I got my first chickens in April of this year when they were 4 weeks old. I bought 8 of them from a lady that lived an hour away after she had a mix up with the hatchery and her order went through twice, leaving her with 50 chicks. They cost me $55.70. I brought them home in an old fruit box filled with pine shavings. Once home, I lifted each one individually into a large dog crate and as my friend and I watched them, we gave them all a name - neither of us knew how well they would carve a home into our hearts. Since that first day, I have learned so many things, I have laughed at their antics, and I have loved each one for different reasons. Now, I'm here to share all the things I've learned since sharing my home and heart with chickens for the last 5 months.
1) What their intended purpose is loses it's importance as you fall in love.
I got my first 8 pullets for my agriculture final for my freshmen year in high school. I had to purchase and raise an animal and profit from it some how. They would lay eggs for me that I would sell. When I bought them, they were homework. They didn't mean much to me and as much as I love animals, chickens weren't something I thought I could get attached to. Now, if every single one of them stopped laying for some odd reason, I would have no problem with it. I would still feed them, love them, and care for them, expecting nothing in return. Their eggs are a wonderful present that they give to me each day, but they are just that - a present, not an expectation. I have no problem spending all my money and time on them, recieving their eggs is just a nice bonus.
2) Don't buy the small bag of food for small chicks - they eat more than you think.
Before I got my chicks, my dad took me to the store to buy everything they needed. This was my project, so I paid for everything. I figured that they were babies so they wouldn't need the big 50 pound bag. I paid for the 7 pound bag instead...it was only $5. That bag was gone in less than a week. I buy the 50 pound bags now...
3) You'll be surprised at how much room you have in your heart.
Each one of my original 8, my two new chickens, and the neighbor's 2 chickens all have a place in my heart. I would be devastated if I lost any of them. One of my chickens was badly injured by another chicken. I spent hours a day taking care of her. I cleaned her wound 4 times a day, comforted her, and snuggled with her while she healed. When she went into depression because she was away from the other chickens, I spent hours outside supervising her so she could be by them without getting hurt. I protected her. I loved her. I made sure she was as happy as she could be and I even considered rehoming her so she could be around other chickens without fear, but luckily she is now accepted into the flock. I didn't think I had room in my heart for so many animals - I already had 3 cats and a dog and loved so many other animals that had passed away, but I was pleasanly surprised.
4) Build a coop for more chickens than you plan for.
I built my coop for 8 hens. 4 sq. feet per bird because as I said before I never thought I'd enjoy them so much. Eventually, I wanted a rooster to protect them and when I went to pick him up, I fell in love with another pullet and brought her home as well. That made 10 chickens. My neighbor rarely cares for his two hens and they are frequently in our yard and have become part of my flock. I often find them in my coop, eating their food, sleeping on their roosts. That made 12 chickens. They are free ranged daily, but they now only have 2 sq. feet of space in the coop. Would I like a new coop? Yes, big enough for 50 chickens but I just can't afford it at the moment. The first coop cost me $300 of my own money (again, I'm only 15) so until I am able to save up the $1000 I need for a new coop (I'm working on it) they will just have to live in tight quarters.
5) Cancel all your plans for at least the first month of owning chickens.
Chicks need a lot of care. They need food and fresh water at all times - but you must be careful that they don't drown. They need to be kept at a specific temperature, but you must be wary of fire danger. They devlop pasty butt. They can turn into bullies. They need to be socialized. Plus, if your anything like me, you'll want to spend all your time with them anyways. Make sure your friends and families know that they might not be seeing you as often anymore - you've got babies to care for.
6) Expect to find therapy where you'd never expect.
I have many health problems. I have a syndrome called POTS (Postrual Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) that affects almost everything in my body. Everything that's automatic (except breathing) for you, isn't for me. My heart rate is all over the place and has a baseline of 120 (normal is 60-80). My blood pressure drops unexpectedly and my veins do not constrict, causing lack of blood in certain spots of my body which caused extreme pain. Symptoms I've dealt with since I was 6 years old include - migraines, vomitting, fainting, increased heart rate while resting (it's been past 200 before), extreme exhaustion (the longest I've slept before was 63 hours), inability to get out of bed, low blood pressure and trouble maintaing friendships due to being in bed all the time. POTS is known as an invisible illness because nothing appears wrong on the outside. At school, nobody knows I am different but behind closed doors and walls, I lay in bed crying or screaming from pain and stress. I work very hard to be normal. I don't tell even my closest friends I have something wrong with me for fear of being looked at differenly and just this year I have began to share with my teachers why I miss on average 35-40 days of school every year. Since owning chickens, I have begun to heal, not physically, but emotionally. They give me a reason to force myself out of bed every day. They listen with open ears when I need to vent, and they never judge. They let me hug them when I cry. They are there for me when no one else is. I never expected to find therapy in a backyard chicken coop. I share this not to get pity from online strangers, but to share with everyone that if you can't open up to family or friends, your chickens (or other pets) will always be there.
