Chicks Are Us

After about a year of reading and thinking and talking about keeping chickens, we're actually doing it. Dale built a coop on one of the rainy days that prevailed this past week. It's a chicken wire house on skids, complete with four laying  boxes. We'll be moving it around just outside our garden area as the chickens scratch and eat the grass and bugs they find there. Of course, right now it is smack dab in the front yard, near the sidewalk. We're keeping a heat lamp in the pen while the chicks are so small.  Verdin's in Laurens had a nice selection of several varieties so we're starting with Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks and  Buff Orpingtons. Dale decided we should get one rooster but, sadly, he only survived a couple of hours after getting home. According to my husband he "sleeps with the fishes".  Our other ten biddies are doing just fine! ( Maybe he couldn't deal with the pressure.)