Chickens!!!!!

So... Gus has been pestering me to get chickens for well over a year now. Pretty much since we moved here. I have said NO repeatedly. We already have a parrot that I am not a huge fan of (she bites). And Gus doesn't clean her cage very often. I just knew I was going to get stuck taking care of the darn chickens, despite Gus' many promises to the contrary. Because I am home during the day, and he's not. It's just how it works. And I didn't want MORE things to take care of! Plus, chickens scare me. I've been bitten by the parrot enough times to be leery of anything with a beak!

Then we went to Greece. Papou gave the kids the grand tour of his childhood home, and started talking about how they had chickens. Gus said that he wanted chickens, but I wouldn't let him. And pretty soon I was outnumbered by adults telling me how great/easy/wonderful chickens are, how we need fresh eggs, etc. And the kids wanted chickens. And... I caved.

Anyway, we have chickens now. Gus did tons of research while we were on vacation, and ordered things (like the coop) so they'd arrive right when we got back. He spent a lot of time this past weekend getting the coop all ready, and picked up the chickens (four of them) yesterday. They are young, but still old enough to go straight out into the coop. Which is a good thing, because I don't want them in my bathtub! Here are the ladies, moments after they were put into their new home for the first time:

And the proud papa. hehe! Really, he was SO HAPPY! Farmer Gus!

This morning, the kids wanted to hold them. So I overcame my fears and grabbed some chickens. They were a little skittish, but didn't peck or anything! This first one is the most outgoing of the group, by far. She's an 8-week-old Buff Orpington chicken, and Maya has named her "Hanky."

This next one is the most shy of the group... I haven't been able to hold her, because she doesn't want to come out of the run at all. But I have named her Princess Leia (think about it... it's sort of funny!). She's an Easter Egg chicken, which means she might lay some interesting eggs (blue? green? we won't know for a while!). She's six weeks old.

Next up is our other six-week-old Easter Egg chicken, who has been named Extra Crispy by Gus. I call her Crispy. She seems pretty social, but she is also FAST. I did lots of laps around the outside of the coop to finally pick her up! The kids were laughing at me...

Last but not least, our black Australorp chicken. She's eight weeks old, and Niko has named her Nugget. He also says that's she is a boy. Poor Nugget!

And so we begin our farming career... haha! Lord help us...