saturday, Kyle and Sam went to a nearby town called McKinney to a feed store there and came home with 12 of these little guys.
We have two kinds of little chicks. One is White Burma and the other is Arcana. I've been told the Arcana will lay blue eggs. Jacob is holding one of the white kind and the dark brown and black chicks are the Arcana kind. The kids have all picked one for their own and named them along with one or two others. Analee's is Bobby, Jacob has named his Sylvester and Sam's is Scruffy. They have marked their own chicks with red marker on the heads or backs. Other named chicks include Bruiser, the bully of the box and Stretchy, because he is always stretching his neck out to peck as high as he can. I wanted to name him Noose. The kids really love these chicks and are constantly going into the laundry room to check on their food and water or to just watch them. I've caught myself just watching them for awhile. They are so cute and funny. They have their food in one corner of the box and their water in the middle.

They eat constantly and so they poop constantly. We change the paper in the box once a day. I hold the trash bag, the kids pull out the paper. I definately get the easy part of the job. They sleep in another corner where we have a light shining at all times. It is funny to watch them try to settle down to sleep. They sleep so huddled together that if one moves they all feel it and move, too. They wil stay in this box for several weeks. Kyle and Jacob have been looking online at chicken coop designs to find one they want to build. That will be a great project.

Nighty-night little chickies.

For one of Sam's Faith in God requirements, he had to write a poem, story or short play about one of the principles of the gospel or one of Heavenly Father's creations. He chose to write a haiku about the chicks and he said I could post it here.

CHICKS

Chirping in the box

Scratching, eating, sleeping chicks

Aww, they are so cute.

By: Sam Winkel