Adding chickens to the backyard farm.

I found a website last March which promised to tell me what was in season locally. All sorts of excited, I clicked and entered the month and my zipcode. It laughed at me. I got nothing. So I entered June, and the zip. The best the site could do was potatoes from North Dakota.

So I planted a garden. There would be no North Dakotan potatoes for this girl. (Sorry North Dakota, your potatoes really are lovely. They are just nowhere near Bozeman, Mont.) But given the fancy new garden techniques, my huge list of veggies didn’t take up much space and I had yard to spare. I toyed with the idea of a goat briefly. But that idea didn’t last long and before I knew it, I had worked my way to backyard poultry. After a little research, I was convinced and ordered myself a flock. After months of waiting, (and one backordered, false alarm) last Thursday, at 5:15 am, the call came. My chicks were here.

Chicken Noodle, Chicken Nugget, Chicken Dumpling, Chicken a la Charlie, Buffalo Chicken and Sandra Bullock (names are not an indication of their fate, just a poor attempt at chicken humor) were born Tuesday, July 6^th. The next day they made the journey to their new home in a cardboard box via the United States Postal Service.

It’s been five days since they got here and the dogs haven’t eaten any of them. That’s a success in my book. Come this fall give me a call. I’ll make you an omelet. Until then, Noodle, Nugget, Dumpling, Buffalo, CC and Sandra Bullock will be residing happily in a Rubbermaid tub in the guest room, patiently awaiting the move to their “big girl” coop.