Introducing Preservation Peeps

At long last we have chickens! Again!

If had told me two years ago that it would take us this long to be ready for our first Preservation Acres flock I would have slapped you and wept for days.

Y’all setting up a farmstead at the age of forty while working full-time and raising teenagers is no quick matter. Rather it is the epitome of a “long obedience in the same direction.”  It is doing a lot of not-fun things, things that involve a lot of sweat, money, and time, compromise and creative solutions, in exchange for some very basic rewards like food, and some delightful rewards like fields of flowers.

Preparing for our chickens was a little bit of it all.

A lot of compromise (a temporary house/run set up), a lot of sweat (mostly by Sweet Man), a fair amount of change (portable electric fencing isn’t free), and pure delight (chickens!!!) and here we are at last – our Preservation Peeps are here at last!

And they make me sooooo happy.

Like stupid goofy-grin happy.

Not like this, which is me when I discover there is no coffee in the house.

But like this, which is what I am like at Baptist church potluck.

I love hen hinnies. They are so fluffy!

The Dominique’s are by far the friendliest.

Vintage Nesting boxes. I had thought about putting these in our kitchen for storage, but the shelf size is a little limiting.

A lovely retired friend at church raised these for us. She was ordering some for herself and another friend. She over ordered to make sure she would have enough and we got the excess. Amazingly she didn’t lose a single chick! That is one great chicken grandma!

I think this is the one Miles has named Angel.

One of the Gilmore Girls ( we have three – Lorelia, Rory, and Sookie.)

Temporary digs until winter when we can clean out an overgrown shed (too many creepy crawlers and stingers in there right now) and convert it to a proper chicken palace.

Lucky the Rooster. So far he is a decent fellow, not mean or heartless. And his crow is such a fun thing to hear in the morning!

 

We have 10 hens and 1 roost.

Our flock is a mixture of Welsummers (beautiful dark brown feathers, chocolate-colored egg-layers), Dominiques (black and white,) and Ameraucanas (green and blue egg layers). No eggs yet, but soon!

 

So there you have it! Preservation Peeps are on the farmstead at last! A lovely bright spot in a rather rough summer!