Monday, February 8, 2010

The Chicken in Winter



I know I haven't written about them much recently, but the girls are a very large part of our lives. We've spent hours in the freezing cold hanging out, watching them poke around the semi-snowy yard, and collecting eggs from the nesting box.





They hate snow, so this last five weeks or so without it has been fun for the girls, who scratch around on the frozen grass and scrape into the pine needles behind their coop.





It sounds like their snow-free explorations will come to a halt, for a while at least, because we're expecting six inches or so in a few days. But they've had it good whether they know it or not.





You may remember, if you've been reading since we got them, that the chickens used to scare the bejabbers out of me. They don't anymore; when I am in the yard, lugging wood in for the stove or feeding them (or, more rarely, cleaning out their coop - which is SO not bad, Firefly Mom!), they follow me around and cluck adorably. The chickens just exude serenity, with their soft little voices and gentle mannerisms. We are so glad we added them to our family.

9 comments:

Lise said...

Oh, I so love having chickens around, too. Lately, they've been coming up to the door and peeking in at us, like "can we come in?" Your ladies are beautiful!

Rana said...

I can't believe how big they are. I still have a slight fear of them. It's good that you have gotten comfortable around them. Makes keeping them a lot easier.

We are finally going to get a significant amount of snow tomorrow. Yeah!

my3ninjas said...

I can't wait to get chickens. Did you buy a pre-made coop or did you and your family craft one? And I agree, your chickens are beautiful.

Karen said...

Lise - thank you, we think they are beautiful too! As of right now, they are only out of their coop, otherwise known as The Chicken Palace, when we are outside because we're scared of what might try for them if we're not around. I long for a day when they could come up to our door and peek in, like yours do - next house, I guess!

Rana - It's good to know another fan of snow! We're keeping our fingers crossed for lots, although our hens decidedly are not :-)

B&B&B - Hubby totally built The Chicken Palace, last spring when we got the girls. It is amazing, in my completely unbiased opinion! Are you planning to get chickens? Because that would be really cool!

Happy Monday everybody -
Karen

Magic and Mayhem said...

You know we love chickens. Since we can't have any, I'll have to enjoy yours from afar. :)

Anonymous said...

Glad you gave a poultry update because I was beginning to wonder about those chicks! I LOVE how you say they "exude serenity". I wonder why there isn't a "chicken" setting on my sound machine??!!

Karen said...

Alicia - We'll happily share with you from afar! I'll try to post about 'your' chickens more often :-)

Topsy - I don't know, but there should be. Usually people think of chickens as loud and boisterous, but ours are so gentle and, when they are placidly wandering the yard calling to each other, they sound more like doves or very quiet pigeons than anything else. Come up and check them out sometime!

K

Sparklee said...

Oh, I envy you! We can't have chickens here, and even if we could, I would worry about our dogs hurting them. We're going to start getting eggs from our CSA. I guess that's the next best thing to getting them from the backyard!

Karen said...

Sparklee - You'll enjoy the eggs from the CSA, I know. And, any time you want to come visit ours, just let me know!
:-)
Karen