Kid Baltimore | Family Activities with Children in Baltimore, Maryland

What's in the Box?

This was on my doorstep. Perfectly on time. And peeping quietly. 

The website at My Pet Chicken warns you to open boxes like these away from kids. Chicks almost always show up just fine, but just in case I rushed home to meet my box and carefully cut the tape.

There they were. Four perfect little chicks, huddled together, but very much alive.

Does this one look angry?

I put them under a heat lamp, on some nice clean pine shavings and set up their water and food, then went to pick up the kids. I don't think the chicks have had a moments rest since they've been here. I caught a certain someone hiding in the "chicken room" doing homework. And every morning, the kids are ready for school extra early so they have time to visit.

We have 2 Buff Orpingtons...

and 2 White Silkies. Don't they pose nicely for their portraits?

And sometimes, after a hard day, they fall asleep, right in our hands.

 

 

 

Coop Dreams

We're getting closer to chicken day. 2 more weeks. So we've started planning the coop. 

This guy? He's a little too excited and started drafting plans right away, using Legos of course.

I was fairly set on ordering a kit, although nothing seemed quite right. Dave started drawing out some plans, and more plans, and more plans until he had something that started to work. Honestly, it looked a whole lot better than some of the kits, and judging from how the treehouse project turned out, I knew we would have a much better result.

The coop area, will sit off the ground, and give our hens about 16 square feet to nest. The attached run is 48 square feet. We have some foxes, hawks and racoons around, so everything needs to be predator-proof. And as much as I like the idea of letting them wander around free-range all day, I don't think they would last long that way. But I do plan on letting them wander around the yard while we are at home.

Dave started framing it last weekend and of course, his helper is never far from his side. Stay tuned to see how it goes!

Got a Minute for Milkshake?

The Baltimore-based kids' rock band we all know and love, Milkshake, has an exciting new project coming up — a CD of their PBS one minute songs plus 20-30 brand new songs all lasting 2 minutes or less.

To fund the project, they have turned it into a Kickstarter Campaign. If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is a fantastic way for creative people to get funding for their projects. Incentives are offered at different levels to encourage people to back the projects. If the project gets fully backed, the funds are released to the artist and the incentives go out. If not, no money changes hands.

Milkshake is already well on their way to raising the $14,000 needed to produce their album, but the deadline of March 18 is fast approaching! Backers of the project can sign up for a wide range of rewards including classic Milkshake tutu's, a house concert with Lisa and Mikel, or even time in the recording studio as guest producer.