What we husbands will do....

For all you married men, you know what I'm (BJ) talking about. Now imagine you live on an Urban Farm and there is always another project to do. Jeremy and I thought we were being great husbands this Friday afternoon by taking care of some projects around the farm.

For the last month we had a rooster our friends gave us when they found out he wasn't planning on laying eggs and started crowing instead. We affectionately named him "DoodleDoo", he was a great rooster until about a week ago when he started crowing too much. Now he is chilling in our fridge and will be dinner tomorrow. Along with all the crowing we also got fertilized eggs which we had a broody hen sit on and hatched out 10 chicks (as Sarah mentioned in her last blog).

They were super adorable for about a week. We put them in a dog crate on top of our dryer in the basement, where their cuteness quickly devolved into a stinky and annoying mess. So Jeremy and I constructed a small hen house and a fenced off area in our existing chicken coop to keep them separate from the older hens.

We finished the project this afternoon and were so excited we moved Mama Hen and her chicks into it this evening...Then, the wives got home....

Apparently it's too cold for chicks outside. Which begs the question, "What did hens do before we domesticated them?" Not to mention the fact a cold night in San Diego means it dips a couple degrees below 50'F. I will admit it is raining and chilly tonight, but they have a roof, shelter and nice straw bedding. Plus, Mama Hen is still sitting on them to keep them warm. But the wives were concerned...

Alas, as the good husbands we are, we went outside in the rain with flashlight, tarp and umbrella in hand to tuck them in. If you keep chickens you know how muddy a coop gets when it rains. So as I was stepping over their little fence I slipped. Now when you are carrying a flashlight, tarp and umbrella and slip in mud and chicken sh**t a lot can go wrong. I ended up doing the splits, tearing the fence down and face planting in poopy mud. And all I hear is Jeremy chuckling behind me.

All this to reassure our wives that some chickens, which evolved with all the necessary instincts to stay warm and dry in a rainstorm, would make it through this harsh winters night. Oh, what we husbands will do.