- Oct 21, 2014
- 16
- 2
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Good evening, fellow backyard chicken friends!
My name is Valerie, and I have 5 Barre Plymouth Rock ladies named Missy (short for Miss Adventure), Mimi, Royal, Cindy Lou Who and Ilyana. They are the sweetest, most adorable and funniest girls! I love them dearly. I ordered them from Estes Hatchery in September, and received them as day-olds on September 25. At that time, our city ordinance was 3 chickens, no roosters. I ordered 4, because one usually doesn't survive. They sent 5...because one usually doesn't survive. Luckily, despite Ilyana having a rough start, they all survived, and by the time I moved them outside, the city had updated the ordinance to let us have 6 chickens. Being in a neighborhood full of chicken lovers, we all took that to mean that we could have MORE than 5, and since it's NEVER good luck to get just one chicken at a time, I'll be getting two new girls in March
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I'm pretty proud of our coop setup. For several months, we had the coop inside our pen area. My smart girls quickly realized they could escape captivity by flying to the top of the coop, onto the pen, and into the neighborhood. Remember, our neighbors love chickens, so I'd often come home and go from home to home gathering my escape artists. A few weeks ago we moved the coop outside of the pen, built a "chunnel" (chicken tunnel) from the coop to the pen, and that solved the problem of chicken escapees! I've had a dog fence in the middle of the yard so that they can hang with me when I'm outside working, but today, they flew out of that, too. If I'm outside, I love it when they range, but their decision to range on their own doesn't sit well with me. Any ideas on how to corral my ladies when I'm outside hanging out would be greatly appreciated.
At just over 20 weeks, my girls look fully grown with beautiful red faces, combs and wattles. They still haven't laid. I feed them yummy layer feed along with protein blocks and mealworms. I figure we'll have omelettes someday, but my girls are just taking their own sweet time laying.
My husband is wonderfully supportive of my "chicken habit." After years of begging, pleading, reasoning and negotiating, he finally let me have the girls. I love them more than even I thought I would, and surprisingly, he loves them, too! He will often call me at work, letting me know that my girls are noisily requesting my attention. He says the only time they greet him with such enthusiasm is when he brings then water.
So there you are! Thanks for all of the insight so far!
My name is Valerie, and I have 5 Barre Plymouth Rock ladies named Missy (short for Miss Adventure), Mimi, Royal, Cindy Lou Who and Ilyana. They are the sweetest, most adorable and funniest girls! I love them dearly. I ordered them from Estes Hatchery in September, and received them as day-olds on September 25. At that time, our city ordinance was 3 chickens, no roosters. I ordered 4, because one usually doesn't survive. They sent 5...because one usually doesn't survive. Luckily, despite Ilyana having a rough start, they all survived, and by the time I moved them outside, the city had updated the ordinance to let us have 6 chickens. Being in a neighborhood full of chicken lovers, we all took that to mean that we could have MORE than 5, and since it's NEVER good luck to get just one chicken at a time, I'll be getting two new girls in March
I'm pretty proud of our coop setup. For several months, we had the coop inside our pen area. My smart girls quickly realized they could escape captivity by flying to the top of the coop, onto the pen, and into the neighborhood. Remember, our neighbors love chickens, so I'd often come home and go from home to home gathering my escape artists. A few weeks ago we moved the coop outside of the pen, built a "chunnel" (chicken tunnel) from the coop to the pen, and that solved the problem of chicken escapees! I've had a dog fence in the middle of the yard so that they can hang with me when I'm outside working, but today, they flew out of that, too. If I'm outside, I love it when they range, but their decision to range on their own doesn't sit well with me. Any ideas on how to corral my ladies when I'm outside hanging out would be greatly appreciated.
At just over 20 weeks, my girls look fully grown with beautiful red faces, combs and wattles. They still haven't laid. I feed them yummy layer feed along with protein blocks and mealworms. I figure we'll have omelettes someday, but my girls are just taking their own sweet time laying.
My husband is wonderfully supportive of my "chicken habit." After years of begging, pleading, reasoning and negotiating, he finally let me have the girls. I love them more than even I thought I would, and surprisingly, he loves them, too! He will often call me at work, letting me know that my girls are noisily requesting my attention. He says the only time they greet him with such enthusiasm is when he brings then water.
So there you are! Thanks for all of the insight so far!
) Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
Valerie
