Baby chicks and teenaged chicks.

Our neighbor D came over in his golf cart this morning to say hello and see the progress on our chicken coop. D has a huge fenced-in coop on his property, filled with nearly 20 chickens-- all hens, since he doesn't want fertilized eggs, and he says roosters are a pain. (To quote D, he says that all roosters are interested in only two things: F---ing and fighting. (You can fill in the blanks. This is a family-friendly blog.)

D said that our chicken coop was coming along nicely, and he said to make sure there are no gaps where a raccoon can get a paw through, because the outcome of that won't be pretty. He told my husband that a raccoon got his front paw into his own chicken coop a while back, and pulled the chicken through the wire as far as it would go. The chicken got stuck and the raccoon couldn't pull it free, so the raccoon ate the part of the chicken that was pulled through the wire, then left the rest for D to find the next morning.

When my husband told D that we were going to get baby chicks, he suggested that we get chickens that are slightly older. He said the baby chicks are very fragile during the first few weeks, and are a lot of work. And if one baby chick doesn't like another baby chick, it will keep pecking at it till it's injured or dead. D said we can easily buy more mature (but not yet adult) chickens. That way, we'll know right away if they're male or females, and we'll have a better idea of what they'll look like when they're full grown.

And then there are the hawks..... we see them circling high in the sky every day. We are guessing that they're searching the properties of people who own chickens. A hawk can swoop down and easily catch a chicken if it's out in the open and can't escape under the shrubbery fast enough. The hawks are flying over our neighbor's property every morning, but I don't know if it's ever been a successful flight. (Successful for the hawk, that is.) In my husband's words--- don't get too attached to the chickens because you never know what can happen.

With that advice, we have slightly changed our plan. No baby chicks that will have to be kept at a steady temperature in order to grow and thrive..... we are planning to get nearly-teenaged chickens-- young enough to hold them so they get to know us, but old enough so we don't get stuck with roosters instead of hens. As for the roosters...... I don't think we're getting one. We don't want fertilized eggs, we don't want to be raising baby chicks, and D said the hens are perfectly happy without a rooster crowing and strutting around their coop.

Just a little while ago, my husband was searching the Internet, looking for "teenaged" hens..... and found an ad for free chickens.... the people are moving out of state and want to give away their egg-laying hens "to a good home." Well, this is a good home.... and the coop is nearly done..... and when I decorate it with all the chicken-stuff, I would think those hens would be very happy here. My husband is sending them an eMail, to tell that family that our coop is nearly ready and we would love to adopt their chickens. I expect that my husband will not tell those people that he intends to name his chickens Over Easy, Country Fried, and Extra Crispy.