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| peep peep peep |
These six little nuggets were picked up yesterday from Tractor Supply Co. Pretty cool place, didn't know it existed until a few days ago. It's basically like a small Home Depot but for farms. It also has general yard stuff, but, anyway, chickens.
Chickens are like hamsters with feathers that eventually grow to be ten times the size of a hamster. They also need a heat lamp because they have to have an air temperature around 90F during their first few weeks or they'll die. It can't be drafty and they need special food and water contraptions or else they'll poop in the food and water. Which is gross.
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| don't poop in there |
They also sometimes get poop stuck on their butts, clogging their vent and slowly killing them unless you save their life. Which I had to do. Both me and the chick were very unhappy, but neither of us will probably die so that's all the matters.
Oh, why do I have chickens?
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| what kind of question is that, just look at her! |
We told an unexpectedly enthusiastic family friend that we were interested in probably making a chicken coop and getting some chickens eventually. He has relentlessly gathered materials and planned to make this happen for us. We have, of course, promised him that he can have eggs once the chickens grow and begin to make them, though I'm not quite sure if free eggs is really that strong of an incentive. Maybe it is, who knows.
At any rate, I now have six baby chicks in our spare bedroom living in a dog crate that I surrounded with cardboard. The cats are not pleased with the arrangement, as they think the chicks look delicious. Kirin has been stalking the outside of the door nonstop.
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| "I'll only eat one!" |
I found out that they actually could easily escape the dog cage, but funnily enough I found this out because I was attempting to close it while holding a chick and she hopped out of my hand and through the cage, back towards her warm and safe home. They have no interest in leaving the cage and by the time they do, they'll be too big. Crazy chickens.
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| silly nuggets |
They need to be kept inside, safe and warm, until they grow big enough to probably not be very frequently killed or otherwise become dead while outside. We have about a month before the chicken coop needs to be ready, but now that the ball is officially rolling, I don't believe we'll have much trouble keeping the momentum going. The chicks aren't going to wait for us before they start growing up!
We're probably going to start some box gardens and maybe get some blueberry bushes or other things, so basically my life is going to start to be a little Harvest Moon-ish.
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| my yard is not big enough for this many large animals |
Taking care of real animals is much more difficult and involved than the game made it seem, though. However, I'm not sure I can confidently debate against video games influencing children to be violent if I've been playing slice of life farming simulators my whole life and now I'm starting to emulate them. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe video games do influence children.
*gasp*
(They probably don't. I probably just like the idea of farming a lot.)
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