And the Chicken-ing Begins

Saturday morning Jesse went to Rockin' E and purchased 8 baby chicks. When he came back I was wondering why he only got 8, because all this time we had talked about getting 12.

Why 12? Two reasons;
1. My parents wanted fresh eggs as well.
2. As chicks you cant tell if they are a rooster or a hen. So we thought we'd start a little high and go from there. Hopefully we don't have too many roosters.

So on my lunch break I drove down to Rockin E and picked up 3 more chicks. You're probably thinking 8 and 3 doesn't add up to be 12. Well A lady I work with has a daughter who was asked to Prom and she answered him back by giving him a baby chick saying "This chick would love to go to the dance."

They have had the chick for the past week and didn't know what to do with it. Until they found out that Jesse and I were getting our own chicks. So we adopted the little yellow one.

For the first month they have to remain inside under a heat lamp 24/7. So for right now we have them in the spare bathroom tub.

 hehe Aren't they so cute? We are in the process of naming them.

 This is all the boys have been doing lately. Just watching...

 ...and holding...

 ...and touching.

After work on Friday I came home to a little surprise. Jesse had brought home a full grown hen. A little confused I asked why? He went on to tell me that the guy living at the house him and Todd are working on has a bunch of chickens. So Jesse thought he'd  mention to him that we were going to get chickens. The guy was excited and said 'Hey I have a chicken you can have.' Jesse said 'Thanks but we are planning on buying chicks tomorrow.'
But the guy said 'I'm just going to kill her, you might as well take her.'
Feeling like he had this bird's life in his hands, Jesse took the chicken.

So with one saved hen, an adopted chick and 11 purchased chicks we are set with 13 chickens. 48 hours into and so far so good.

We have talked to several people who have chickens and they have all given us great tips from their experience. But to be safe I bought "Raising Chickens for Dummies." We are certainly rookies that need all the help we can get. So far most everything I have read I have heard from one source or another. I have also learned alot about raising the chicks. It's nice to have something to refer to.

Jesse has been buiding the chicken coup (I will post pictures of that when it is done). He also has been putting up the fence. Our yard has been 3/4 of the way fenced ever since we moved. With the chickens we  figured it would be better to fence off the rest of the yard along the front of the house, which we have wanted to do for a really long time. We always talked about how nice it would be to have the yard entirely enclosed so we wouldn't worry about the boys running into the street. And so now we laugh about the fact that it took getting chickens to enclose the yard. Heaven forbid we get a fence for our children. haha

This is going to be a fun little adventure, so I'm sure there will be plenty more posts about it. So until then.
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This is a side note from the chickens, but most definitely blog worthy.

Cy is a week and a half shy of being 14 months old....and he hasn't shown any desire to walk. Because he doesn't really care for the grass all that much he has been crawling around in the backyard like a little bear cub. Crawling on his hands and feet. It's kind of funny to watch.

So Friday evening we were all hanging out in the backyard. Jesse was actually talking on the phone with a friend from Fire Academy and I was on the phone with my sister, Manda while the boys were playing around. To our surprise Cy went from his little bear crawl....

 ...to full on STANDING UP!!!!

 He was just thrilled about it. Since that night he has done it several more times. But he'll only do it when he is outside on the grass.

 A little update about Jesse:

Wednesday Jesse met with one of his instructors from Fire Academy. He took notes and learned lots of great tips from his instructor on what the fire department would be looking for. That night I practiced with Jesse for two hours by asking him some of the most common questions.

Thursday morning he interviewed. Afterwards he called to talk to me about it. The questions he had been asked were nothing he'd felt prepared for. He was thrown for a loop and was feeling a little discouraged.

During the interview they mentioned that they were going to higher ONE person. ONE!!! Jesse of course felt discouraged about this. But I had to remind him that out of the 250 people who took the civil service test he was among the 10 people who were selected to interview. That gave him a little more hope.

Jesse was told he'd get an email at the beginning of the week if he got the job or not. It's been a long weekend for him waiting and wondering. He might find out today. Or he might find out tomorrow. Who knows? I'm super anxious to know so I can't imagine how he is feeling.

I'll let you know.