7) You must gather all your patience when your chickens reach laying age.
As much as I would love my chickens even if they didn't lay, waiting for that first egg took all the patience I had. As soon as their combs started getting red and growing rapidly, I knew that first egg was coming. I checked their nest boxes daily. I got frustrated when they kicked all their nesting material out of the box. I wondered every day when that first egg was coming. It was all worth the wait though when I found that first teeny-tiny egg in the nest box.
8) Be ready to think more deepy about where your food comes from.
Before chickens, my family bought regular store bought eggs. In the back of our minds, we knew they came from battery hens stuffed into tiny cages, but an egg was just an egg and a chicken was well, just a chicken. When I held that first egg in my hand, I couldn't help but be amazed that a chicken that I had raised, that I had loved, snuggled, and fed had made this beautiful creation inside her. She had laid it for me, even though she was probably scared because she did not know what was happening. It's completely different when you eat a store bought egg versus one of your own. I don't taste much of a difference to be honest, but I know that in one egg is love and care and in another is torture and saddness. Eating your own egg makes it all real and since then, whenever I take a bite out of store bought meat or pour a cup of milk, I can't help but think how this animal was treated, how it lived its life, if it had ever felt the touch of a human who loved it.
9) Find chicken people like you, because most people don't want to hear all about your chickens as much as you like to talk about them.
Before finding this website, my family and friends got quite fed up with my constant talk about this hen or that one. They had no idea who 'Daisy' or 'Pepper' was. They had no clue what it meant when I talked about how I needed to buy them more grit. They would listen to me, but had no interest and I could tell. Luckily, I found this wonderful site and have met so many wonderful people. I've had wonderful conversations with users such as @Alexandra33 that love their chickens just as much as I do and don't think I'm crazy for saying goodnight to each one individually or talking them as if they were my friends.
10) Beware of chicken math.
No matter how many times you tell yourself that so many is plenty and that you don't need anymore, the temptation will get to you and you'll find yourself in the car on the way home from the farm store or post office with peeping babies in the seat next to you. After getting your first chickens, you'll learn about different breeds with unique markings that you must add to your flock. Then you'll learn that chickens lay different colored eggs and you'll want to have an egg basket full of every color possible and you'll end up with easter eggers, cream legbars, marans, faverolles, olive eggers, and other breeds to complete the rainbow of egg colors. If your like me, you'll want to rescue ex-battery hens and teach them about grass and crickets and sunshine. You'll want to show them what it's like to be loved and what berries taste like. You'll want to hug them and tell them that from now on, everything will be alright. Down the line, you'll see pictures of a mama hen with chicks following behind her and you'll buy yourself a rooster or fertile eggs and hope one of your girls goes broody so you can hatch some babies. Then, you'll ask yourself how you started with 5 and ended up with 50!
11) Know that you probably won't have much money in your wallet or purse after falling in love with a few hens. Those birds need the fanciest coop, the best feed, and you might even decide to buy them a few toys while your at it. You will hear stories of predators killing entire flocks and you'll spend as much money as you have to as long as they are protected. They'll end up as spoiled little chooks and you won't have much money left, but you wouldn't have it any other way.
12) Don't rush into introductions - all birds are different.
When I got two new birds - Daryl and Vivi, I had already researched introductions. After their isolation period, I put them into the girl's coop for the day so they could see, hear and smell the original 8 girls and vice versa. I went into the coop that day to make sure they had food and water and Daryl ran, flapping his wings, right past me and out the door. He got into a scuffle with the head of the flock but after that, all was calm and he was accepted. I thought "oh wow, introductions are easy" and let Vivi, the new girl, out of the coop. They didn't like her at all. I took her out and put her in a cage so they could see her without hurting her. She was in there for only a week when I tried to put her on the roost at night. I woke up early the next morning, but it wasn't early enough. She had been attacked. Her wound was deep and bloody. She was not moving and I thought she was dead. I cleaned her up and helped her heal. She taught me that you can't rush into introductions. Forcing birds to get along will never work, no matter how hard to try. They need to learn to get along at their own pace and now, several weeks after her injury, she is slowly being accepted.
