So we (Miranda, youngest daughter,6, & I), stopped by the feed store today to look around. The girl behind the counter looked at me kinda funny and that's when it hit me. She told me the last time I stopped in there to see what was going on that they were getting chicks in today. Uh oh !!!! Miranda heard them as soon as we walked in and went straight to them at around MACH 3. So after looking at them all and holding some, and petting some, and then holding some more, we came home with 6 cute, tiny, lovable chicks. We got 2 RIR, 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte and 2 Araucanas. I had already bought everything for getting chicks, but I was waiting to oder ours with one of my cousins so we could meet the min. order limit. So Miranda gets all excited when MLW comes in the house and just has to take her down to the building to show her the chicks. Now this is were it gets funny: MLW looks at them and right away says, "This will never work." Me "What won't work?" MLW " They're to small and to CUTE to leave them down here." Me "So what are we supposed to do? Take them in the house?" MLW " YOU'RE NOT LEAVING THEM DOWN HERE!!!! I don't care what you have to do, but they are coming inside the house, TONIGHT. Do you understand me? Miranda "I told you Dad. You had better do what Mom wants."(BIG grin on face) So twenty minutes later I have a Rubbermade tote, heat lamp, small waterer, small feed dish, and 6 chicks in the house next to MLW desk for work. Now you must remember, this doesn't bother me. I remember friends at my Grandparents who had chicks or baby rabbits in the "mudroom" off of the kitchen when they were starting to raise them. But, MLW is a total suburban woman. Was freaked out the first time I had here around cows, wouldn't go near pigs, stayed far away from our neighbors sheep, and was nervous when we were around the horses at a friends house. So now we have the ultimate night light in the living room and I'll get a great nights sleep tonight because they are right out side of our bedroom door. I haven't slept near chcikens since I was a kid and I slept over at a friends house while visiting my Grandparents. But just like rain on a metal roof, I know that these little girls will have me asleep in no time and it will be a good nights sleep. I'll try to post pictures as soon as I figure out just what I did to our camera. I figured that everyone would get a good laugh out of reading this. Hope it worked. Chris
Thanks for sharing and had to chuckle...I love it!...I can relate...Had my chicks in the den , in a tote..next the computer desk. I sleep on a daybed in the den..so I could keep watch over them...You are right! I slept like a lamb...drifting off the the sound of gentle peeps...Going to miss them at night... now they have moved to the new outside home...
I love it! When we got our day-olds last year, I was sooo worried that Skip would have a fit because I set the brooder up in the spare bedroom right next to our bedroom. I lost count of how many times I apologized to him for it before he even went to bed the first night the chicks were here. He kept telling me that it wasn't a problem but I just knew he was saying that to be nice. When we finally moved them to their outdoor home, the very next morning the first thing he said was "I miss the chicks, already". I totally floored me. Dawn
Too funny! And congrats for getting her over to the "dark side" My husband had absolutely NO interest when I told him I wanted to get chicks. But as soon as they got here, he'd disappear to the spare room we had them in and come back chuckling and saying "You won't believe what they just did....." and tell me about what antics he observed. Penny
Very funny!! I too was brought over to the dark side. My son was the one who originally wanted chickens.. I fought him tooth and nail.. no stinky, noisey chickens for us! But he persisted, and so I thought, ok, fine.. it will be a good learning experience for him. So we got chicks. The day we bought them I told him that if I ended up cleaning up after, or feeding his chickens, he was going to pay me for upkeep from his allowance. Well, that was 9 weeks ago. Now, I LET him help me clean the brooders, I do have him help me clean the water and food dishes, and occasionally, I let him play with my chickens, LOL. I told him just 2 days ago that when they move out into their coop, that's when HIS cleaning duties start.
Quote:It went the same way at my house. Who'd have thought a teenage boy would be begging me for chickens? At first I said no, don't like chickens, nasty personalities, they stink, they carry lice, no way. He promised he would take care of them...I reminded him that he still has to be asked to feed the dogs every day...but eventually I relented. Within three weeks I'd added 17 baby chicks, and convinced DH to build them a brooder. DH was kinda lukewarm at first, but now he does more of the chicken care than I do...and we're building a coop. It's contagious!
Well now it will get really interesting. I let the girls look at pictures on the computer of all the different chickens and we are ordering 14 more chicks. I think I might be biting off more than I can chew, but the girls are so excited to be doing this. Miranda already is checking the water and the food every hour, "just to make sure, Dad." Paige (8yrs old) is getting mad at her sister because she can never see or hold a chick. But once Miranda was off to bed, Paige just took right over were she left off. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that these chicks are going to be spoiled rotten. I don't know what was going on at 2:30 last night, but the chicks woke Miranda and I up. After we checked on them, Miranda had to sleep on the couch, just in case they needed anything. But she got right up this morning, ready for school right away. No fussing or problems for once. Maybe it was because she wasn't allowed to check on the chicks until she was ready to go. MLW, (Lori) had no problems with me going to the bank and getting the money out to give to my cousin so we could order the chicks. That is really funny because she has us on a tight budget and "we aren't going to spend a whole lot of money on those chickens because there are more important things we need money for right now." I told her not to buy me any more smokes, because that was my chicken money now. Miranda and Paige heard me say that and they both told us to use their allowance to help with the chickens too. Kinda surprised me with that one because normally we're of to Target right away when they get it. My Grandmother thinks that this is a great idea because it is something that all of will be doing as a family. I told her that I thought so too. Every time I have tried to find something that we can all do as a group, somebody is always upset because they don't want to do this or it's boring or stupid. Our son (Clay 13 yrs) is coming home from school this weekend and is wound up tight over getting to see the chicks too. He says it's not fair for us to be doing this while he's at school. All I can say is so far so good and I hope that it stays like this. Who would have thought that chickens would bring the whole family together and not have any complaints. I'll post updates and let everybody know how much fun we are having. Chris