How I Found and Created My Chicken Flock and Coop.

This story made me smile! There is an awful lot of love mixed in between the lines ... an it shines through!

It sounds like you are on a great adventure with your chickens. This will be one of the most rewarding experiences you will ever have.

Just a word of caution about those very small chicks in with Cindy Lou. If she is chasing them all around and pecking at them, at their size, she could actually hurt them. If you see blood on a chick, remove it from the flock and nurse it back to health before putting it back in. I personally wait for my chicks to be full sized before I put them in with the larger chickens, but I have the advantage of 3 adjacent runs and coops for managing my flock.

Also, as your chickens grow you may need to increase the size of their run (or pen) and give them some obstacles so the less dominant chickens have a way to get away from the aggressors. This can be simple things like a bucket laying on its side or a log. A good way to accomplish both is to set up another fenced in area attached to the current one and then just cut a chicken sized opening between them. This is something my chickens love.

Good luck with your chickens. I love how friendly they are with you and that you can go right in and sit with them. That will enrich their lives and yours too. I hope you will post updates as your chicks grow.

So happy to see you got involved with caring for a backyard flock of chickens. It's a lot of work, but so much fun! You seem very knowledgeable on chickens, their needs and how to care for them. Great job!

Beautiful chickens, beautiful story.