13) Expect speed bumps.
You will run into problems. There is no way to avoid it. Chickens can turn on you, even if they were sweet as chicks. I've witnessed that first hand and you must make a decision - rehome them, keep them, or cull them. I loved my Dixie too much to get rid of her, and instead I just let her be. I don't antagonize by handling her when I don't need to, and she doesn't hurt me. They can turn on each other, even if they were best friends before. They can get sick unexpectedly. Predators can get into your run, even if you predator proofed it to the best of your ability. When Vivi was injured, I was not prepared to keep her inside for the weeks she needed to heal. I had no supplies to treat her very deep wound and we ended up spending close to $30 on supplies and many, many hours taking care of her. By the time she was healed, she had been away from other chickens for too long and that put her into a depression. She lost weight. Her face and comb got very pale and she was so unhappy and unhealthy. While she had no outward wounds anymore, she was still sick. This meant she had no confidence whihc made it that much harder to introduce her to the flock. She wanted to be by them but she was terrified of what they might do to her. She is finally being accepted into the flock, but we are now realizing that the constant pecks to the back of her head that caused her wound, also caused some minor brain damage. She can't balance very well, and can't get up the roost on her own. She doesn't realize what a predator is or that she should move away when a lawn mower is near or a car is coming up the drive way that she's standing on. I will have to give her extra care her whole life, which may be cut short due to her injuries. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that you will have problems and that owning chickens isn't always a smooth ride.
I know that these don't apply to everyone with chickens as some people don't keep them as pets (I didn't intend to at first) and I know some don't get as attached to them as I have, but I wanted to share what I've learned along the way. I've only had the pleasure of raising chickens for 5 months and I've already learned to much. I can't imagine what I'm going to learn in the future. My chickens teach me something every day and I can't thank them enough.
I'd also like to thank everyone on here who's answered one of my questions, shared a story with me, or fell in love my girls (and boy) as much as I have. I appreciate you more than you know and without you, I don't think my journey would have gone as well as it has. I have never been happier to stumble along a website as I am finding this one.
To anyone that is still reading this, thank you for following along on my journey and my chickens and I wish you all the luck on raising your chickens. I would love to hear from you about what you have learned on your journey, because everyone has a different story to tell.
From all of us to you, God bless you.
1) What their intended purpose is loses it's importance as you fall in love.
I got my first 8 pullets for my agriculture final for my freshmen year in high school. I had to purchase and raise an animal and profit from it some how. They would lay eggs for me that I would sell. When I bought them, they were homework. They didn't mean much to me and as much as I love animals, chickens weren't something I thought I could get attached to. Now, if every single one of them stopped laying for some odd reason, I would have no problem with it. I would still feed them, love them, and care for them, expecting nothing in return. Their eggs are a wonderful present that they give to me each day, but they are just that - a present, not an expectation. I have no problem spending all my money and time on them, recieving their eggs is just a nice bonus.
2) Don't buy the small bag of food for small chicks - they eat more than you think.
Before I got my chicks, my dad took me to the store to buy everything they needed. This was my project, so I paid for everything. I figured that they were babies so they wouldn't need the big 50 pound bag. I paid for the 7 pound bag instead...it was only $5. That bag was gone in less than a week. I buy the 50 pound bags now...
3) You'll be surprised at how much room you have in your heart.
Each one of my original 8, my two new chickens, and the neighbor's 2 chickens all have a place in my heart. I would be devastated if I lost any of them. One of my chickens was badly injured by another chicken. I spent hours a day taking care of her. I cleaned her wound 4 times a day, comforted her, and snuggled with her while she healed. When she went into depression because she was away from the other chickens, I spent hours outside supervising her so she could be by them without getting hurt. I protected her. I loved her. I made sure she was as happy as she could be and I even considered rehoming her so she could be around other chickens without fear, but luckily she is now accepted into the flock. I didn't think I had room in my heart for so many animals - I already had 3 cats and a dog and loved so many other animals that had passed away, but I was pleasanly surprised.
4) Build a coop for more chickens than you plan for.
