What does having chickens involve?

Well, I can tell ya this...it's not as easy as I thought BUT it is totally enjoyable :) I love them and I spend a lot of time with them.  The biggest thing is to keep their butt clean from concrete poopy! lol  If you don't check their butt daily some of the chicks build up what we call pasty butt and it's HARD!  poor things can't poop if you leave it there and they can die.  So I have a check session every morning and so far I have two chicks who are prone to it.  One will be gone Wed but the other I'm keeping. I will have to tell the lady who is taking the one that this happens and she needs to be watched.  It's pretty easy to get rid of...run their butts under warm water while rubbing on it gently to loosen the stool  and then it's washed away! Takes about 15 min.  I give them a break in between tho it gets to stressful on them.  I have been adding olive oil to their butt area and so far so good!  No more pasty butt yet but I only did it  a few hours ago. We will check tomorrow. 

They are the cutest sweetest things tho!  I don't even mind the work.  I have to clean their water twice a day because the crazy fuzz butts go hog wild and kick dust in the water....then I stir up their bedding every morning and add some fresh pine shavings.  They LOVE that.  They are already starting to take dust baths and it's SO adorable.
I already saved three chicks that would have died had I not done what I done :) one  needed to be forced watered and the other two had pasty butt so bad they could no longer go potty,  that makes me feel pretty happy that I knew enough to help them...thank you BYC! I read a LOT of chicken forum and thank god I did!  :) 

Now as they grow it will get increasingly harder to get rid of pasty butt and there will be other issues I run into but I will adjust to them and I will do what  needs to be done to save them. 

Today I noticed they are establishing their pecking order already.  I can tell which one is boss already.   I hope it's not the male as It's my favorite one and she/he is beautiful!  We are handling them all day (ever few hours) every day so they are getting used to human attention and we had one sitting on the dogs head!  I have to share that picture here in a bit.  I'm holding Max's mouth not because I'm worried he will eat him but to hold his head steady lol.  

Another thing...we threw a worm in there and they had a field day with that!  BIG TIME. Kelly, it SO reminded me of yours with that mouse! lol  I will take a video of it tomorrow when we throw another in there for them.  They were chasing each other and on the run until one of them ate it lol.   TOO CUTE!  I swear everyone NEEDS chickens!  They are so much fun and so calming to watch!  Oh and just to watch them sleep!  It's so cute!  Some stretch out with their legs flat behind them and some lay on their backs.  

Well the chicken coop is getting shingles today...the boys spent the night out there last night and had their tv and computer out there.  They loved it! LOL  We will be ready to pain very soon.  Tomorrow a window goes in.  I have pictures of that too...I will start sharing the pics not and shut up about my babies!  Kelly I can see now why chickens are ADDICTING!  I need another house for NEW chicks! LOL 

All but the right one (she was picking on her x pasty butt) were sleeping face down in the pine shavings.



A red star sitting on my cell phone.



That same red star on Max's head.  I'm holding his head steady so the bird doesn't fall.



Again Sitting on Max.  I LOVE this picture.  Were working on training Max to be gentle and stay calm around the chicks.  Every day we set the chicks on top of him in a different place. 



This is Nala our "boss" chicken.  This is the one I HOPE is not a male. 



This is the one I'm pretty sure is the Red Shoulder Yokohama (below)





The door to our coop.  It works wonderfully!  And there is NO way anything but human can open it.  We will do pretty much the same for the chicken door.  I don't want the smart coons coming in and opening the chicken door while were sleeping!




The boys are camped out inside the chicken coop (Stefan and Trevor) That's an air mattress in the corner there. lol 



The guys were finishing up the roof when it started pouring rain.  They come running for cover!  Trevor lost his shoe on the way.



Check out Stefan's umbrella! 





Wet backs...funny they both are wearing their wrestling shirts lol. They got to different schools. 



Notice hubby is a little more wet and the boys are laughing at him.  Readhis shirt! LOL



That's all the pictures but I do have video which I will post tomorrow.  Hope you all have a great day :)