SUNNYDEE'S PET CHICKENS
(under construction..so please be patient. Need to figure the picture loading thing!)
(under construction..so please be patient. Need to figure the picture loading thing!)
I am 38 years old. I have two children, my son is 17 and my daughter is 12. We have two maine coon cats who are 4 years old and a 5 year old yellow lab/golden retriever. I have my own home in a rural part of town. I own almost 2 acres of land. I work fulltime at a job I love. All my friends and family say I am crazy for having animals, as they think it is too much work. I couldn't imagine life without them!
We decided to get some chickens this summer. My daughter wanted a horse but we lacked a barn, money and knowledge. I grew up on a house farm most of my young childhood and wanted my kids to experience the same animal loving life as I did.
It started with getting an old free shed from a friend of mine. We went and cleaned it out for them and I had a couple of friends help me move it to my place. I had no plans or even a slightest idea of what I was doing! In the meantime, I had 6 four week old chicks in my bedroom waiting for their home to be built!
So after borrowing tools from my friends and lugging 2x4's and chicken wire in my ford focus, we got started!
My girls are now 24 weeks old and two of them have been laying for a week. This was so exciting to see them lay their first egg. My daughter and I waited out in their coop in our jammies and waited for about an hour and watched our sweet Angel lay her first egg!
Well the cold weather is here and I had to sramble to get the coop weather proof! I had insulated it on the inside with blue styro board insulation and put paneling on the top. The one thing I did not do is the roof. My error and is now corrected. I actually lowered their ceiling and insulated it. Made a huge difference in the coop temps.
I am still not sure about the whole red florecent light thing. I have one but it seems to keep them up all night. The first really cold night I kept it on, I had one of my girls bleeding from her comb in the a.m. She is fine now, but has made me wonder about adding a heat lamp?
We are getting 5 to 6 eggs everyday from our 6 girls. I use this as a guide that my girls are happy and healthy! Although the still have not figured out to use more than one next box..........everything is going great!
I switched to crumble type of layer food just this week. My girls didn't seem to like the pellets much. Not sure if they like the crumble any better....but they sure love their hot oatmeal with berries every morning!
We decided to get some chickens this summer. My daughter wanted a horse but we lacked a barn, money and knowledge. I grew up on a house farm most of my young childhood and wanted my kids to experience the same animal loving life as I did.
It started with getting an old free shed from a friend of mine. We went and cleaned it out for them and I had a couple of friends help me move it to my place. I had no plans or even a slightest idea of what I was doing! In the meantime, I had 6 four week old chicks in my bedroom waiting for their home to be built!
So after borrowing tools from my friends and lugging 2x4's and chicken wire in my ford focus, we got started!
My girls are now 24 weeks old and two of them have been laying for a week. This was so exciting to see them lay their first egg. My daughter and I waited out in their coop in our jammies and waited for about an hour and watched our sweet Angel lay her first egg!
Well the cold weather is here and I had to sramble to get the coop weather proof! I had insulated it on the inside with blue styro board insulation and put paneling on the top. The one thing I did not do is the roof. My error and is now corrected. I actually lowered their ceiling and insulated it. Made a huge difference in the coop temps.
I am still not sure about the whole red florecent light thing. I have one but it seems to keep them up all night. The first really cold night I kept it on, I had one of my girls bleeding from her comb in the a.m. She is fine now, but has made me wonder about adding a heat lamp?
We are getting 5 to 6 eggs everyday from our 6 girls. I use this as a guide that my girls are happy and healthy! Although the still have not figured out to use more than one next box..........everything is going great!
I switched to crumble type of layer food just this week. My girls didn't seem to like the pellets much. Not sure if they like the crumble any better....but they sure love their hot oatmeal with berries every morning!