I built my coop for 8 hens. 4 sq. feet per bird because as I said before I never thought I'd enjoy them so much. Eventually, I wanted a rooster to protect them and when I went to pick him up, I fell in love with another pullet and brought her home as well. That made 10 chickens. My neighbor rarely cares for his two hens and they are frequently in our yard and have become part of my flock. I often find them in my coop, eating their food, sleeping on their roosts. That made 12 chickens. They are free ranged daily, but they now only have 2 sq. feet of space in the coop. Would I like a new coop? Yes, big enough for 50 chickens but I just can't afford it at the moment. The first coop cost me $300 of my own money (again, I'm only 15) so until I am able to save up the $1000 I need for a new coop (I'm working on it) they will just have to live in tight quarters.
5) Cancel all your plans for at least the first month of owning chickens.
Chicks need a lot of care. They need food and fresh water at all times - but you must be careful that they don't drown. They need to be kept at a specific temperature, but you must be wary of fire danger. They devlop pasty butt. They can turn into bullies. They need to be socialized. Plus, if your anything like me, you'll want to spend all your time with them anyways. Make sure your friends and families know that they might not be seeing you as often anymore - you've got babies to care for.
6) Expect to find therapy where you'd never expect.
I have many health problems. I have a syndrome called POTS (Postrual Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) that affects almost everything in my body. Everything that's automatic (except breathing) for you, isn't for me. My heart rate is all over the place and has a baseline of 120 (normal is 60-80). My blood pressure drops unexpectedly and my veins do not constrict, causing lack of blood in certain spots of my body which caused extreme pain. Symptoms I've dealt with since I was 6 years old include - migraines, vomitting, fainting, increased heart rate while resting (it's been past 200 before), extreme exhaustion (the longest I've slept before was 63 hours), inability to get out of bed, low blood pressure and trouble maintaing friendships due to being in bed all the time. POTS is known as an invisible illness because nothing appears wrong on the outside. At school, nobody knows I am different but behind closed doors and walls, I lay in bed crying or screaming from pain and stress. I work very hard to be normal. I don't tell even my closest friends I have something wrong with me for fear of being looked at differenly and just this year I have began to share with my teachers why I miss on average 35-40 days of school every year. Since owning chickens, I have begun to heal, not physically, but emotionally. They give me a reason to force myself out of bed every day. They listen with open ears when I need to vent, and they never judge. They let me hug them when I cry. They are there for me when no one else is. I never expected to find therapy in a backyard chicken coop. I share this not to get pity from online strangers, but to share with everyone that if you can't open up to family or friends, your chickens (or other pets) will always be there.
7) You must gather all your patience when your chickens reach laying age.
As much as I would love my chickens even if they didn't lay, waiting for that first egg took all the patience I had. As soon as their combs started getting red and growing rapidly, I knew that first egg was coming. I checked their nest boxes daily. I got frustrated when they kicked all their nesting material out of the box. I wondered every day when that first egg was coming. It was all worth the wait though when I found that first teeny-tiny egg in the nest box.
8) Be ready to think more deepy about where your food comes from.
Before chickens, my family bought regular store bought eggs. In the back of our minds, we knew they came from battery hens stuffed into tiny cages, but an egg was just an egg and a chicken was well, just a chicken. When I held that first egg in my hand, I couldn't help but be amazed that a chicken that I had raised, that I had loved, snuggled, and fed had made this beautiful creation inside her. She had laid it for me, even though she was probably scared because she did not know what was happening. It's completely different when you eat a store bought egg versus one of your own. I don't taste much of a difference to be honest, but I know that in one egg is love and care and in another is torture and saddness. Eating your own egg makes it all real and since then, whenever I take a bite out of store bought meat or pour a cup of milk, I can't help but think how this animal was treated, how it lived its life, if it had ever felt the touch of a human who loved it.
9) Find chicken people like you, because most people don't want to hear all about your chickens as much as you like to talk about them.
Before finding this website, my family and friends got quite fed up with my constant talk about this hen or that one. They had no idea who 'Daisy' or 'Pepper' was. They had no clue what it meant when I talked about how I needed to buy them more grit. They would listen to me, but had no interest and I could tell. Luckily, I found this wonderful site and have met so many wonderful people. I've had wonderful conversations with users such as @Alexandra33 that love their chickens just as much as I do and don't think I'm crazy for saying goodnight to each one individually or talking them as if they were my friends.
10) Beware of chicken math.
