Chickens for bug control and food recycling.

[Beekissed]

I agree...I didn't know just how important grandparents were to a child until I had my own and saw how much they needed their grandparents, then I remembered the many incredible memories of my own grandparents that formed who I was in this life.

Now I just want to be a part of forming who she is too and I think kids need that older, more patient perspective in their lives that parents are often to busy to give.

Grands are more apt to establish routines and kids crave those, it gives them a feeling of security when things happen the same time and way each day at certain times of the day~morning and evening routines are especially important. How a kid wakes up and how they go to bed each night can really make a huge difference in how each day goes for them.

Grands also have more life experience, so handle things a little differently, are more apt to teach as they have more time to do so and also tend to see the childhood mishaps like poopy pants as something funny and charming, even nostalgic, whereas many parents see it merely as an annoyance and something else to deal with.

I've found I absolutely LOVE being a grandma...I guess I never really thought about this time in my life in past years, as I was always too busy just working and raising my own three boys, as a single parent. I wasn't giving much thought to being a grandma back then. I guess I couldn't imagine it, but this is just great! That little girl and her little sister are turning out to be the funnest part about growing old.

 

[Nyboy]

 

[ducks4you]

Killed three more of the birds in that gift flock and all have shown healthy carcasses and viscera, so I'm hoping that sick bird was just a one off.

Aliza(2 yr old grandgirl)helped me and we had a good chatter about it all...she's fascinated by everything Gran does and this is no different. The running commentary from Aliza was hilarious!

We made homemade bread and banana nut bread the night before and she loved helping with that(we have matching aprons!)and she loved helping me kill chickens too. That girl is like medicine to the soul, she's so funny and sweet!

Seems like every summer I have one rooster kick the dust. Everybody else is healthy. It's a little bit brutal with outside weather, that we don't have to pay attention to bc we go inside to the air when it's miserably hot, and inside with our heaters when it's miserably cold and we try to provide shelter that keeps them dry and as comfortable as possible. IMHO, we have created breeds that can handle extremely cold temperatures for our winters and they may have lost some of the ability to handle the heat that their south Asian ancestors were used to.

 

[Beekissed]

That's why I love these WRs of mine...they seem to tolerate the cold and heat equally well. I've never had a single one expire from either reason. Their feather quality is so incredibly wonderful that they seem insulated from both the heat and the cold by it. Oh, they will pant from the heat, much like any other chicken but they find ways to stay cool in the woods and the grasses and will still free range all over the place on the hottest and humid of days.

 

[baymule]

Bee, I'm right there with ya' on the grandbabies. We have so much fun with ours. The things you teach them will be with them forever. Much of my woods lore comes from my grandfather. I still remember pelting him with questions and his patiently answering me. so yes, the time spent with your grand daughters is time well spent. Some day, it may be after you are gone from this earth, they will remember what Grandma taught them and they will use that knowledge.

 

[ducks4you]

Don't know what birds "WR's" are.

 

[Beekissed]

White Rocks...aka Plymouth White Rocks, chicken royalty and my breed of choice!

 

[PennyJo]

I have the barred rocks that are my favorite not much makes them skip
a day are the white a bird cousin

 

[PennyJo]

New tarp on the coop boy do my chickens do the happy dance having
a dry coop and two inches of shavings again..
not sure how to post a photo now

 

[Smart Red]

Maverick and I spent much of Sunday morning adding wall coverings to the insulation and plastic inside the coop. I worked most of the afternoon on it as well. Not nearly as much fun alone -- and the exercise I got -- it is a long trek from the coop to the work shop for this old lady and I made a plethera of trips back and forth.