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Hello, SparkPeople Members! I hope you had a great week! After a more serious topic last week about Seasonal Affective Disorder, I'm back this week with a lighter and fun topic: my chickens! Have you ever seen a sleepy chicken? If not, read on and I'll show you some cute, sleepy chickens getting ready for bed. We have food allergies in our family, so my wife has been a hero (Mrs. SparkGuy to the rescue)! For the past two years, she has tended an organic garden in our backyard. Then, this spring, I came home to the "chirp chirp chirp" of baby chicks. I'll admit that I was skeptical at first of raising backyard chickens, but I was outnumbered 3 to 1 between my wife and boys. I had never been around chickens prior to this. It didn't take long to realize that chickens are a lot more loveable than I thought (there are more than 100 breeds). When they were young, we spent a lot of time holding them and getting to know their personalities. We could tell quickly who was likely to be at the top of the pecking order. It was funny to learn that they really do have a pecking order from top to bottom. Our boys named each chicken. The current ones are (in their pecking order): 1) Blackjack (her breed has a bossy reputation, so she keeps her flock in line) 2) Goldie 3) Penguin 4) Fluffy 5) Brown Bear 6) Snoozy Brown Bear and Snoozy are our favorites. They are very cuddly and like to be held (usually). These two are best friends and always sleep together. As of yesterday, four of the six hens are laying eggs. One of my most memorable moments with the chickens was hanging out with Brown Bear when she layed her second egg. It took about 15 minutes and then I saw the egg drop from her. She seemed happy, but a little vulnerable. Our boys like coming home from school and running down to gather the eggs. It's a great experience for them. We are excited to add fresh eggs to our diet and try to feed the chickens healthy food, including some of our leftovers. One of the funniest points about chickens is that when it starts to get dark, they walk into their barn and get ready for sleep. Sleepy chickens are a joy to behold. They become very docile and like to have quiet conversations with us when we go down to close up the barn. If you click to visit my blog, I have a few short videos of me introducing the chickens and even a video of them getting ready for sleep.  Blackjack as a baby: click her to see short videos of me and the chickens! Weekly Check-In Check-in time! Just click to this blog and share any small steps you took to reach your goals the prior week OR a goal you have for the upcoming week: https://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=5816892 Have a great week everyone! |
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