the little chickies

We have four new additions: Ginger, Rocky, Willamina and Melinda.

Last month I took a "Foundations of Farming" course in Luanshya and thought it might be interesting to experiment a little bit and try out some of the things I learned at the course, including making a hot compost to replace fertilizer use, small scale farming, vermaculture, and raising chickens. I thought it would be a great way to teach the kids about farming and show them that farming does not have to be boring while teaching them useful skills for the future. (Family, please stop laughing - I appreciate the irony).

So a little chicken pen was built, and Saturday night the chickens arrived. They spent the first night in my house as I did not want to introduce them to their new home in the dark. The night was uneventful, but in the morning Willamina escaped and pooped all over the place, ran outside then back inside and hid under my bed until one of the Aunties helped me catch her. Sunday morning I put the chickens into their new home and walked back to my house to get them food and when I returned all four had escaped so a few of the boys had to help me chase them back into the pen.

The kids helped me put rocks under the fence in all of the places where the chickens might be able to squeeze under, but still the chickens escape. Melinda is the worst. She climbs up the fence and then sits on top of the fence and walks back and forth, much to the amusement of the kids watching and then flies down - sometimes back in the pen, and sometimes outside of it.

Ginger

She is the quiet one and is BFFs with Willamina.

Melinda

She is a thrill and attention seeker who thinks
the grass is greener on the other side.

Willamina

She is the big, bossy one who will pick a fight
with the others if they get in her way.

Rocky

Last, but certainly not least, he is the smallest,
but one day he will rule this roost, our very own little rooster.