21 April 2012

i'm grateful for . . . 'new beginnings don't get newer than new chickety chicks'

Greetings all,
I'm the master of surprising my children, whether it's Daddy coming home or a trip to the gelato store, i get them ALL the time.  While our children were away on school camp, i was plotting with my pal Emma & her husband Dan (doesn't everyone know a great couple called Emma & Dan??)  Policeman Dan was experimenting with hatching his own chicks, while engineer Emma is pregnant with her 4th baby, yay.  If they had enough new chicks, i could have a couple.  They were successful.  Today our chickens are 4 days old & ready for collection.  Funniest thing was, my plot of needing a hot water bottle for 'tummy ache' & saying Emma 'wanted to borrow a basket' was so good . . . my children STILL didn't realise we were collecting chickens to take home, until Dan asked which ones we were taking!!  Surprise, mother-of-the-year-moment, my reward is simply seeing the happiness & beaming smiles on their faces. 
EDIT: i had informed the high schooler about the chickens, she's horrified you might think she wasn't clued in enough to guess, my other 3 children still believe anything i say!!
 I'll let the photos speak for themselves, they are Speckled Hamburg Bantams.
 While we are keen on eggs, Hamburgs are not the biggest egg layers.
 Meet Ma & Pa, happiest chickens in the city!!
 On the drive home i explained we'd have a roster (hopefully they are hens not roosters) for handling the chickens, mainly to prevent OVER loving them & 2 chickens between 4 children . . . children were paired up & assigned even or odd hours of the day, Mummy has the final word or you're banned for your next hour.  I tell you, works a treat, i need more aces like this up my sleeve for power parenting.
 Talk about time wasters - watching them sleep standing up . . .
 watching them sleep lying down & tipping over. 
 My husband will love this - sleeping with a cushion (family joke, our German Shepherds have all preferred to sleep with heads on pillows!!)
 Speaking of puppies, he's getting a slow & safe introduction to where that chirping is coming from.
 BEST.
SCHOOL HOLIDAY.
 ACTIVITY.
EVER!!
Of course, in my mums-the-word plotting, i forgot to mention it to my husband.  When he rang it flashed before me, my 3rd girl answered the phone saying "can i tell him Mum, can i??"  He said she sounded SO happy, he was all for it & while we chatted he was researching chicken coops, one has been ordered.  For now, the chicks live indoors, very cosy indeed.  I'm so very grateful for this 'new beginning' with Maxabella Loves, also new to this chicken caper.  Love Posie
PS you might notice my high schooler sporting a sling, well there is a reason why teenagers are not allowed in children's play centres!!  She actually said "after i fell, a huge 2 year old landed on top of me, it hurt so much" & i had to refrain from laughing, she was so pale & honestly thought her wrist was broken (her little brother was at a birthday party there.)  Thank goodness we have a bye this week for volleyball.

26 comments:

Makeminemidcentury said...

I never realised they slept standing up! How funny!

I want some!

Rosie said...

What beautiful little chicks. We have four chickens. and our Toddler loves them two we got as day olds(there were another two but they got a bit too much love from our dogs) and then got another two jut before layer stage.

Our local farmer's market is at a place that has chickens roaming free and our toddler was chasing them last weekend while I shopped, one of the old dears there said, "All boys need chickens to chase" and I think they do.

Mum on the Run said...

How gorgeous.
Absolutely a holiday winner!
Well done. Mum.
:-) xx

Maxabella said...

Such fun, Jen. We adore our 'girls' and know you'll get so much enjoyment out of your pretty little chickens. x

Maxabella said...

PS - love the 'edit'... made me smile. x

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Tee hee, normal chickens sleep lying down, it's just ours who are weird. They lean forward & tip so far over, they startle themselves & wake up, it's hilarious.
Dan is going to create another batch of chickens too, so we'll get more, yay. Ideally i'd say 6 chickens at a time would be handy. We've ordered quite the coop, i can't wait to put it together, love Posie

TexWisGirl said...

how cute is that?! i hope they will enjoy life with you and yours!

Nancy said...

Very cool Jen. My kids were so jealous and as late teenagers I did not think they would think this was great. But I have one begging for another pet... Trying to hold off.

Nancy said...

Very cool Jen. My kids were so jealous and as late teenagers I did not think they would think this was great. But I have one begging for another pet... Trying to hold off.

Hot Fudge said...

Don't you just love them? We have good friends in Brisbane who have a country retreat from where they raise Speckled Hamburgs. They reside in Chicken Coop Hilton and know they are so superior to the rest of the brood around them. You children are going to have so much fun with them.

Unknown said...

They are so gorgeous! I was just wishing I had chickens this morning, if only because we're out of eggs :)

Anonymous said...

So so so cute! And well done on your keeping it as a surprise. I love getting surprises for my kids too but sometimes I nearly burst because I am so excited about their surprise!

Jan Maree said...

How much fun is that! Love the photo of the two chicks wrapped up with the girls. What a life those chicks are going to have. Loved the Edit re oldest not being fooled! Sounds so familiar! Also loved the fact that you hadn't told you know who but not surprised he went along with it. It fits so well with your plans for the farm etc. Enjoy!

seabreezequilts said...

My daughter has been asking for chickens for 18 months now, I bought her a puppy instead. We have problems with rats here as neighbour has birds and fruit trees, so I don't really need to add chickens to the mix, but I would love fresh home grown eggs.

Georgy said...

How gorgeous. My kids would love chickens and I am hoping to get some down the track (my little boy is allergic to eggs at the mo which he might grow out of). My daughter had chicks at school and we always loved watching them. Thanks too for visiting my blog. G

Polly said...

Awww how awesome, I can just imagine how thrilled your children are.

Nat - Muddy Farmwife said...

Baby chickens are so cute. Definitely a good addition to the house. We have 4 chooks, but are planning to add some more and maybe a rooster.
Our latest novelty though are the 2 little pigs that arrived yesterday, working hard on finding names for them.

Bron said...

What a fab surprise for them....pity the chickies grow up so fast they are so darn cute. x

The Provincial Homemaker said...

What a great surprise. Glad all the kids enjoyed it.

Sindy said...

If they are not good layers, what do they do? (apart from being fun to chase of course!). We had silkies when I was growing up, and they were bad tempered pecky things that did not lay, and had horrible grey skin.

trudi@maudeandme said...

We had an unexpected 9 chicks one school holidays. I agree best entertainment ever. They are good looking chooks too.

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Oh when i say they are not big layers, they are not necessarily daily layers & we plan to have 6-8 in the future, so hardly need 3-4 dozen eggs a week. They lay well, just not daily. Love Posie

Rosalind said...

I was just about to say I know an Emma and a Dan!! And what do you know...I read on and it is the same EMMA and DAN!!! ha ha

admin said...

I will have to remember to get some chicks for the next batch of school holdays!! how cool!!

littlekarstar said...

OH they are SO GORGEOUS!! I love speckled hamburgs! So adorable. Congratulations on your new flock!!

xoxo

littlekarstar said...

where did my comment go??

Congrats on your new flock! I love speckled hamburgs they are so pretty. They are adorable.