..In the Beginning...
My son said he would like to have some chickens. We live on a horse farm and have the space...we just need to build a coop(which you can read about on our Bayou Chicken House Page). SO we start off on researching primarly through BYC and by visiting friends who also own chickens. Early on I decided i wanted some Polish because I could sit there and watch them all day...and we also wanted some tinted eggs...how cool is that(Our last name is Easter btw). The saga begins by us getting sucked in the chick madness at TSC.
Ok...so we did it....went to the Tractor Supply and picked up 4 chicks today. We bought 2 of each breed. They were in separate bins divided by colors...but both bins were marked Red pullets. We were told by another customer that the yellow ones were whites....but white whats? Another fella said he thought they were Cornish Rocks? The side of the box that Tractor Supply gives you to get them home only lists pullets, red pullets, cornish rocks, featured breed, and assorted bantams as options for scanning at the register. It was interesting to see the fellas in the store doing the rooster test by hanging them upside down and looking at their wings...I just hope we did end up with all females. After lurking on BYC for several weeks, I have realized "What kinda chick did I get from TSC?" is possibly the most asked one on the Forum!
..Phase Two...
Ok...so now that we are pretty much convinced that the two white pullets from TSC are Cornish X's and we may not have them for very long, chicken math sets in. Oh brother...here we go.
The feed store up the road had Barred Plymouth Rock pullets and Production Red pullets.....I figured since we already had "red" pullets"...I should balance out the color wheel and get a couple of those cute black chicks. We are up to six.
I still dont have the colored egg layers, nor any Polish.......
Phase Three..
Now...I met these really cool people on BYC that ran a forum called LouisianaChickens.com....I headed over that way and learned about a Poultry Expo that was going to take place only an hour and a half from home.. There were to be many birds there....and breeders to talk to and learn things from, and speakers and door prizes, etc, etc. So...packed up the teenage daughter, hopped in the car, and drove(with a chicken crate in the backseat ready to transport and cuties home). While there we picked up 3 two week old GL Polish, 1 one week old SLPolish, and 2 one week old EE's. Not sure if any of these are pullets.....all sorts of chicken math equations started rolling around in my head on the way home. I really want colored eggs when this is all said and done-this is how the addiction got started.......and if these 2 EEs are roos...well there goes my only chance for colored eggs. Fingers crossed that they are pullets!
Now all chicks go through a not-so-pretty stage....our Polish are prime examples of that at 3 and four weeks
Phase Four...
and since we still arent sure that our EEs are pullets...and we really think one of our Barred Plymouth Rocks is a Roo at 4 weeks...chicken math logically tells me I need to get 3 more EEs(to up our chances of tinted eggs)and one more Barred Rock(to replace the Roo that we will be rehoming)...and what do you know...a local feed store just got a shipment in of Barred Rock pullets and EE pullets...I feel my chances are better of getting girls from a pullet bin that from a straight run purchase at the expo...so we added 4 more chicks on 3/23/2011. Count up to 16 chicks now...but 15 if one is a roo, and 13 when the Cornish Xs hit maturity...and then if any of the other pullets turn out to be roos...then we will likely be back down to our original desired number which was 8-10. Is anyone following the math????
My son said he would like to have some chickens. We live on a horse farm and have the space...we just need to build a coop(which you can read about on our Bayou Chicken House Page). SO we start off on researching primarly through BYC and by visiting friends who also own chickens. Early on I decided i wanted some Polish because I could sit there and watch them all day...and we also wanted some tinted eggs...how cool is that(Our last name is Easter btw). The saga begins by us getting sucked in the chick madness at TSC.
Ok...so we did it....went to the Tractor Supply and picked up 4 chicks today. We bought 2 of each breed. They were in separate bins divided by colors...but both bins were marked Red pullets. We were told by another customer that the yellow ones were whites....but white whats? Another fella said he thought they were Cornish Rocks? The side of the box that Tractor Supply gives you to get them home only lists pullets, red pullets, cornish rocks, featured breed, and assorted bantams as options for scanning at the register. It was interesting to see the fellas in the store doing the rooster test by hanging them upside down and looking at their wings...I just hope we did end up with all females. After lurking on BYC for several weeks, I have realized "What kinda chick did I get from TSC?" is possibly the most asked one on the Forum!
..Phase Two...
Ok...so now that we are pretty much convinced that the two white pullets from TSC are Cornish X's and we may not have them for very long, chicken math sets in. Oh brother...here we go.
The feed store up the road had Barred Plymouth Rock pullets and Production Red pullets.....I figured since we already had "red" pullets"...I should balance out the color wheel and get a couple of those cute black chicks. We are up to six.
I still dont have the colored egg layers, nor any Polish.......
Phase Three..
Now...I met these really cool people on BYC that ran a forum called LouisianaChickens.com....I headed over that way and learned about a Poultry Expo that was going to take place only an hour and a half from home.. There were to be many birds there....and breeders to talk to and learn things from, and speakers and door prizes, etc, etc. So...packed up the teenage daughter, hopped in the car, and drove(with a chicken crate in the backseat ready to transport and cuties home). While there we picked up 3 two week old GL Polish, 1 one week old SLPolish, and 2 one week old EE's. Not sure if any of these are pullets.....all sorts of chicken math equations started rolling around in my head on the way home. I really want colored eggs when this is all said and done-this is how the addiction got started.......and if these 2 EEs are roos...well there goes my only chance for colored eggs. Fingers crossed that they are pullets!
Now all chicks go through a not-so-pretty stage....our Polish are prime examples of that at 3 and four weeks
Phase Four...
and since we still arent sure that our EEs are pullets...and we really think one of our Barred Plymouth Rocks is a Roo at 4 weeks...chicken math logically tells me I need to get 3 more EEs(to up our chances of tinted eggs)and one more Barred Rock(to replace the Roo that we will be rehoming)...and what do you know...a local feed store just got a shipment in of Barred Rock pullets and EE pullets...I feel my chances are better of getting girls from a pullet bin that from a straight run purchase at the expo...so we added 4 more chicks on 3/23/2011. Count up to 16 chicks now...but 15 if one is a roo, and 13 when the Cornish Xs hit maturity...and then if any of the other pullets turn out to be roos...then we will likely be back down to our original desired number which was 8-10. Is anyone following the math????
