After a trip to a flea market a while back, we were "bitten" by the chicken bug. The conditions there were not what I would consider acceptable, but it made us want some none the less. Before
long I was researching how to build a chicken coop on the internet. We decided we could handle about 5 or 6 chickens. That number quickly changed to 8-10. We now have 24 (4 RIRs, 2 Barred Rocks,
2 Buff Orpingtons, 3 Buff Silkies, 6 BBS Ameraucanas, 4 Blue Andalusians, 1 Partridge Cochin, & 2 Easter Eggers). There are so many breeds I want, it's made it hard to decide! I currently have Australorps in the incubator....
Our Ameraucanas, Andalusians, EEs, and the cochin are all young chicks. The rest are pullets 18-22 weeks. Well, that's not exactly true... 2 of the silkies are little roos. I swore I would never have a rooster (for fear of hacking off the neighbors), but the silkies were really too young to sex when they arrived. One was older (and larger) than the other two. "She" was given the name Big E Smalls..."she" was the biggy of the small chickens. The darkest of the buffs was given the name Buffy Smalls, and the smallest of the smalls was named Smally Smalls. The Smalls live happily apart from the "Big Girls" in the chicken tractor (which is something else I swore I wouldn't have). About 2 weeks after The Smalls came to reside in our chicken tractor, Big E crowed! Lucky for him, none of our "Big Girls" are snugglers. If you want a chicken to snuggle (which I do), Big E's your guy! He's like a big fluffy lap-chicken. I should also mention that I have 2 shih tzus... so I have a penchant for the small and fluffy. Therefore, I now have a roo (and it looks like 2 - Smally Smalls is suspicious). I'm pretty sure I would let Big E live in the house before I would get rid of him. He's my baby (chicken)!
We got our first egg on August 16 (2009) from one of our Barred Rock girls... Yay! Come on, everyone else!
I guess to most people who know us, the leap to chickens wasn't too far. We already have 4 dogs, 2 cats, an exotic bird, and a number of fish. I've also raised baby goats (from birth) in my bonus room, and a litter of wild rabbits in my bedroom. What can I say....
ALSO...I'm using a mac and running safari. If anyone has any thoughts as to how I can get this editor to work right, let me know. The image button (along with most of the others) does exactly NOTHING
Therefore, no pics.
long I was researching how to build a chicken coop on the internet. We decided we could handle about 5 or 6 chickens. That number quickly changed to 8-10. We now have 24 (4 RIRs, 2 Barred Rocks,
2 Buff Orpingtons, 3 Buff Silkies, 6 BBS Ameraucanas, 4 Blue Andalusians, 1 Partridge Cochin, & 2 Easter Eggers). There are so many breeds I want, it's made it hard to decide! I currently have Australorps in the incubator....
Our Ameraucanas, Andalusians, EEs, and the cochin are all young chicks. The rest are pullets 18-22 weeks. Well, that's not exactly true... 2 of the silkies are little roos. I swore I would never have a rooster (for fear of hacking off the neighbors), but the silkies were really too young to sex when they arrived. One was older (and larger) than the other two. "She" was given the name Big E Smalls..."she" was the biggy of the small chickens. The darkest of the buffs was given the name Buffy Smalls, and the smallest of the smalls was named Smally Smalls. The Smalls live happily apart from the "Big Girls" in the chicken tractor (which is something else I swore I wouldn't have). About 2 weeks after The Smalls came to reside in our chicken tractor, Big E crowed! Lucky for him, none of our "Big Girls" are snugglers. If you want a chicken to snuggle (which I do), Big E's your guy! He's like a big fluffy lap-chicken. I should also mention that I have 2 shih tzus... so I have a penchant for the small and fluffy. Therefore, I now have a roo (and it looks like 2 - Smally Smalls is suspicious). I'm pretty sure I would let Big E live in the house before I would get rid of him. He's my baby (chicken)!
We got our first egg on August 16 (2009) from one of our Barred Rock girls... Yay! Come on, everyone else!
I guess to most people who know us, the leap to chickens wasn't too far. We already have 4 dogs, 2 cats, an exotic bird, and a number of fish. I've also raised baby goats (from birth) in my bonus room, and a litter of wild rabbits in my bedroom. What can I say....
ALSO...I'm using a mac and running safari. If anyone has any thoughts as to how I can get this editor to work right, let me know. The image button (along with most of the others) does exactly NOTHING
Therefore, no pics.