chicken update:

it seemed like only yesterday that i found emri outside playing with our baby chickens. and yes, i did find emri with a chicken on her head.

i am sorry to inform you that we have lost two of our chickens to raccoons.

this one in particular:

he may look cute eating that dog biscuit, but don’t you see that evil look in his eye?

sorry, coon. you’re a gonner.

he and his brother began their intrusion several weeks ago. ben and i found one in our shed eating dog treats. (no we don’t have a dog, but our neighbors do) his brother was up in the tree while this one munched on the remaining dog treats we had left in our shed.

see this picture? the chickens were actually laying down right next to him! we just chased him away thinking he wouldn’t bother our chickens. but the next day, lizabelle was gone.

they were brutal. i’ll spare you the details.

i burried her. we had a funeral. emri cried massive tears. she asked me over and over again, “why did this happen?” emri was convinced that a zebra or a giraffe ate her.

i reassured her that it was a raccoon and most likely not a zebra or giraffe.

there was a eulogy officiated  by emri.

emri said,

“i love that you ran so fast all the time.”

we threw flowers in the hole. and we buried her.

ben had to re-burry her when he got home, because i, apparently do not have the skills to dig a legit hole.

then, the next week, they got  bitsy.

…i guess thats the way it goes. we had to put on tough farmer pants. ben especially, because he killed both of those raccoons.

it was intense. he didn’t even have a gun.

i’ll spare you the details.

but i will say that i’m married to a bad ‘A’ .

on the brighter side of things, we got two new chickens!

and i love, love, love them.

we have named the younger one lucy, and we are still deciding on the bigger one because we just got her a few days ago.

one is the same age as the previous one. and the newest edition is a full-grown mamma hen.

they have all gotten along and things are back to normal.

here is the new clan.

call me the crazy chicken lady, but i love having chickens.  al 3 of us do.

i love getting up in the morning, going outside to let the chickens out and hearing emri yell,

“wait for me, i’m coming!!”

we march out to the coop and open the door. and out run our chickens.

at night we put the chickens up and they make this purring cooing noise and practically hop on our laps.

the whole experience has been so fun. (minus all the predators that have included hawks, raccoons, and possums. SERIOUSLY. you should have seen me running outside yelling “booga, booga” , chasing a hawk who was swooping down on our chickens…oh my. i remember ben saying, “kerri, our neighbors can see you.”)

not to mention the fresh eggs we are anticipating!

so i suggest ya’ll go get some baby chicks. come on, you know you want to….its so fun…

***

coops and such

so after losing our chickens to the wild street of madison ave, animal control, and our dear neighbor’s yard,

we decided it was time to build a chicken coop.

if there has ever been a question as to whether or not ben and i are farmers, its been settled.

we are farmers.

because we have a coop. duh. that makes us farmers. totally. we even grow our own lettuce and stuff.

so i’ve posted some pictures of our chickens and ben constructing the coop…in the scorching heat…get it done, babe.

emri is in love with the coop because its also her pretend house and i think she might even be pretending that the chickens are her kids. rach and reebs, if you are reading, remember when we used to pretend we were feeding the chicken’s at grandmas house for hours? hmmmm? dream come true.

ben was so precious. he picked out a handle for the little door to the coup. he said he picked a handle he thought i would like. and its true. i like it a lot.

so here is our coup and our chickens. emri has named them elizabeth, lizabelle, and bitsy. however, ben has refused the name elizabeth for one particular chicken. his favorite chicken. …the one with white specks around her neck, for which he has reserved the name, grommet.

welp,

here are the girls…

lizabelle

grommet

and bitsy

and here is that sweet little door handle… and the makings of our chicken coup.

pretty, huh?

 

and there you have it. our chickens and their new house.

***

rooster

my little emri sported two ridiculous pony tails yesterday that made me squish her little bunzies to pieces all day long.

she is so little. and so big all at the same time.

we laid out a blanket in the backyard and sipped on vanilla rooibos tea yesterday afternoon.

and the chickens were out too….

duh. myers farm. what  of it?

our friend anna stopped by as well…. we love her a whole lot by the way. and of course the rooster had to fly on top of her head. i love that she was okay with that. so i did what every normal chicken owner does. i put another chicken on my head and we took a picture together.

which by the way, you heard it. we have a rooster. does anyone know what this means? this means that it has to go! naturally. i guess i kind of understand my neighbors not wanting a rooster doodeling in the wee hours of the morning… but they are best friends.

i haven’t told the chickens yet.

to be honest, i don’t know that the rooster cares all that much. he’s always trying to get away from the other two. and they follow him EVERYWHERE. i think thats why he keeps flying on our heads. you know, to get away from them. now the other two, they will be quite sad.

oh well. so anyway…

i was in awe of my little emri today. watching her thinking, “Lord, come on now…don’t you want me to have another one of these hooligans?”

then i started thanking Him for the hooligan that i do have. thankful that she still says things like,

“i love you berry much”

and

“mommy, can we take my bambella today since its raining?”

and

“you told me i could lasterday”

***

double chins and chick love

double chins, crazy chick love, and some mild, over-reacting is what you will see hear folks.

our chicks are a week old. i discovered… that when i take them outside, i become their best friend.

it’s quite wonderful to have little chicks run to you.

but it does get weird when they suddenly want to be on your head and shoulders,

and you instantly become the crazy, bird lady sitting in the middle of your front yard for everyone to see.

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guess what?

we have chicks!

lots of chirping going on at the myers house.

***