Welcome!
My wife and I decided to copy our neighbor and start keeping chickens. We are your typical city folk who have transplanted ourselves into the country on an acre of land. So we really appreciate backyardchickens.com for all the helpful information. I will simply use this space to tell about my experience keeping chickens.
Satrurday, April 18th, 2009
We got our chicks at the local farm store. There are Silver Lace Wyandottes, Gold Lace Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, and "Araucanas". I imagine the chicks sold as Araucanas are actually Ameraucanas or "Easter-Eggers".
The Wyandotte chicks have such cute faces!
They outgrew the tub in about 2 weeks and were moved to an indoor pen, which they also outgrew quickly. At 1 month the had to be moved out.
I threw together a coop outside to keep them in.
Before long I will need to expand their space again but for now they seem quite happy here.
At 5 weeks they are feathering out nicely.
Monday, May 25th 2009
They all went inside for their evening huddle tonight! I didn't have to do anything but close the door to their bedroom. (I'm so proud!)
We got our chicks at the local farm store. There are Silver Lace Wyandottes, Gold Lace Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, and "Araucanas". I imagine the chicks sold as Araucanas are actually Ameraucanas or "Easter-Eggers".
The Wyandotte chicks have such cute faces!
They outgrew the tub in about 2 weeks and were moved to an indoor pen, which they also outgrew quickly. At 1 month the had to be moved out.
I threw together a coop outside to keep them in.
Before long I will need to expand their space again but for now they seem quite happy here.
At 5 weeks they are feathering out nicely.
Monday, May 25th 2009
They all went inside for their evening huddle tonight! I didn't have to do anything but close the door to their bedroom. (I'm so proud!)
Jasper guarding the chicks. Jasper is really a great guard dog and absolutely raises hell when a stranger comes to the door. But it looks to me as if she is accepting the chickens as part of the family! 
At 6 weeks now, here are a few pictures:
June 7th, 2009
I added a 12'x45' back yard. The top is covered with deer netting and I threw some CDs on it to hopefully ward off hawk attacks.
Saturday, June 20th, 2009
My neighbor had a young rooster he needed to find a home for. I agreed to take him. He appears to be a couple of weeks older than my flock and is just beginning to crow.
