February 2014
Cold. Wet. Muddy.
Still settling into a new place.
I con my sweet boyfriend into taking me to the local feed store, only a mere 5 miles away. Little does he know, it's chick season. I know what I am up to. He hasn't the foggiest. He is just happy to go along and check out the store I visited regularly as a child.
Before we walk in, I see the galvanized tubs and heat lamps.
We're in business!
I take a look at the cute baby turkeys and adorable little ducklings, and proceed with caution towards the next set of brooders. I peek inside, and up at me looks a hundred or so little black chicks peeping like mad. I give them all a once over, picking up the ones that caught my eye.
That cold day in February, 6 little Black Sex Link Pullets came to live in my shower. I was not prepared, but I was thrilled!
Like all new, on a whim, chicken owners, I needed more supplies than I managed to get the first day I picked up the chicks. We went back the very next day, and they lady who hatched the first batch of chicks we bought was replenishing the brooder with some new faces. Cute, yellow fluffy faces..
The chicks quickly grew out of their plastic tub, and were soon placed in my shower in a cardboard brooder. I was pretty proud of that thing! I started off with a normal heat lamp and realized it caused my chicks to peck at each other more, and seemed to keep them up at night. Which in turn kept me up at night.. So we switched to a red light. My bathroom quickly became known as the Red Light District, housing 10 of the hottest chicks I've had the pleasure of getting to know! ;)
It wasn't too long before the chicks were causing such a mess with their feathers and such that they needed a nice, new, OUTDOOR place to call home. My awesome boyfriend set out to build me coop!
Months went by, just me and my girls getting to know each other, learning and growing. Figuring out this homestead life. Then one day I heard one of them making an awful noise that sent me running to check on them. I thought she was being attacked or may have been in injured, but nope. One of my girls laid her first egg! OUR FIRST EGG!! I was SO friggin proud :)
Ophelia still lays this gorgeous white specked, light brown egg. It is just a lot larger now! Their eggs don't sit in a normal egg carton. I love my girls! With ten of them, they produce enough eggs to sell some, paying for their feed.
 |
| Last fall. After several months of laying. Big Brown Eggs! |
My first year as a chicken keeper has been crazy! It has had its ups and I would say downs, but I've been pretty lucky so far! Everyone is fat and healthy. We are always working on expanding their run, and they will soon have more yard space than I do! They used to be allowed supervised free range, but sadly the owls, hawks, falcons, and even crows have set up camp, building nests and having babies. Hungry babies that need to be fed.. :(
The 6 chicks I bought on a whim quickly turned to 10, then 15, to 20, to 26! I am officially a crazy chicken lady. And if your haven't heard, chickens are a gateway animal! I now have 2 adorable ducklings, and am drooling over quail and geese..
Do you have any chickens of your own?
No comments:
Post a Comment