No matter how many times you tell yourself that so many is plenty and that you don't need anymore, the temptation will get to you and you'll find yourself in the car on the way home from the farm store or post office with peeping babies in the seat next to you. After getting your first chickens, you'll learn about different breeds with unique markings that you must add to your flock. Then you'll learn that chickens lay different colored eggs and you'll want to have an egg basket full of every color possible and you'll end up with easter eggers, cream legbars, marans, faverolles, olive eggers, and other breeds to complete the rainbow of egg colors. If your like me, you'll want to rescue ex-battery hens and teach them about grass and crickets and sunshine. You'll want to show them what it's like to be loved and what berries taste like. You'll want to hug them and tell them that from now on, everything will be alright. Down the line, you'll see pictures of a mama hen with chicks following behind her and you'll buy yourself a rooster or fertile eggs and hope one of your girls goes broody so you can hatch some babies. Then, you'll ask yourself how you started with 5 and ended up with 50!
11) Know that you probably won't have much money in your wallet or purse after falling in love with a few hens. Those birds need the fanciest coop, the best feed, and you might even decide to buy them a few toys while your at it. You will hear stories of predators killing entire flocks and you'll spend as much money as you have to as long as they are protected. They'll end up as spoiled little chooks and you won't have much money left, but you wouldn't have it any other way.
12) Don't rush into introductions - all birds are different.
When I got two new birds - Daryl and Vivi, I had already researched introductions. After their isolation period, I put them into the girl's coop for the day so they could see, hear and smell the original 8 girls and vice versa. I went into the coop that day to make sure they had food and water and Daryl ran, flapping his wings, right past me and out the door. He got into a scuffle with the head of the flock but after that, all was calm and he was accepted. I thought "oh wow, introductions are easy" and let Vivi, the new girl, out of the coop. They didn't like her at all. I took her out and put her in a cage so they could see her without hurting her. She was in there for only a week when I tried to put her on the roost at night. I woke up early the next morning, but it wasn't early enough. She had been attacked. Her wound was deep and bloody. She was not moving and I thought she was dead. I cleaned her up and helped her heal. She taught me that you can't rush into introductions. Forcing birds to get along will never work, no matter how hard to try. They need to learn to get along at their own pace and now, several weeks after her injury, she is slowly being accepted.
13) Expect speed bumps.
You will run into problems. There is no way to avoid it. Chickens can turn on you, even if they were sweet as chicks. I've witnessed that first hand and you must make a decision - rehome them, keep them, or cull them. I loved my Dixie too much to get rid of her, and instead I just let her be. I don't antagonize by handling her when I don't need to, and she doesn't hurt me. They can turn on each other, even if they were best friends before. They can get sick unexpectedly. Predators can get into your run, even if you predator proofed it to the best of your ability. When Vivi was injured, I was not prepared to keep her inside for the weeks she needed to heal. I had no supplies to treat her very deep wound and we ended up spending close to $30 on supplies and many, many hours taking care of her. By the time she was healed, she had been away from other chickens for too long and that put her into a depression. She lost weight. Her face and comb got very pale and she was so unhappy and unhealthy. While she had no outward wounds anymore, she was still sick. This meant she had no confidence whihc made it that much harder to introduce her to the flock. She wanted to be by them but she was terrified of what they might do to her. She is finally being accepted into the flock, but we are now realizing that the constant pecks to the back of her head that caused her wound, also caused some minor brain damage. She can't balance very well, and can't get up the roost on her own. She doesn't realize what a predator is or that she should move away when a lawn mower is near or a car is coming up the drive way that she's standing on. I will have to give her extra care her whole life, which may be cut short due to her injuries. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that you will have problems and that owning chickens isn't always a smooth ride.
I know that these don't apply to everyone with chickens as some people don't keep them as pets (I didn't intend to at first) and I know some don't get as attached to them as I have, but I wanted to share what I've learned along the way. I've only had the pleasure of raising chickens for 5 months and I've already learned to much. I can't imagine what I'm going to learn in the future. My chickens teach me something every day and I can't thank them enough.
I'd also like to thank everyone on here who's answered one of my questions, shared a story with me, or fell in love my girls (and boy) as much as I have. I appreciate you more than you know and without you, I don't think my journey would have gone as well as it has. I have never been happier to stumble along a website as I am finding this one.
To anyone that is still reading this, thank you for following along on my journey and my chickens and I wish you all the luck on raising your chickens. I would love to hear from you about what you have learned on your journey, because everyone has a different story to tell.
From all of us to you, God bless you.
