Now I know where the expression "Old Mother Hen" came from! I got my five chicks right around Mother's Day this year and brought them home and have been worrying about them every since! I'd been talking about wanting some chicks for weeks, but, I only want Ameracaunas because they laid blue eggs! Well, my friend down the street, who has several chickens of her own, found some at the feed store and called my husband and told him she was bringing home six baby chicks and she sure hoped he had the coop ready! Of coure, he did not, but he started right then and there and you should see what he finally came up with (3 months later, but well worth the wait). When I got the word that Lynn had my chicks, I went right away to her house and got them. She set me up with a rabbit hutch, a feeder and a waterer and some pine shavings and feed and assured me my babies would be happy as could be. While we were out getting all the stuff, one of the little tiny chicks got out of its cage and her dog ate it straight away! I was just sick, but had learned a valuable lesson--everything likes to eat chickens!
Thank goodness, I found "backyardchickens" right away and from then on, started doing things pretty much the right way. I use rice hulls for their litter, the coop is 10x5 so that the girls have 10 square feet each; we put heavy duty wire all around and under the coop so that the predators can't get to them and any time I need to know something, here I come straight to the backyard chickens forum.
My girls are 5 months old now and I wonder how I ever managed without them. Right after I got them, I had to have surgery on my right hand (carpal tunnel syndrome) and was home for 7 weeks! Had it not been for my chicks, I believe I would have gone nuts! They're like little kids sometimes and are the sweetest things I ever did see! Who would have thought that CHICKENS would bring so much joy into someone's life? I strongly advise anyone who has the time and space to get chickens! I wish I'd gotten them when my kids left home so I'd have had somewhere to put all that "Mother Hen" energy I had left!
Yep, I love my chickens! They make me laugh and they give me something to do. They make me feel needed and useful. And one of these days, they'll start laying some blue eggs!
Thank goodness, I found "backyardchickens" right away and from then on, started doing things pretty much the right way. I use rice hulls for their litter, the coop is 10x5 so that the girls have 10 square feet each; we put heavy duty wire all around and under the coop so that the predators can't get to them and any time I need to know something, here I come straight to the backyard chickens forum.
My girls are 5 months old now and I wonder how I ever managed without them. Right after I got them, I had to have surgery on my right hand (carpal tunnel syndrome) and was home for 7 weeks! Had it not been for my chicks, I believe I would have gone nuts! They're like little kids sometimes and are the sweetest things I ever did see! Who would have thought that CHICKENS would bring so much joy into someone's life? I strongly advise anyone who has the time and space to get chickens! I wish I'd gotten them when my kids left home so I'd have had somewhere to put all that "Mother Hen" energy I had left!
Yep, I love my chickens! They make me laugh and they give me something to do. They make me feel needed and useful. And one of these days, they'll start laying some blue eggs!