Meet our chickens!

So we got our chicks from McMurray Hatchery at the very end of February.  That makes them about 12 1/2 weeks currently.  And boy are they fun!  I had no idea chickens had such personality.  They lived in the brooder in our garage for about 6 weeks and moved out into the chicken coop roughly about the time that Caroline was born.  We have 8 in all:  2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Barred Rocks and 4 Speckled Sussex.  I basically just read the reviews and picked the friendliest sounding ones!  With the kids, my first priority was to have "nice" chickens that would be able to survive being handled by a 7 year old and a 2 year old.  They are all nice, but the Barred Rocks and the Speckled Sussex are by far friendlier than the Rhode Island Reds.  They all have names, thus my big dreams of eating these chickens one day had to go by the wayside.  They are definitely pet chickens who will hopefully be providing us with some awesome fresh farm eggs in the next couple of months! 

Their names are:  Joyce, Roxy (Barred Rocks),  Gloria and Cherry (RIR's), Little Peeper, Tenderfoot, Isa and Gigi (Speckled Sussex). 

Little Peeper is Isabel's favorite....she had a few rough days in the beginning and we had to nurse her back to health.  Tenderfoot was named after she hurt her leg....not sure how, but we had to give her some TLC as a chick and now she is just fine, but she runs with a limp!  Joyce is definitely the boss.  She and Tenderfoot will come running across the yard to greet you when they see you coming!  It is just hysterical.  Joyce is also the one chicken who will try to follow you back to the house while all the other chickens will stay together around the coop.  They are just so funny.  Here are some pics as they are growing up!

 

(No!  She's not at all excited about day old baby chicks of her very own!) 

 

(Barred Rock and 3 Speckled Sussex)

 

Rhode Island Red up front.

 

That might be Tenderfoot. 

 

Ian caught a Rhode Island Red.

 

2 Reds trying to hide.

 

No, Little Peeper is not dead in the above picture!  This is literally how Isabel cradles the chicken!

 

They won't eat the potato bugs off the potato leaves, but if the kids pick them off and put them in the dump truck, they love them!

Joyce or Roxy....not sure.

 

 

I think chickens are my new favorite animal.  I could seriously get rid of the dog and the cat at this point and just have chickens! LOL!