The Refiner's Fire

These girls just can't get enough of the chickens. In fact, I'm starting to feel sorry for the poor birds.  At first, Gabriela was the only one who would handle them and that wasn't so bad, but now the other two have gotten the nerve and are genuine chicken chasers. We got two other little chickens that weren't in any of the previous pictures, but one is distinctly smaller than the rest and bless his heart, spends most of her time being toted around like a baby doll.

Gabriela's new name is the "chicken whisperer," because she can catch them better than anyone else we know and she has a way of getting them to fall asleep in her lap.  This is her with her chicken we've named Sassy. This bird is FAST!!! It takes us twenty minutes just to catch her and she's always the last to go in to the box at night. Miguel did a full blown dive into the grass trying to catch her last night. I resorted to trying to throw a coat on her, with no luck. Miguel finally caught her with his lightning fast moves. Her name is very fitting.

My mom used to tell me that when she was little she had chickens and that she used to teach school to the chickens. I always wondered how she did that, but now I'm getting a clearer picture. My girls tote these birds around like babies. The other day I went out and they had them wrapped up in blankets in the yards and they birds would actually stay put and even go to sleep. That's one thing I've learned in this process. Chickens can go to sleep at the drop of a hat. They love the fact that we've been letting them run around the yard when we're outside.

Miguel and I have been busy building a nice coop for these little birds. We can't wait to get them out of the garage. I'm sure they will be just as happy as we will be to get out of the blue box too.

Here's my handy man using his engineering skills.

And one last chicken picture for good measure.