Wednesdays Are My Weakness...

    You see, Tractor Supply gets their chick and duck shipments in on Wednesdays. I tried to push that little fact out of my brain today but after doing cement crafts with the kids all morning I packed us up and went to TSC (Tractor Supply Co). OH MY!! They had silkies!! Exactly what I was looking for and needed to finish my collection.. for now =) I got 5 silkies (1 white and 4 blue) and I also got 2 white Phoenix chicks!! So excited to see all of my babies grow and change. 

 
   I am currently at 30 chicks and 4 ducks. I am at my limit until all my babies grow up. I really hope the majority are pullets, I cant stand the thought of eating any of them for dinner =(

Aren't they adorable?! 

This is  my setup in the garage. The 3.5 week olds are in the big box. The garage averages 75-80 degrees so I thought they would be okay without the light now. The ducks are always too hot so they haven't had a light in a week or so. Now I need to keep my eye out for a couple larger boxes for my 2 sets of babies.

Cement crafts with JR. Cant wait to see what they look like tomorrow. the big blue one is a supcake cake mold. The purple one is an egg mold, the white ones are actual egg shells filled with cement, mini cupcake pan, horse pan from Ikea with pennies on top and a orea cake pan JR left his hand print on =) We barely touched the bag so we have plenty more we can do, and it was only $2.49 for 50lb! I need to make some stones to walk on by the front hose.

Chicken Coop

   My husband and father in law, with the help of Uncle Joe and JR, have been working hard on the chicken coop. I am so excited to see it finished but even just seeing the frame is exciting!! The house will be 8x12 with a small section inside for storage. The front will have a barn style door with 2 windows on either side. We will have a covered fenced in run that will be L shaped.

   I want to go for a cottage look. This is my inspiration so far.

New Babies

Tractor Supply is an evil place. They have baby chicks and duclings in the Spring and get new shipments every Wednesday. This was their latest shipment and what I came home with!! 2 Turken, 2 Frizzle, 1 Silver Campine, 2 Im not sure of.

King. Hes a Turken/Naked Neck

Penguin. Not sure, maybe Cochin

Silver. Silver Campine

No name yet but he/she is very calm and sweet. Maybe an Old English Game or Cochin

Frizzle 1 (there are 2) and King

Silver, Frizzle, Turken and Penguin

Chick Update

Tetra Tint

Prince Hans

Tetra Tint

Grazing while I clean the brooder

added a window for more air circulation and so the kiddos can see better

Tetra Tint

One of the two Buckeye

Tetra Tint

Prince Hans grazing in a earth box in the brooder

Prince Hans. Im more than certain he is a rooster!

Beast. Easter Egger

Delaware. My little baby

Ducklings

Ducklings grow soooo fast, they are messy, stinky and noisy!! But we love them and cant wait to hatch our own someday =) I would guess they are about 4 weeks old now.  One is a definite male and one is a definite female. The males hiss and females quack.  They are Pekin ducks.

Update One

Wow, I feel terrible not keeping up with the chicken posts but boy between them, my kids and normal everyday chores my life has been BUSY!

   I had 20 off my incubator eggs hatch, some hatched and passed away in the incubator and then i had some last a few days and pass away. I ended up with only 10 living hatched chicks. I was unaware of giving them vitamins in their water until it was too late. I'm not sure if that would have helped them any ways or if they were just weak to begin with.. I have 5 Easter Eggers, 1 Delaware, 1 New Hampshire Red, 2 Buckeye, 1 Black Star.

   The day after the chicks hatched we discovered the addiction of chickens! We went to Tractor Supply to get some supplies, we ended up leaving with 6 more chicks and 4 ducklings!!  I believe the 3 red pullets are Golden Comets and the 3 white pullets are Tetra Tints. That puts my count up to 16 chicks and 4 ducklings! It's been amazing watching them grow from little fluffy things to feathering birds with attitude.

   This last Wednesday JR and I made a trip to Tractor Supply to get some pine shavings. They had just received a new load of chicks and boy were they cute! I fell in love with the Special breed that had gotten in, Silver Campine, I also saw some Turkens, I resisted the urge to buy anymore and left the store... Of course on the way home I kept thinking about the chicks I saw. PJ and the girls were napping while I cleaned out the ducks pool.  When I was done I decided to go back to TSC and get some chicks! I ended up leaving with 2 Turkens, 2 frizzles, 1 Silver Campine, and 2 I'm not sure of maybe a Cochin.

 

Prince Hans, the first chick

She LOVES the birds!

Prince Hans