~~popcorn chicken anyone?~~

i am seriously not offended if anyone thinks these are the ugliest critters God made! this year there are about 225 chicks in a brooder room approximately 20' x 20'. it's dusty, stinky, and noisy. 25 of these babies are layers and the rest...mmmmmmeat birds! anyone who has had homegrown, mostly organic chicken knows there can't be enough "m's" in Mmmm!

our first year dealing with chicks, we were proudly showing them off to some friends and the daughter asked if they had names. imagine naming 50 little balls of fur. very cute. i decided from that point on, any chicks we raised were going to be named 'popcorn.' why? well, most popcorn kernels are yellow and then suddenly they are much bigger and white! that's exactly what seems to happen with chicks, especially the cornish giants. they're little then big, with nothing in between.

the dark ones you see here are the laying chicks. they're the quickest little things you ever saw! they shoot here and there between the other chicks' feet.

more 'popcorn' on the floor.

chores is such a great way for kids to grow up. T3 loves to fill the feed buckets, missT and T2 have helped with carrying shavings to the brooder room...