Welcome to the Coopacabana....

My husband and I picked up our chicken family yesterday afternoon. We went to a chicken farm in the tiny teeny town of Lyons..... there must have been 150 chickens and Guinea hens there, a few ducks, plus a couple of cows and a donkey. I learned that people have donkeys because they are better watch-dogs than dogs. As soon as we drove up to the property, that donkey started to bray and carry on.... and he didn't quit until his owner came out the front door to greet us.

We each picked out three chickens, after the farmer/owner pointed out which ones we didn't want because they were roosters, not chickens. When we told him we wanted friendly chickens who had good attitudes and would be easy to handle, he told us that he always "weeds out the nasty ones." (Translation: chicken dinners.)

I chose a beautiful red hen, which I named Dolly. Then a black and white mix, which I call Jaye. And I just had to have an all-black chicken (because I'm partial to all-black cats)... and I named that one Edie. The names I chose seemed to fit-- when we opened the crate to let them into the coop, the first one out of my crate was the red-- Dolly. A no-nonsense hen, just like my Aunt Dolly. The all-black hen, Edie, reminds me of my Aunt Edie because she loved all black outfits and her hair was jet-black. And the black/white mix is named after my Aunt Jaye... she used to have elegant black and white suits when I was a kid, plus the black/white mix of feathers looks over-the-top, which is Aunt Jaye's style.

My husband picked out a Guinea hen, all gray with a touch of white on the feathers, which he named Jeanie (after his aunt). Then he chose a large, classy-looking brown/black/red hen which he named Audrey (after his mom). The third one he picked is a brown hen with some spotted feathers, and he calls her Henny Penny. The first one out of that crate was the Audrey hen... which would fit his mom's attitude-- "Let's get on with it!" When our neighbor D came to see the chickens, he suggested that we go back and get another Guinea hen. It seems they don't really like to be alone, and they like being with other Guinea hens rather than with a bunch of chickens. So we might do that, so the two Guinea hens can keep each other company. (My suggestion would be to bring the Guinea hen back and trade her for another chicken, but I don't think my husband is going to bring back one that he already picked out and named.)

The chickens seem to be content in their new home. They were flapping around and clucking when they first got here, but we fed them some bread, and they discovered their water and pellet feeders, so they calmed down a bit after a while. We also gave them some lettuce, tomatoes, and some bits of fresh plum-- the tomatoes and plums were a big hit, and they ate every bit of the lettuce as well.

This morning, Dolly (the large red hen) gifted us with our first egg. And, true to her namesake, Dolly spent a good part of the morning rearranging the grass and hay in her nesting box, and making everything "just so" before she laid that egg. We knew it was Dolly's egg because all the other hens were out of their baskets and nests and Dolly just stayed in her nesting box and kept rearranging that hay. My husband not only took photos of all the chickens, but that first egg as well.

The chickens have to stay inside the coop for three more days, then we can let them out to roam around the yard. If they do what chickens are supposed to do, they will walk themselves back into the coop before the sun starts to set. And I'm betting that either Dolly or Audrey will be leading the way--- they both seem to want to be the Chicken-in-Charge of the coop. We'll see who wins. There really is a "pecking order" when it comes to the hens.


The scorpion count is now up to 7. After my husband and I watched "The Amazing Race" tonight, I came up here to check my computer and put some lights on. When I walked into our bedroom, there was a scorpion on the ceiling next to the air-conditioning vent. And how did I see that so quickly? Because that has become my thing to do now-- look at every a/c vent in every room I walk into. After my husband killed that one, I noticed another one in the master bathroom...... so he smashed that one also.

That's it. Seven scorpions is about my limit. Actually, one is truly my limit, but I was giving the chickens a chance to kill them all. Now I can't wait. First thing in the morning, we're calling in an exterminator..... and having him spray all around the house, the cottage, the barn..... all the grounds around the house. We realize that he can't be spraying every inch of 23 acres, but at least the acreage around the house will be relatively bug-free. The chickens can take care of whatever the bug spray doesn't get.

Just when I was beginning to calm down after scorpion #5.......