Baby Chicks

Our family got a little bigger this spring with the arrival of 8 chicks.  I was less than excited when we got them.  We were crazy busy.  We were starting our day at 5 am and ending around 10 every night.  I think we were eating spaghetti or tacos every night, but I can't even remember because I was so tired all the time.  The last thing I wanted was one more thing on my list.  However, we knew we wanted chicks and opted to buy them when we could rather than waiting another year.  The kids loved them.  I have to admit they were awfully cute.  During this particular picture the girls were enamored even after the chickens pooped three times each on the paper towels in 10 minutes.  Too bad they started growing and jumping out of there stinky box and making a giant mess of the laundry room.  That had to be stopped so all other production stopped while we built a chicken coop.  Since then we have lost 4/8 of the chicks.  A dog got one and the heat got another.  Then the kids started telling us one of the chickens was really mean.  They kept complaining of getting pecked.  Then Kyleigh started telling us she thought we had a rooster.  We kind of blew it off because we had bought the separated chickens and they were all supposed to be hens.  One day I went out to feed the chickens and sure enough, Kyleigh had been right the whole time.  Since roosters are illegal in Boise the rooster met his demise via Rusty and quick ringing.  Then one day we discovered the chickens had started eating their own eggs.  Since their entire purpose is egg production this just wouldn't do.  I read everything I could find and tried every suggestion out there.  We put golf balls and mustard filled eggs in their nesting boxes.  I started giving them a dish of milk every day.  I observed them closely and discovered the one who seemed to be the ringleader and kicked her out of the hen house.  That was it for number four.  They stopped eating their own eggs.  We were getting 2-3 eggs per day until the weather turned colder.  The jury is still out-are they really worth it?