Keepin' an Eye on the Chickens

About a year ago the Snow family gave us 5 young chickens - 4 hens and a rooster. They are the Dominique variety, not the best egg-layers, but they keep us in good breakfasts. We affectionately named the rooster Tyler after the Snow's son, who liked him so much. For a little while we could tell a couple of hens apart and joked about their names -- chicken Salad, chicken Potpie, chicken Kiev, etc.

Last summer, we were given 5 other hens to go with our existing 5. We even hatched out several chicks. Unfortunately, only one made it to adulthood, until about a couple weeks ago when a hawk got her. We've had a hard time keeping our chickens from being gotten by other critters -- coons, hawks, cats.

One of the chicks we hatched out in the incubator (seen in the lower left corner).

Today I sat Avi in her chair near the window so she could watch the chickens as they were venturing across the road into our front yard. The chickens like to scratch around in the mulch of the flower bed. Avi sure enjoyed watching them.