Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Reflections of (St)Eve

You may have been following our Facebook journey into a photographic year in the life of a chicken.  We have been taking (St)Eve's picture since February 15, that's 320 days of pictures.  every.day...every.SINGLE.day!

Whew! It has been quite a year!  When I first agreed to take on the project The Chicken Chick originally started, I was really, REALLY nervous.  What if something happened to him?  What if I couldn't get a picture every day?  What if I took all these pictures and no one even saw them?  and a million other 'What if's' went through my mind.

Over the last 10+ months (St)Eve and I have had quite the adventure.  Much more than I could have ever imagined.  We do have a plethora of animals here, including over 75 chickens and between 80-100 peacocks (and peahens).  Normally I would not spend this much time daily with one bird, well unless it was my Bronze Boy. <3


I digress...back to (St)Eve...

When the journey to us started midday on February 14, I was a nervous wreck!  I can only imagine how ridiculous my text messages to (St)Eve's transport (Tiffany) must have sounded.  Even though I had recently started back to work full time and the littlest Louden was only 7 weeks old, I spent that evening pacing the floors instead of catching up on some much needed rest.  I was mixed with excitement and nervousness at his arrival.  After stopping to rest, they arrived at our meeting point in the afternoon with just enough time for me to be back to greet the oldest two Louden's off the school bus for the day.

The kids were all a huge help preparing for both (St)Eve and Max's arrival.  We kept both boys quarantined before integrating into our birds and we had decided (St)Eve would stay inside for the time being (more to ease my mind than anything).

(St)Eve made himself right at home. ;)

Hugs from Anderson!
Checking out a newly hatched half sibling.



Enjoying a view of the farm from the back deck.
Watching TV with Jackson and daddy Max.

Conquering the land of the dinosaurs.

Doing a Mexican Hat Dance.

Playing piano for us.


As the weeks progressed on March started, (St)Eve grew and we introduced him to some friends from our flock (he still hangs with some of them today).  He made his move to the outside in early March.  I would try to spend time following (St)Eve and his crew around just to see what he was up to, he never disappointed me.

Riding Jackson's skateboard.

Making himself right at home in the 'climbing tree'.


Being a protective big brother to yet more chicks.

At the end of March we reached a bit of a dilemma, we were committed to attend an exotic auction for our peafowl for three days.  What to do with (St)Eve?!  He came with of course!
Enjoying his trip to a hotel with a breakfast buffet served in the bathroom. 


In April (St)Eve really started to grow and take on much of the personality we see in him now.  He also found a mate in one of our Black Ameraucana hens, eventually named Eve.

Posing with my wooden rooster to show how big he's getting!

Scratching around for tasty treats.
With his best gal Eve, strolling into the woods.

These two quickly became inseparable.
May started off with (St)Eve almost not making it any further!  I found him tangled up in a roll of wire and nearly lost it trying to remove him safely.  Luckily DH came to the rescue (literally) and helped save his life!  After our little wire scare, we coasted safely through the month without incident. 
(St)Eve with the wire that almost took his life. 

Watching for the school bus in the front flower bed.
Trying to blend in with the orange azalea.


Spending the afternoon with his gal Eve. 




In June we celebrated with (St)Eve when Eve laid her first eggs.  We also all enjoyed the return of warmth and sunshine.


He's so proud you'd think he laid it himself.

Practicing to be a garden statue. ;)
(St)Eve loved to give us action shots.  

Overlooking his domain.

Look at that sweet face.

As (St)Eve grew and July rolled around he found himself the center of attention for several ladies!  He also figured out how to open our sliding glass door and would often wake us up with a crow in the morning.

Another one of (St)Eve's gal's, we call her Blue Hen.

Practicing his best karate kid pose.  

Leaving after his early morning wake up calls. 

Bringing all the lay-deez in for treats!


We were met with another dilemma in August, we planned a 10 day trip to Disney World for the kids.  Unfortunately, we didn't feel this was a trip (St)Eve was up to making so we had our farm sitter text us his daily pictures so we wouldn't miss a day on our journey.  Turned out, he didn't miss us AT ALL and spent most of his days planning a big party--good thing we made it home in time to stop that! ;)
(St)Eve borrowed Sydney's scooter to pick up his Lay-Deez
And Jackson's drum set to play them some tunes!


He was happy to see us but not happy we crashed his plans for a big party!

Some of our friends, Shelly and Harry Wade, made the trip out to meet (St)Eve and take a picture too.  


Before we knew it, it was time for school to start again, Sydney gave (St)Eve BIG hugs before heading out for the first day.
In September, with school and fall soccer in full swing, we were super busy!  We were able to capture some fun pictures this month though.
Remembering his days as a house chicken.

Did you ever have an itch...

Soccer star!

(St)Eve in the moonlight.
October is an even busier month than most, with three Louden birthdays (Jackson, Anderson and Mr. Louden).  (St)Eve was happy to pose with all to help celebrate their day.  October also brought crazy weather at the end of the month, postponing Halloween until the first part of November.  We couldn't let the month pass without showing off baby Savannah's costume to (St)Eve though, he wasn't impressed.
Happy 7th Birthday Jackson

Happy 5th Birthday Anderson

(St)Eve wasn't as amused with Savannah's peacock costume as we all were. ;)

(St)Eve's classic flamingo pose. 
November brought another journey for (St)Eve, this time down to Columbus, Ohio for the Ohio National Poultry Show.  No, he wasn't competing there but his lady bantam Russian Orloff was and he wanted to offer his support. <3 It must have worked as she took Best of Breed (third year running for us at Louden Farms).
(St)Eve with Sydney at his first poultry show, the Ohio National.

Enjoying the last bit of fall with Blue Hen.

NOT enjoying the early hour of it, but enjoying his time with his Russian gal watching the sun set. 

Getting his crow on.  
Crowing at the foggy morning.

Before we knew it, December was upon us.  We tried to capture a little bit of Christmas spirit in a lot of the pictures this month while still letting his personality shine through.

Adding the ultra important Chicken to the nativity scene.

Mesmerized by the lights.

Reluctantly posing with some crocheted trees intended as teacher gifts.

Thankful we didn't wrap him with all the other presents!

Showing us just how far he's come, posing with a newly hatched chick.  

Well, folks that's it.  that's the year.  oh wait!  I have this handy-dandy video I made showing ALL the pictures from the year.  I hope you enjoy it, it's taken us a year to produce! ;)






SO, what will 2013 bring?  Will we continue to take daily pictures?  Will a NEW chick join (St)Eve on his daily journey?  Well, I guess you'll just have to check out our Facebook page to find out! ;)

4 comments:

  1. Wow, what a super busy year (St)Eve has had! :D x

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    1. he really has Rachy! It's been so much fun capturing it all in pictures. :)

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  2. This is so awesome! It's great that you have been able to keep up with a photo a day, even though at times it was challenging! I love how you got creative with the photos. (St)Eve sure is one lucky chicken :)

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    1. Thanks! Yes, I must admit, he is one lucky, lucky rooster. LOL We are pretty lucky too, everyone here just loves him. I may have other roosters but he is by far my most favorite.

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