We went to "Welcome Home Farms" education day one cold, rainy Saturday. The farm is run by a homeschooling family with a great property and they have multiple animals because their 14-year-old wants to be a vet. They had chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, alpaca, rabbits, honey bees ... I think that was about it. We learned lots about taking care of the different animals and had a great time checking out the babies and getting to touch them!
We really enjoyed seeing the goat milked, though Caden was sad he didn't get to do it! If anyone needs something milked, let us know and Caden will be right over.
Caden and Tessa also washed some wool. We saw the lambs get shots and have their tails banded. They were going to also neuter them but we were too cold to stay for that. Which was fine by me.
They also had 12 baby chicks donated by a local farm store that they were giving away in a drawing. We have been talking about getting chickens for nearly a year, so I thought, what the heck, and I entered us in the drawing. Later that night I got a phone call saying I had won 2 golden sexlink chicks! Dave scrambled to get a box and went to pick them up. The kids were so surprised when he came into the house with a cheeping box! After a day on the farm, Caden and Tessa were feeling brave and each held the chicks happily. Davin was a little nervous, and still is. He will touch them but won't hold them -- and that is fine by me too! It was a good way to force us to get moving on our chicken plans!
Baby chicks are so cute and I love their peeping noises! Caden and Tessa named the chicks Emily and Hotel. Interesting.
Later in the week we picked up 2 more chicks from the farm store. They are a little younger and smaller and are gray. They will lay green eggs, which we are excited to see.
We're learning tons about raising chickens! It's actually taken quite a bit of time to make sure things are right for them, but it's been fun! Dave spent the weekend working on their chicken tractor (a movable chicken coop) and will probably spend all this weekend completing it. Already our golden chicks are more than doubled in size and have darker adult feathers growing in all over. They look completely gangly and adolescent with big feet and awkward flight attempts and strange faces. We'll keep you updated on our adventures in backyard chicken farming!
ah! The woes of being a teenager...haha! We're excited to see how the chicks are growing.
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