On Pennsylvania Ave. we started chickening early in 2011.
We are on a city lot with a small backyard, so started with a small flock of 3 hens. 1 Delaware and 2 Speckled Sussex.
It took a lot more time and anticipation than we would have expected to get those first eggs, but finally in September our girls started to pay off and have been good producers ever since. Our Delaware, Cindy Lou, lays nearly every day 1 beautiful red egg. The Sussex girls, Tinkerbell and Jezebel, don't lay quite as often, but regularly enough, producing light brown eggs.
We will be adding 2 more Delaware hens to our flock this coming spring.
Our coop has a small attached run that is completely enclosed. The girls must think it's too cramped... they fling themselves at the door whenever they see us coming. We frequently let them have run of our back yard, but have quickly learned the marauding hens are really hard on a manicured landscape. This winter's project is to come up with a much larger run that gives our hens some freedom but still protects a little of our yard for ourselves.
