Chick-chick-chickens!

That's right, we got chickens! Along with two other families (including a total of five kids), we are now the proud parents of backyard chickens, a growing trend among urbanites like ourselves. Two chickens per family for a total of six chickens, with the purpose of them being for eggs and fun for the kids (and us...).

Our friends Christine + Micah will keep them in their backyard in a chicken coop that our three families are all pitching in to build. We'll all be sharing responsibility for caring for the chickens. We're calling it a family chicken co-op. Joanne even started a blog for all three of our families to contribute to, detailing our adventures in chicken raising and joint-family gardening.


We picked up our 1-day old baby chicks earlier this week! They'll live inside, under a heat lamp for the next few weeks until they're big enough and hardy enough to be moved outside to the coop. The brooder where the chickens are currently sleeping, drinking, eating, pooping, and growing is portable, so while they're still cute, small fluff balls, we'll rotate the chicks at each of our three houses so each family has some time with the chicks. After 2-5 weeks, the chicks will move outside to their new home — the soon-to-be-completed chicken coop! For those who really want to geek out and see pictures of the different breeds we got, here's more info on the types of chicks we got: a Golden Wyandotte, a Buff Orpington, an Araucana (which lays BLUE eggs!!), a Rhode Island Red, and two black and white Barred Rocks. We wanted a good old-fashioned white chicken but none were available!

Can you believe this? Bring on the fun! Here are some photos from chicken pick-up day on Tuesday. As you can tell, Graham really isn't sure yet what to make of this whole chicken thing...