Full-time walker now…and she can hold her sippy cup at the same time!

Some children get candy for Easter.  Or a stuffed animal.  Usually it’s something pretty small.

My MM?

She’s getting a chicken coop custom built and ten exotic chickens to match from her Mimi and Pops.  {What she doesn’t know yet is that her mother is so over-the-top excited about all this it’s ridiculous}

Since before MM was born my parents said they were going to love having her on the farm to visit them and joked they were going to get her a petting zoo.  She already has a dozen goats and now she’s getting chickens.  And if you promise you won’t tell her what C. and I are getting her for her second birthday I’ll tell you…a miniature donkey.  So, yep, a little petting zoo in the making for sure.

I digress.

The chicken house is a custom one like this precious one here.  Oh, be still my beating heart–so fabulous!  When she gets older she can just go and lift up the roof to each nest and get her eggs so she won’t have to go inside (because chickens when they’re roosting are kind of scary, I’m not going to lie).  And speaking of getting the eggs, we’re going to sell them for her and all the money she makes will go into her savings account–isn’t that a great idea my parents thought of?

When I was in high school my grandmother built be a chicken coop and I had about two dozen exotic, purebred chickens (I bet you didn’t even know there was such a thing!).  I loved those birds and was so sad to see it go about ten years later.  It makes me thrilled that MM will get to experience the same thing.  Raising farm animals takes a lot of work and dedication and helps children to mature–at least I think so anyway.

As far as which breeds I’m going to stick to exotic breeds for her as well because honestly, they’re just fun!  Who doesn’t like a chicken with a crazy mane, like this beautiful White-Crested Polish Chicken?

Or a chicken with feathery shanks {shanks are the legs of a chicken} like these Cochins, Silkies, and Brahmas?

And even though this Araucana chicken below isn’t much to look at, just guess what the colors of its eggs are??  BLUE AND GREEN.  Yes, yes, she must have this fantastic chicken known as an “Easter Egger”.

We’ve decided to start off with ten pullets.  Pullets are young hens that haven’t started laying yet so that hopefully they’ll get used to people as they grow up and won’t be shy or peck at your hands when you go to take the eggs.  We’re not doing roosters for the simple fact that they can get too much of an attitude and flog you…which is no fun for anyone, and certainly not a child!

So, there you have it–the latest installment of “How Much More Spoiled Can Mary Margaret Get?”