A New Beginning

We went for a drive today. Although the roads were pretty mushy and hard to get around on we had a lovely time. Of course getting out of our driveway was the biggest hurdle but when all was said and done we weren't too covered in mud. So, we toddled off down the road to see what we could find. We had a destination in mind and a container to hold our treasure we were going to pick up.

Treasure.... It may be a weird word to use but for us that is exactly what we were getting.

Mountain Man made a comment which stuck in my head. It went something like this, "you know if you would have told me 10 years ago I would be driving down a country road going to pick up some chickens from a neighbors I would have thought you were crazy, isn't life wonderful?" Yup! Chickens! Can you see me grinning? Cause if you can't you aren't looking hard enough.

Now I know most of you reading this will be saying, chickens? But you already have chickens? right? Sigh...  Well, there's a story I have been unable to write and I'm still not sure I want too but needless to say most of our laying hens, the ones you have seen in previous pictures, are no longer with us. Neither is the dog who was entrusted with their care and until one fateful day appeared to be their able protector. So, for about a year now, no chickens have graced us with their presence. Until now that is...

When one of the neighbors called to say she had some laying hens for us if we wanted them we decided it was time. Actually it was past time and so about a 1/2 hour later we were on our way back home with soft clucking sounds coming from the back of the truck. I love chickens..... They are the perfect farm animal. They will eat almost anything, which means they get pretty much all the kitchen scrapes so nothing goes to waste. They lay the most delicious eggs , which to me are almost the perfect food, and the young roosters, if you have too many, taste fantastic in the soup pot. What's not to love?

The rooster is one of the survivors and is a brother of my favorite rooster Fuzz Butt who did not survive, He is a mixture of a few breeds but very pretty and gentle. I think the hens are Black Copper Marans but I'm not quite sure. Needless to say, it doesn't matter I'm just so happy to have them here.

Checking out the new digs.

Hmm.... this place isn't so bad.

Settling in to relax.

It will be some time before I let them outside to the run and I'm a bit worried about the owls and hawks around here but lets give them time to settle in for a bit before we worry about that. If nothing else they will have supervised outings for a while.