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The youngest "chick" in the family holding the tamest chick, a l
Leg Horn named Corporal .
In April our oldest daughter and family decided to try their hand at chickens, yea fresh eggs. They purchased 10 one day old chicks and then latter after loosing one to a Farrell cat, bought 2 more. The precious little chicks were adorable and they were nicely kept in a big storage tub for the first 3 or 4 weeks while the chicken coop could be built or changed from a back storage room of a garage to a nice hen house.
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| Our daughter loved these sweet fluffy chicks. She has always had a heart for chickens and has wanted some for quite some time. They got 4 different types. |
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| This was the very start to completing the chicken coop. All the junk was cleaned out and here you can see the two youngest children eager to help were sweeping it out. |
Here you can see our grandchildren , supervised by Papa filling cracks with boards and nailing them in. They also had to measure for each section and help Papa cut the 2 x 4's to fit.
ABOVE, cleaning out the dirt/greese filled cracks with a screw driver or stick so those cracks could all be filled with cement. BELOW!
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| Even I got in the cementing action. Every job is fun when you can do it with grandchildren! |
Our youngest granddaughter and her Papa have always gotten along very well. She was very helpful to help measure and hold the wood for Papa.
Above our grandson learnt some special measure tips and carpenter words. He marked and helped cut boards with Papa. BELOW is part of the nesting boxes that were about ready for the second row of 4. YEP, 8 nesting boxes should be just fine!
More of these two working together. She catches on very fast, listens to her Papa and does a great job.
Finally about 5 days later, after the roost was built and installed, the coop was ready for the chicks.
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| These chicks are loved and well cared for! |
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| Just in case you were wondering, YES, they all have names! |
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I had to add my special touch to this cute chicken coop! I sewed the chicken themed ruffle for the nesting box and also the valance for the window. Our daughter had the knitting chicken fabric leftover from a previous project.  |
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| Putting the woods shavings in the nesting boxes. |
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| Everyone adds a special touch as we each paint a chicken picture for in the old window frame. It was a blast with so many giggles! |
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| all these cute painted pictures ready for "The Lutheran Hen House"! |
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| YEP! Looks great! |
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| Dad got the big job of building the chicken run, a completely fenced in on all sides, bottom and top cage for the chickens to enjoy outdoor fresh air and be safe from snakes and predators. |
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| She is standing right where her dad will cut the hen door and ramp. |
From these sweet little chicks to these beautiful hens in 3 months.
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| The beautiful black bantam rooster is the boss! |
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They got their first egg on Aug 12 and since that time they have gotten plenty of fresh healthy eggs. Here our granddaughter is sorting the eggs according to size. The Leg Horn lays the biggest and the white eggs
This brings back so many memories of my childhood in ND on a farm. We would get 100 baby chicks every spring, like around Mothers day . We had them in a brooder house and I would spend hours watching them, talking to them and listening to them peep. They were all Leg Horns and straight run, this means about half were roosters and half hens. In early fall the roosters were all butchered and put in the freezer for winter Sunday Chicken dinner or soup. The hens were carried down to the large Hen house with the hens from previous years. We always collected between 40 and 70 eggs per day. We then took these eggs (the ones that had not been sold to neighbors) to the town grocery store 2 miles away and exchanged them for groceries. That egg money along with the sold cream money sure kept our family in food, cloths and other things too. 2 doz eggs were given to our Church pastor every week. They had 5 children so I am sure they appreciated them. Also my grandparents could have free eggs anytime they wanted them.
Chickens are such a gift from God.
The Bible even mentions a hen and chicks.
In Matthew 23:37 Jesus is talking. Oh Jerusalem , Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!
Jesus is also telling us that, He loves us and wants to protect and love us if we would just quit pushing Him away. There are pages of Jesus words from Matthew, chapter 20 to 27, and also in John. If you have the red letter edition they are easy to find. If not a bit harder but still as you read you will definitely know Jesus words, each with a special message for those who hear or read His word.
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