Chicken Update

 
It's been a while since I've done a chicken update.
 
A couple weeks back, we picked up another 10 chicks, or so we thought.  Ok, pause right here, I have to say something really quickly.  
 
I have always stated that God has a sense of humor and I'm more and more convinced of it.   From the day that I ever thought of having chickens, I always said, I don't want a rooster.  Don't want it, always hear horrible stories and just didn't want to deal with it.
 
When we got our first chickens 2 years ago, we knew nothing about being chicken parents, so we bought straight runs.  Big mistake right there, because as you may know, they're unsexed and you get whatever you get.  We ended up with 2 hens and a rooster!
 
Fast forward to last year, when we decided to allow our hen Puffy to hatch some eggs.  We had 4 to begin with, 3 didn't make it, and only one survived, hatched and I was convinced it was a hen.  To my surprise, one beautiful morning I started hearing a weak straggly crow.  Yeah, that hen, was another rooster.  Thankfully this one is so sweet, doesn't attack, loves walking around the yard and running with our dog, loves being held, and is just the sweetest boy.
 
Now......let's fast forward to a few weeks ago.  We made it a point to pick up Pullets, because they're supposed to be sexed females.  Just females.  I thought I had finally struck gold, I kept looking at them and thinking "this is great, I'll have a full flock of just girls."  
 
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Well, that's when God stepped in again with His sense of humor, and changed it. 

I started noticing that while they all started developing their combs, one was developing way faster than the others.  Fear struck me, not gonna lie.  I kept saying to myself "it's alright, probably just growing faster."
 
No my friends, guess what I have?  Another rooster!  🤣

At this point, I've given up, I think I need to quit fighting the rooster thing, and maybe just maybe, I'll stop being sent roosters by God.  
 
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Anyway, after that long intro, let me show you these sweet ones.  We went with White Leghorns this time.  Did you know that they originated in Italy?  More specifically in Livorno in the Tuscany area of Italy.
 
So keeping that in mind, I have decided to give them all Italian names.  Well, when I can distinguish between the girls, the boy was easy because there's only one of him, so his name is Gino!  The girls?  We will have a Stefania, Rafaela, Maria, Francesca, Alessia, Isabella, Gianna, Giulia, Cecilia.  

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They are ready to go outside, and will be doing so this weekend.  For the moment, they are in my living room and as much as I love them, I need them out.  They do start stinking.  But, it's all part of the process and I just embrace it and go with it.  Keeping their area constantly clean is a big part of keeping the stink away, but I will be happy to have them outdoors.
 
Hope you enjoyed this little peek at our newest babies.  We have 10 White Leghorns, Gino the rooster and 9 girls.  They are also very big egg producers so we will be up to our ears in eggs soon, but we will be sharing with our family too and friends.
 
Have a wonderful Tuesday friends, and if you have chickens yourself, tell me all about them in the comment section below.  Can't wait to hear!

2 comments

Love this so much and your Rooster escapades! 😂 I will never get to have them, but it's sure fun living through you. I look forward to more chicken stories of the future. 😉
Deanna said…
I'll be following along with your news on chickens. I have never raised chickens, but have thought about it. My daughter has chickens so I get to see hers. I do love me some chicken when it's cooked. grins. God bless, ~d on the prairie