Chicky

This is Chicky.

She is our one and only Chicken. Her sister went missing this summer. Since flying solo, Chicky has taken to living in our barn rather than the hen house this fall. She roosts at night above the stalls. Handy Man even brought her heat lamp in for her for the winter. If it is cold enough, she will roost in the haystack at night under her light.

We often wonder if she is lonely now. But reminiscing about our chick raising days of the past, I think I can safely say, "Chicky, Miss Kitty and Boji are your new sister and brother."


Once upon a time we had many, many chickens who lived with us at our little house on the prairie. We brought a few chickens with us when we moved out to the country including our old roosters Red and his son, Sweet Rusty. Red was a pretty level headed dude for a rooster. We had an established understanding - leave Red alone and he won't chase you with his two-inch spurs. I could respect that. Rusty was a product of gathering a couple of eggs from my hen house and allowing an old farrier of mine to experiment with his new incubator he had bought off some old farmer. Out of four eggs, we got Rusty and his two sisters. Rusty was like a little lap dog. He liked to be held, pet, and scratched behind the ear.

We also inherited two hens as house warming gifts left by the previous owners. They pretty much kept to themselves - they sure had a thing for Red back in the day.

Farm life can be tough for chickens. There are a lot of big critters out there that really like chicken nuggets! We learned a lot those first couple years out on the prairie. Unfortunately, the skunks, neighbor's stray dogs, and mostly the raccoons eventually got the best of Red, Rusty and the other ladies in the hen house.

Raccoons... they are merciless. What they can do to a hen house is nothing short of a massacre.


We love fresh eggs.

As our chicken population dwindled in 2007, we decided we had better raise some replacement chicks, reinforce our hen house and discourage those gnarly critters from coming back.

At one time I think we had around 8-10 hens and the two dudes. We were usually up to our eyeballs in eggs. We decided six chicks might be a little more realistic.

Off to the feed store!

Did you know you can pay extra for pre-sexed chicks? What a deal!

Raising chicks is pretty easy. You need something to hold them in until all their mature feathers come in and they are old enough to be placed outside in a hen house. They need to be kept very warm and protected those first couple months. An old stock tank works perfect! You can clip the heat lamp on the rim of the tank, the tank can easily be cleaned, and it is deep enough you don't have to worry about a jail breaks in those early days. We typically still place chicken wire or a thicker gauge fencing over the top as a lid, while allowing plenty of fresh air to circulate.

Typically you would want to raise the chicks in a secure building, like a garage. Some place where you know cats and other gnarly critters can't come in at night and think you have provided a lovely buffet for the taking. Unfortunately, we don't have a garage. Our barn is less than secure, we have a few feral cats that sneak a peek in our barn from time to time, not to mention the other critters like raccoons.

Our only option... "Make yourselves at home ladies! Can I offer you a glass of water? How about some fresh scratch?"

Of course this was BC - Before Children.

We had the room, and no other distractions. We took a small tank and stuck it in the spare bathroom's tub. Water was accessible and we could close the door to their little bedroom.

Having chickens in your bathtub is quite the conversation piece.

Once the chicks got a little bigger, they needed a bigger hotel room. I had bigger stock tanks, they just didn't fit in the bathtub any longer. So the chicks moved to the penthouse suite, aka our spare bedroom (which is now our Brown Eyed Girls room.)

Boji loved the chicks. He rushed into the room and assumed a watchful position at every feeding or inspection. I am sure it was loving - okay maybe he was hoping for one of them jail break so he could offer to 'retrieve' it.

After almost three months of raising chicks in our home I realized I would probably NEVER do it again. Chickens are dirty. Our bathroom and spare bedroom were covered with a film of chicken dander and down feathers. Hello Shop Vac!

As the chicks got older, you would be sitting in the next room watching television and hear this little "tink-tink-tink...tink...tink-tink-tink." They could sit there for hours, pecking the side of the tank. As soon as you thought one finally tired of her endless, obsessive pecking, her sister would assume the duty of annoyance.

The older they got, the louder they got.

Once their big girl feathers came in and the weather warmed up, we were all too happy to move them to their new outside house.

All six of our girls provided us with wonderful, flavor rich eggs.

Maybe I can talk Handy Man into spending a little extra this spring to get a couple more, outside ready, hens to keep our Chicky company.