Chickens!

*Warning: this post is chicken-talk heavy.  If you're not interested in chickens, skip it.

Back in March, we decided we wanted to have some chickens.  So we got four cute itty bitty baby chicks, and now we have four beautiful hens.  I'll be honest, I'm still not sure if we'll be keeping them.  Troy doesn't really like them.  But the rest of us love them, and now that they're finally laying eggs, maybe that'll be enough to sway him over to the chicken side.

Now for some pictures.  This first one is Mary and Ruth.  They are definitely best friends, and are nearly always together.  Ruth (the white one) is so funny, and definitely doesn't like to be by herself.  If she does find herself alone, she'll run to the other chickens; usually Mary, and usually Mary's face.

Side note: look how dirty their run looks (and under the coop).  I had it completely clean just this morning.  These girls are messy!

I can't say the chickens love to be held, and Kaitlyn and I have noticed that Ruth is especially hard to hold.  She's a little flighty, and just runs away when you try to pick her up.  Except for Kevin.  He holds her all the time.  Like she's a baby even, and she doesn't seem to mind.

Phoebe is Kaitlyn's favorite.  She seems to be the most gentle one, and the nicest.  She is also one of the two that is laying (I think).  She is also loud.  Kind of a weird combination: gentle and loud. 

Here's Kaitlyn holding Lydia, who is my favorite.  Lydia is the other hen who is laying right now.  I love this picture, by the way!

Here's Mary.  Ruth is not in the picture because Kevin was holding her at the time, but as soon as Kevin put her down, she ran right over to Mary.  I think Mary's molting right there by her tail feathers.

Here's a close-up of Ruth.  I think her colors are so pretty!

And Lydia.  I love her white fluffiness.  I didn't think that I'd like the looks of a nearly plain white chicken, but I really do.  I think she's just as pretty as the rest of them.

I wanted to get a picture of Phoebe alone, but she was sitting under the coop.  She's not as social with the other chickens.  This morning when they were out, she was sitting in a corner of the yard by herself, not moving, for at least five minutes.  I thought for sure she was going to lay an egg right there (she seemed to be assuming the position), but she didn't.