It was eight Easters ago that our journey as Chicken Parents began. We were celebrating Easter at my dad’s house, and my stepmother had a few baby chicks that had been part of a class project. Our girls were just little tykes then, and they fell in love with these adorable chicks. It just so happened that the chicks needed a home. Kim and I had talked about having chickens but hadn’t taken the plunge yet, and this jump-started it. Over these past 8 years, we’ve grown our flock up to 14 or so, but then time has taken its toll and we’ve slowly lost chickens to where we are now at a flock of 5 old biddies. Between the heat last summer, the hurricanes, and then winter, we went a long period of time without any eggs and were starting to blame the chicken’s age, but as spring came this year, they did start laying again.
Since we are down to 5, we’ve been planning to increase our flock. We were just waiting for the right time, and this spring seemed like it. So now Abby and Maddy are the proud mamas of 10 new baby chicks. They have been diligently feeding them, changing their water (chickens are super messy, constantly filling their water with anything they can peck and scratch at), and playing with them to make them a little more sociable than some of our more persnickety chickens.
We’ve had to convince the girls that they do have other responsibilities to tend to and they can’t stay with the chickens all day long, so Abby came up with an ingenious way to keep an eye on them. She put her phone in the chick enclosure (the girls’ old pack-and-play), video-called her phone from Kim’s phone, and created a temporary Chicken Cam to keep an eye on the new arrivals. It was hilarious watching the little chickens investigate the phone. They would walk up to it, look at the screen, and give it a little peck-peck before walking away. We were able to capture a few screenshots of them checking the phone out. I feel like this is setting some high expectations for these chickens. Next they’ll want Wi-Fi in the coop and video calls whenever we are away. I guess it sort of fits the diva names that they have all been given, like Henson Boone, Gracie Egg-rams, Tate McRegg, and Ariana Grand-egg, just to name a few. Can you tell my girls are in a pop star era?
Technology aside, in six months or so, we are hoping to have some really cool eggs. These chickens are a mix of breeds, but we should have some green, white, brown, mint chip, and olive-colored eggs in this flock. I’m sure we’ll post our rainbow of eggs when we get them!
While we may not have chicken eggs for a few months, one thing we are bursting at the seams with is stuffed Easter Eggs. We’ve got over 6,000 of them, and we can’t wait to see how fast your kids can find them. So join us this Saturday, April 19th, for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. At 10 am Sharp, the Easter Bunny will give the signal to start, and 10 to 15 minutes of absolute chaos will ensue. Be sure to get to the Nursery a little early to find a parking spot and then to stake out your place on the boardwalk. This is one of our favorite annual traditions, and we can’t wait to share it with you.
After an action-packed Saturday, the Easter Bunny and the Kerby’s staff are going to need a break, so we’ll be closed on Sunday to celebrate the Easter holiday with our families. We hope to see you at the Egg Hunt and hope that you have a Happy, Hoppy Easter.
P.S. With all the Easter fun, it’s easy to forget that next Tuesday is Earth Day as well. So while the kids are hunting for eggs, you can check out the lovely trees, pollinator-friendly flowers, and native plants that will help make your gardens beautiful and help Mother Earth.
