Spring Chickens!!

What could be a surer sign of spring than 47 adorable chicks showing up at your Lucky Cluck Farms? Lots of things. Even so it felt like spring as these symbols of fuzzy rebirth bounced around the basement.This year's assortment featured lots of banties, including 8 color forms of Old English....alas these are all destined for Muddy Paw Farms. We are just chick-sitting briefly. A total of three out of 47 will stay at Lucky Cluck. Here is an Old-English Bantie attempting to fend of a Golden Campine attempting to sit on her. The favorites for Dawn and Ram were the Blue Ginger Old English, such as this charmer already preening herself to fluffy perfection. As usual the chicks go bonkers for meal worms. Here is a three-way tug-a-war. Poor worm. Now lets look at an assortment of shots of the little cuties: After all this excitement the chicks were falling asleep standing up!

Chicken Party!

Wow, what a party! I've never seen so many folks so excited about celebrating chickens. I love our chicken parties since I can talk about chickens as much as I want and no one rolls their eyes at me and says the obligatory "It all comes back to chickens again doesn't it Dawn." Well yes it does and on these nights...well that's okay if it's all about chickens. Before I go any further a huge THANK YOU is due to the host of the chicken party, Ram. I'm certain that all in attendance at this fine event will agree with me that he outdid himself at this winter chicken party. The decorations, the games, the prizes, the new label and the outfits...all displayed his creativity and love of chickens at there finest. Thank you Ram for making your home the Lucky Cluck clubhouse and for devoting so much time and energy into making the event fabulous. Big thanks are also due to Liz "chicken lady" fox for donating amazing chicken bling and more as prizes and to Alexis for original chicken decorations. I'll let the pictures tell most of the story of the night as it was six hours of jam packed fun. First all enjoyed a potluck dinner followed by the unveiling of the new label (certainly Becca's favorite). Then a primary was held to select the candidates for President of Lucky Cluck Farm. The two parties were Republican and Green. The Republican candidates discussed their ideas for turning Lucky Cluck into a factory farm and culling all hens that aren't high egg producers while the Green candidates spoke of maintaining the essence of what makes Lucky Cluck the best chicken co-op in Lincoln County...green pastures where the hens can run free all day, Tillamook Cheese as a mid-day snack for all hens, plenty of space to run and scratch and stretch, a diversity of breeds and a place for hens to finish out their days even when they don't lay the year round. The race was tough with Ram and Doug vying for the Republican nod and Dawn and Eli for Green. After the votes were tallied Doug came out as the Republican candidate of choice with his platform of crap and Dawn and Eli teamed up to run as President and Vice President respectively for the Green Party. Certainly one of the highlights of the night was the new Lucky Cluck video produced by Def Tech (aka Khem...owner of Pollita). You absolutely must check out this video with original music by The Bills (we can't get enough of this song at Lucky Cluck) on You Tube www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu1J49o5hYo. Khem, you truly did a kick ass job on this. Everyone put on their hen hats for an intense and competive game of Chicken Jeopardy designed and hosted by Ram. Three teams were challenged by some tough questions with the winners being the Scrambled Eggs. Personally, I can hardly wait for the next party.

What is the best part of being in school again?

Procrastination is my resounding answer. Check out this chicken word game, curiously called Chicktionary though more closely allied with Scrabble. I spent a full 27 minutes by clicking on the chicken's bellies to make them lay an egg and spelling out words in the process! And then I spent another 48 minutes trying to access my password for this blog and creating this post. Satisfying on so many levels. See how long you can put off your urgent tasks! http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=val_Chicktionary_offnet (This is not actually a functioning link, cut and paste baby!)

New Helper

Srivas, nephew of Lucky Clucker R"G"P, met the chickens today and quickly took a liking to them. The 2 year old feed our hens large amounts of corn and other treats. He showed initial caution in petting the chickens, since some of the hens are his size. Srivas also helped collect eggs from the coop. As a precaution, he was only allowed to collect fake eggs made of stone.

Becca and her Baby

With her chicken essay titled "Why I love chicken butts" Becca easily slid into place as the newest member of Lucky Cluck Farm. Writing a compelling and thoughtful essay was the easy part but picking a chicken from the flock of little girls awaiting adoption was a bit harder, or so I thought. One look at the silkie's butt and Becca was hooked. The two spent some quality time together and then had a mini photo shoot on a lovely spring day. But the photo shoot was not complete until the chair of the Lucky Cluck welcoming committee and its nosiest chicken, Beatriz, came by to say hello. Welcome to Lucky Cluck Becca!

Big Winner!

The big winner of our second Lucky Cluck Farms essay contest is Becca Schiewe, of the Oregon Schiewes. She is shown here in the center, sharing a rooster with her friends. Even though this year's contest featured a wonderful array of creative, engaging essays, Becca's sincere, direct and heart-felt expression of chicken love shined through as the favorite. The winner, of course, becomes a member and gets a chicken of her very own.

Up and Coming

I have to agree, the Silkie is one fine little chick - good luck saying no to that one, Becca (by the way, congratulations on getting in!) Her cotton-puff tail is irresistable. Of course, her flockmates have their share of attitude and looks. But, no matter the charms of the younglings, the old birds can't be outdone.

Silkie!

The Blue Silkie chick is shaping up to be quite a charmer! Timid at first, she is emerging as a leader of the group of smaller chicks. Silkies as adults are known to be very tame and friendly. Remember "Florida Lady" in "The Natural History of Chickens." What was her chicken's name? Snowball? Anyway, that shows how silkies can be the definition of a lap chicken. Silkies are unusual in several other ways. They have fluffy, hair-like plumage and as adults develop a stunning turquoise lobe. The five-toed, feather-footed, crested breed was well-developed in China by the time of Marco Polo's exploration of that exotic land. Silkies are also known as one of the broodiest breeds. This combination of unique characteristics has made Silkies very popular. They are so popular that we at Lucky Cluck didn't want to order one! But now we are happy to have her in the flock.

Down to One

Sadly, one of Penny's chicks has vanished. The remaining chick is doing fine, however, and is starting to get her flight feathers.