Chicken suite

Well, the five little chickens are spending their first night in the coop tonight.  Gary worked on it all yesterday afternoon, and after he got home tonight he put on the heavy-gauge wire to keep them in and the raccoons out.  No more Amazon cardboard box for them.  Nice for us as well, though it was a bit comical to admit to having a box of chickens in our bedroom at night.  I'll sort of miss their little chirping sounds as they got cozy before sleep.  An experience I won't soon forget.  Mind, I realize that we'll probably always have chickens now that we've made the commitment.  I see myself as a long-term chicken mama.  They are so Zen.  And we'll likely have baby chicks again at some point, but the coop is just right in terms of size for this brood.

When the least one saw the inside of it yesterday after Gary lined the floors with left-over vinyl flooring we had in the attic, she said, "Oh, they even have a kitchen!"  I love her humor.

We're entertaining the thought of cutting out pretty photos from magazines, gluing them on the walls and painting in frames.  'Course the chickens will likely peck the paper, but we could try.  Just nonsense. Chickens seem to bring out the crazy in a person.  They're just so silly.

Must go now.  Went out lunch with second son today and he got me to thinking about some things.  Concerns for third son as well as for oldest daughter and sweet Indian boyfriend were things we talked about.  My mothering heart is a bit worn feeling.  Time to rest.

(you can't tell the size of the chickens from the photo, but they're pretty large---bigger than pigeons, a good handful when you carry them---gary says they're more like 3-times the size of a pigeon, and they aren't through growing yet!)