Crack of Dawn Farms

Too. Much. Cuteness.

Food first (well, water was actually first). Priorities.

Yippee!! Our 4-week old juvenile chicks arrived today. I am not sure I can handle this much cuteness in one location. Add these little chirpers to our too-cute-to-handle LGiT Atlas, and it is almost too much to bear 🙂

I had stopped by the Post Office Monday after I got notification that they had been shipped just to give them a heads-up on what was coming. Karen called me this morning just before 6:00 am to let me know they were in.

Aside: We originally planned that these would be our first chicks. Back when I ordered them, I had no idea I would be gifted a livestock guardian with two chickens, and I certainly never dreamed I would have also already added 4 more pullets! So, today, what were to have been our FIRST chicks actually DOUBLED the size of our flock. My how life twists and turns!

I was curious to see how easy it would be to wake the boys this morning! As anticipated, they rolled right out of bed. Amazing what a little chick anticipation can do for the get-up-and-go 🙂

The P.O. BACK door at the Crack of Dawn!

We loaded up and headed to the Post Office. I’ve never gone to the back entrance before. We rang the bell, and Karen was there ready with our peeping box!

Soooo very exciting! All 6 little ladies were chirping happily away, and we could see that the box was divided into quarters with the 3 Rhode Island Reds in one corner and the 3 Buff Orpingtons in the opposite corner.

Since it was only a 5 minute drive, I opted to just take them on home instead of opening the box to water them while still at the PO.

Chirping package - handle with care! — Chirping package – handle with care!

When we got home we opened the box in the garage since it was a bit warmer, and gave them some water and food. I was so pleased to see how healthy and happy they looked.

To be honest, I was really a bit concerned since it was a full two days since they shipped. The day-old chicks have the benefit of the nutrients they absorb from the yolk just before hatching to help them in the shipping time, but what about the 4-week old ones? I’m a little ashamed to say I never thought to ask!

Not to worry… it turns out the folks (Claborn Family Farms) that raised and packed the little chicks to send to us put cucumber slices in with the chicks to peck on and keep them hydrated for the trip. How smart!!

After giving them some time to settle down a bit inside, we took them out to their new temporary digs: the CamperCoop. Jerry got the finishing touches done while we were at karate last night (feeder and waterer hung, roosting pole secured, door latch working) so it was ready for new residents.

Atlas, needless to say, was extremely curious about all this new chirping and – oh, what perfectly play-sized little noisemakers! But, he only pawed at the sides once or twice before finding his way back to his sled and getting scratches from the humans.

As my mom said, “more chickens, ho hum.” I think he’s starting to figure out more of his place in the farm.

I was pleasantly surprised how smoothly this day went with our new additions. We got all of our school done AND had time to get Atlas to his next booster appointment and weigh in. He has added 10 pounds since his last visit. At 11 weeks old, he is weighing in at 36.4 pounds!

Jackson modified an old changing table rail to make a cute ladder to the roosting pole, but the chicks seem more content to huddle in a pile for warmth at this point. We added some wind breaks to one of the coop corners to give the little ladies a place to get out of the wind and stay warm. They ate an entire quart feeder container of starter grains today. Amazing!!

Here is a gallery with some more farm photos from today’s excitement. Just click through to see them all.

I would love to hear how you are liking our adventures. This is my fun way to keep a journal, and I hope that you find it amusing, helpful, or at least somewhat entertaining. Leave me a comment, and subscribe if you like so you’ll get a notification as we make updates (I’m not even going to try to promise any sort of scheduled posting — it has everything to do with what we have going on and when I can steal some time to type 🙂

: Cute. Little. Chicks.

: Munch munch munch.

: Fast friends

: At home in our new home.

: They sort of look like us. But they are so little. And so loud.

: Chicks make a pretty happy boy!

: A couple of the Rhode Island Reds.

: Is it a CamperCoop for chicks or boys?

: More cute chicks.

: Did I mention they ate the WHOLE container??!

: Just hanging out waiting on my booster.

: Crib rail-turned-RoostRamp

Good Dogs and Up-cycling

My view from the car when we got home - Atlas sitting at the gate. Good boy, Atlas! — My view from the car when we got home – Atlas sitting at the gate. Good boy, Atlas!

As I mentioned in my previous post, we made a quick overnight trip to Atlanta for Jackson’s IronKids Alpharetta triathlon. My folks were generous enough to volunteer to get up early Saturday and Sunday to take care of chicken/dog duty for us while we were gone.

I am so excited to report that Atlas did GREAT while we were gone! As of today, he is on Day 4 of ZERO crate time. Yes, he still has moments where the flitty hens will catch his attention, but he is maturing enough to stop. He runs, but is clearly not running to chase, or more importantly, catch! It’s more like he does this bunny hop play move to entertain himself as much as anything. It is so nice to be able to relax a little about the activities in the yard during the day.

Livestock Guardian in Training - Too LGiT to Quit! — Livestock Guardian in Training – Too LGiT to Quit!

I wanted to go ahead get a post out today, as I feel very much like I am sitting in the calm before the storm. We got notification that our 6 originally scheduled chicks were shipped Monday morning. Since they didn’t come today, I expect them tomorrow. The ladies at the post office are to call me when they get there.

We are excited and anxious and nervous and really just looking forward to their arrival. BUT, after a relatively calm week, critter-wise, I do acknowledge that we are introducing yet another variable into our equation.

On the plus side, these 4-week old girls will have separate quarters for a while. The original plan was to have them in the original coop that we built. But that has pretty much been taken over by laying, and soon-to-be-laying, hens. So, we found ourselves in need of a way to keep these gals separated but still in the yard so everyone could get used to everyone else while the littles finished filling out their feathers and size.

