One of our favorite things to do is to head up to Ideeho to Some Chick’s Farm to visit family and, well to be honest, the chickens.

Gav loves the chickens.

We are living with Chris’ grandpa who has graciously allowed us to build a coop in the backyard to house our own little brood.

So about two weeks ago we picked up our chicks from IFA.

I’d done my research, figured out which breeds would be best for us then we headed to IFA. The  wonderful guy at IFA had us in, out and on our way in about 8.7 minutes flat, with 13 chickens, feeder, waterer, feed and wood shavings packed into the back of our little Subaru.

I didn’t even have a chance to question if we’d done the right thing. I was petrified! But, excited all at the same time.

We retrofitted a Rubbermaid tote with some chicken wire in the lid and a heat lamp for their home in our “kitchen.”

For the first few days the TV didn’t even get turned on. The boys spent hours watching those little fluff balls roam around, peck at the walls and drink gallons of water. (I read that they drink tons of water, but wasn’t expecting to fill their water bottle at least twice a day.) The first 24 hours were hard for a couple of our babies. We went down in numbers by 2, pretty good odds if you ask me. I knew to expect it, but when the first one died I shed a few tears as Chris took her out to the field. When we had to do it again in the morning, I think I said to Chris “K, maybe we can’t be in charge of the livestock…. I’m too big of a boob!”

Gav named a few of them. I think we have: Rosie, Goldie, Noni, Willa, Fred and Cull.

They’re about 8 weeks old now and love to jump on each other, try to escape if the lid is left out long enough, go outside to peck in the grass and still, peck at the walls.

We figure Gav will be peddling our 4-5 dozen eggs a week to family members and neighbors who don’t have their own chickens. (he’ll be contributing to his own mission/college fund early!)

Let us know if you’d like to get a half dozen or dozen a week  and we’ll put you on the delivery list!

* Update… when we were moving the chicks outside a couple weeks ago… the chickens got let loose and we lost a couple of them to a dog and the field behind the house. It was a tragic moment but Chris told us to hop in the car and we headed off to CalRanch to pick up 5 more!!! So now, instead of 11, we have 14 chickens! And I thought I was done with the rubbermaid tote in my postage stamp sized kitchen! Silly me!