Was recently convinced it would be a good idea to build a chicken coup and get some chickens.  “Oh, the fresh eggs are wonderful and the kids will love it” I was told.  Okay, fresh eggs sound good. So using mainly scraps stored around the property I constructed a first class coup.  (Coup before chicken). Then loaded up the little turkeys and took them down to the Western Ranchman Store in the 032 and picked out 3 chicks. We now have Chirpy-Burpee, Luna and Hawk residing in the back yard.

Will say, thus far the experience has been enjoyable and… really fun for the kids. For the most part the chickens are pretty funny.  They almost never leave each others side, always walking in some sort of circle because three chickens walking in a straight line is seemingly impossible.  Then the other night the chicks started chirping like crazy; thought something was eating their heads.  I go out to see what the commotion is about and there’s an owl just sitting in a tree about 50 yards away watching them.  Was a bit surprised the chickens were even aware of the owl, but they were.  So for now, until they get a little bigger, we are bringing them in for the evening. We now have chickens residing in the house.  Where are my eggs?

Want to talk a little more about the Western Ranchmans Store where we bought the chicks.  Maybe driven by this place a couple hundred times.  It sits just south of Bell on 32nd St; has the horse out front painted with the Arizona flag.  It’s interesting because they have been there since 1966, (had no idea?) and has been family owned the whole time. The property consists of at least an acre, it’s huge.  Behind the store they have every type of feed, including dog food, a person would want.  And is’t neat because they have little building facades in front of the feed barns, so its like a little western town.

The store itself is really cool too.  All the practical items like tools, saddles, hats, as well some vintage cowboy suff, ie spurs and buckles and bracelets.  It’s the kind of store you’d want to stop and checkout even if it didn’t seem like it was for you. Attached link below.  They have a really good website and have more info about their history.  Check it out!

http://thewesternranchmanstore.com/

Have an anecdote about the amount of horse property that still exists in North Phoenix and Cave Creek but I’ll save it for next time.  My last thought is about this dry spell we are in  right now.  Most of us in the North Valley haven’t had rain since the end of the monsoon in August. I’m not complaining, like that sun shining everyday.  But air quality really becomes a problem and a good rain would help freshen it up, at least temporarily. That said, we are at .35 less of inch from the annual average ytd.  That’s pretty close to normal. Guess it was all that rain last spring.

Season:1	6.47 in
YTD Avg:11	6.82 in
YTD Diff from Avg:11	0.35 in

http://tiggrweather.net/