I was planning to build a simple A-frame chicken tractor, something like this:

But, my mom remembered that my brother had a spare truck camper shell – turns out to have been from a truck that Jerry’s Uncle Don had – that would make a nice topper for a chicken run. So, we put our pens to white board and started working out how that might work. Upcycling is the in thing now, right??

Camper shell loaded and on the move to the "building site" — Camper shell loaded and on the move to the “building site”

I will tell you, I almost bailed several times during this project. What seems like a simple concept can get tricky in the implementation. In hindsight, it would have probably been simpler to go with the chicken tractor, but if we had we wouldn’t have the all-in-the-family CamperCoop™. Ultimately, we want wheels on it to be able to move it around in the yard, but for now, it just takes a few strong folks to move it around. It is designed to easily separate camper shell from base so that it can be removed from the yard and stored once the chicks are out and about. If it does become a more permanent structure in the hen yard, it definitely needs a coat of Barn Red paint in order to have it not stick out SO much like a piece of backwoods yard art. 🙂

But, it should do the job – giving these 6 chicks plenty of room to scratch around and stay safe from an overly playful livestock guardian and overly friendly (?) established flock.

Here are some pics of the CamperCoop™ project.

Jackson learned how to man the rivet gun when we installed the roof vent.

It's all in the family: Ryan and Grandpa attaching hardware cloth to the window frames — It’s all in the family: Ryan and Grandpa attaching hardware cloth to the window frames

Ta - da! Almost complete enough for the chicks to arrive. — Ta – da! Almost complete enough for the chicks to arrive.

Until the next adventure…

Caught Up… For now.

01-20140908_103826 — Growing, growing, growing…. Yes this doggie’s growing!

This has been a good week. We actually got caught up on all of our school work so that we ended the week “on schedule.” The boys worked really hard and we were able to be much more efficient since I was able to put Atlas in the crate when he would start showing too much playfulness towards his charges. It really helps with our productivity to be able to remove the distraction of having to go check on them every few minutes! As much as I truly enjoy just sitting in my chair in the yard watching these critters, there is schoolwork and housework and farmwork to be done.

By the end of the week, Atlas had earned much longer stints out of the crate and out among his birds. In fact, Friday, he only went in for a short period in the morning and then was out the WHOLE day without incident. Good boy, Atlas!

What a good dog! Out among the chickens... doing his job nicely here. — What a good dog! Out among the chickens… doing his job nicely here.

I’m typing this as we are headed down to Atlanta for Jackson to compete with his Aero Youth Triathlon Club in the IronKids Alpharetta. He has worked so hard this summer and improved so much! I am excited for him to have this opportunity. To be honest, at the beginning of the week, I wasn’t sure how we were going to do it. I am so grateful to my parents – they are going to take care of things for us as we make this super-fast trip. I just pray that Atlas will cooperate. When we left this morning, he was out and just napping while the ladies were out doing their typical scratch, scratch, peck, peck. Hopefully, the day will continue, and they won’t cause any drama for the Grands 🙂 Update: Just got a text from home… everyone is accounted for and tucked in for the night! SUCCESS!!!

I am grateful to have a flexible nature! When we initially planned this trip, I was going to leverage my homeschool flexibility and head down to Atlanta early in the week to hit some Civil War historical field trip opportunities. That, however, assumed that the new chickens weren’t going to be so “new” to Atlas and be seen as such a novelty. Once I realized there was going to be more integration training necessary I realized we’d just have to make it a quick trip. C’est la vie.

I did make an important observation about the interactions of my farm critters this week. The new hens don’t do themselves any favors. Atlas, the Livestock Guardian in Training (a.k.a puppy) likes to play. When they go flitting across the yard flapping their wings all willy-nilly, it is sort of like calling “Hey Atlas, catch us if you can!” Of course he’s going to run after them! Yes, he has to be corrected, but it is easy to see why these new birds have presented such a training opportunity. They are also loud. Lots of chattery cackling going on when they are in the yard. SO different from the other two.

Meet Lightning - Ryan's name for the other bird hurt in the initial introductory melee. Teaching Atlas that us holding the birds does not make them toys is another challenge in and of itself! — Meet Lightning – Ryan’s name for the other bird hurt in the initial introductory melee. Teaching Atlas that us holding the birds does not make them toys is another challenge in and of itself!

The old guard are very laid back and pretty quiet. Except, they (especially the red one) are definitely making it known they are higher up the pecking order. “Red” will make a beeline across the yard sometimes when the other hens are at the feeder. No drama, just when she shows up, they scatter. And, they stalk Atlas’ food dish. They both do it. When they hear the food rattle in the pan, they come just as sure as Atlas (if not more). They will pace around while he eats, and the moment he leaves they are in. I pick it up when he’s done because I think it would get expensive to feed the chickens dog food. Thanks to Elaine’s suggestion, I started feeding him at night after all the hens are up so he can eat in peace.

Boldly going where no chicken should really go.

Stalking for the good stuff... puppy kibble is wayyy better than this chicken feed she gives us! — Stalking for the good stuff… puppy kibble is wayyy better than this chicken feed she gives us!

This week will be yet another learning experience… we are expecting our original chickens – 6 4-week old juvenile birds: 3 buff orpingtons and 3 rhode island reds. They’ll be in a separate run/coop in the yard which should make it easier. “Should” being the operative word… If I’ve learned nothing else, it is that nothing ever goes as planned/expected 🙂 But, you know, life is still better when you’re up with the chickens!

Have some more pics to close out this post…