The bok-bok-bok BIG news this week is……..OUR CHICKS ARE LAYING EGGS!! Yippee!! I found my first cute, small, round chick (well, now they’re hens, but that’s how it goes, isn’t it? The youngest is always the “baby”, etc.) egg one day, in a nest right next to the adult hens’ nest (under our electric meter next to the house). I showed the kids, Declan announced gleefully, “Mom, the chicks are all grown up, now!”
Later that day, after Mike came home from work, I shared our excitement with him. Then I casually mentioned that one of the chicks seemed to make a lot of noise behind the house lately and I wondered if maybe an egg was being laid out there, in a different spot. Mike headed outside to check it out, and he said, “Holy crap, oh my god,” and I ran out to see what was the matter. He just pointed down, shocked, and right up against the house was a nest with 18 chick eggs!!!!! Which meant that our little treasure we’d found earlier was totally old news. At this point, we think they’re all laying, who knows…we’re just excited to have all of these eggs around! It feels like graduation in a way, they started as little baby chicks, and now they’re full-grown, laying eggs.
I can’t WAIT to get six new chicks in the spring to raise for laying. I’m also thinking of getting six meat birds, chicks we’ll raise to the 10-week mark, then have a slaughter. I think that will determine whether I ever want to raise meat birds again, we’ll see how it goes. The rest (the ones we have now) will be “old” next year but good for soup stock at some point.
Declan was so excited to become the proud owner of a skateboard this week!! His friend Liam called to invite him skateboarding at the SUNY New Paltz campus and to feed the ducks, and we decided it was time to get a board. Declan really enjoys it, and he used it a lot this first week!
Very first time skateboarding!
Doing tricks with buddies Liam and Jack (Quinn was running after Jack’s little brother)
Feeding the ducks at the college
We went skateboarding (again!), then bike-riding, on the local rail trail with Livi and Daniel. Here’s Quinn enjoying a snack of goldfish crackers, pampered, just the way she likes it…
We’re looking forward to our website’s big event next Sunday, “Hudson Valley Parents Forum 2nd Annual Fall Fest” in Rosendale! Lots of fun, good music, great penny social prizes, yummy bake sale, and kids’ activities! All proceeds will benefit the charity Family. Hope those of you close enough can come!