Introducing the Princesses

Today we ventured into a new realm of dreams becoming reality here at Redwoodshire- we brought 6 little chicklettes home to Redwoodshire.  The little lady and lord and I drove about 40 minutes away to a local seller located in Alba, NY.  Early on we had intentions of visiting the local hatchery about a hour away, but by the time you pay the different fees, it ends up being costly.  So we set to checking craigslist ads.  There was a seller who happened to have 2 breeds we were interested in, for a reasonable price- and there were no random fees for only buying a few or for mixing the breeds.

The laird is very interested in raising Plymouth Barred Rock and Rhode Island Reds.  He loves how beautiful the Barred Rocks are, and both are good brown layers.  His father is very interested in our chicken plans as he went to Cornell College many years ago and studied Poultry Science.  The Laird remembers having chickens as a kid, and even helped his father to build their chicken shed during his high school years.  I, on the other hand grew up in Suburbia of Southern California- Orange County.  I didn't even know rural lands existed, where people actually had space enough between them and their neighbors to let chickens and children run free to play and roam.  I vaguely remember a trip in the car, on our way to go camping in the desert, where we passed through tiny towns where people lived like this.  I do remember wondering to myself what it would be to live in a place like that- it felt more like a story than reality.  Though not at the time, that story grew to feel so dreamy and desirable.  And now I am living a life I would never imagined at that time, I would be living.  And it's so incredibly exciting.  

In preparation for actualizing the chicken dream, I studied up and read quite a few chicken raising books from the local libraries this past winter.  I loved the "Illustrated Guide to Chickens", which had water colored pictures of many different breeds, with their eggs and chicks.  The Laird definitely wanted brown eggs.  I was intrigued by the blue and green eggs.  There are so many varieties of chickens- I really had no idea.  And they can be so beautiful.  I am excited to raise chickens, because anyone who raises chickens that I have talked to, absolutely loves it- and has enjoyed most breeds they have raised.  I am interested in getting some Cream Legbars as they lay beautiful blue eggs, and almost had a chance to get some chicks last weekend.  I missed the opportunity this year, but will try again in the future when we are in need of new chicks. 

Well enough chatty-chat about background info, a onto the good stuff.

May I proudly introduce you to the newest Princesses here at Redwoodshire!

Ariel/ Aurora (golden in center), Snow White & Merida (black in upper right), Cinderella/ Belle (left)

Cinderella & Belle (Amerucana/ Easter Eggers- will lay green, blue, or pink tinted eggs)

Ariel & Aurora (Golden Comet- cross between Rhode Island Red & Rhode Island White)

Snow White & Merida (Plymouth Barred Rock)

We will be adding a couple Copper Maran chicks to the flock in the next couple weeks.

The princesses hatched on April 24th, and moved to Redwoodshire today.  They are all doing great in their new little transition home in our dining room.  The constant hum of chirping is louder than we imagined.  They are princesses after all, so they are developing their singing voices- just like all of their name sakes.  

So many varieties of chicks to choose from!  It was hard to not want to get a couple of every variety out there.  But alas, we can only handle so many eggs, and for that reason we built a coop to house 16 maximum.  Plus, chickens have to be fed, and we don't want them to eat us into poverty.

Mickey Mouse checking on his Princesses

The lady we got these chickies from said there is a 80% rate of them being female-which essentially means out of these 6 chicks, one will actually end up being a prince.  Let's hope we have more ladies than lads!  We're doing all this for eggs and cockerels don't live up to that intention.