I have always wanted to own chickens not sure where that all came from, I guess I'm a country girl at heart. I've never been around chickens or even visited anyone that owned chickens my whole life, but that urge has always secretly been there. I grew up in the boonies and always wanted to return to the life surrounded by fields. One day opportunity came a knocking, and so My husband, daughter , son (and later another son came along) and myself found an old farm house with some land that needed some TLC. We started our hobby farm with two boar goats, Specs and Mary. No idea what we were doing but fun learning at the same time.
After a year of being comfortable with raising goats, my daughter always wanted a horse, so along came Silver our quarter horse mare. Again totally clueless on owning a horse, but its been fun and an adventure all at the same time.
Then finally after waiting for like forever, it was time for me to get my chickens. But first we had to convert an old "chicken coop turned into tool shed" back into a chicken coop and add a run. That was an adventure in itself. Thanks to this helpful forum we completed our coop and then it was just wait for the chickens. I placed an order for 5 RIR and 5 BR in November 2014, for a hatch date of April 6th 2015. I had no idea what torture it would be to wait that long. It was agony, especially reading this forum on a daily basis, seeing all the pictures and the stories, ughh. But it was also a wise choice on my part, I had collected everything I would need for the brooder and the coop way in advance of arrival day. My head was packed full of chicken knowledge, I was so ready but still months away from arrival day. February came along and so did the chicks in the feed stores, I couldn't restrain myself, I had to have some babies now! I rushed out and picked out the cutest 5 EEs . Only 5 to just to get a preview of what was coming when 10 came at once. I learned a lot with just those 5 chicks, the brooder issues, the dust, how incredibly fast they really did grow ( like you all said). I named them: Buffy, Coco Bean, OwLee, Arrow, and Vega.
That really did help with the wait anxiety I was experiencing. Finally April 6 came and my newest babies were coming in on the 8th. My EEs were 6 wks. so they got moved to garage so new babies could move into the indoor brooder. It was still anxiety all over again waiting for that call from post office, scared to death they would all be dead. I seriously don't think mentally I could put myself through that again. Thankfully all babies arrived alive and healthy!
Fun Fun. When the EEs outgrew large brooder in garage we moved them into coop. They loved it! Instead of moving babies into larger brooder in garage , they went into a large brooder inside of coop. separated from the bigs, but could see each other. As weather warmed up and everyone grew, eventually everyone was integrated...not without some hiccups along the way....and they all were allowed to free range. Oh what fun it has been watching them grow , exploring new areas and enjoying their incredibly spoiled chicken lives. They love to hang out on our deck , and its funny watching them run all over the property. We have lots of trees for them to hide under and luckily no predator problems, yet.
OwLee enjoying the garden bed before I plant it.
The Babies, as I like to call them, Playing on a wood pile
Hiding under one of their favorite bushes
My youngest holding Ellie a BR
I could show a hundred more pics of my babies, I guess Ill wait until they all are full grown. Right now I'm waiting for that first egg. At least this wait time is anxiety free!
After a year of being comfortable with raising goats, my daughter always wanted a horse, so along came Silver our quarter horse mare. Again totally clueless on owning a horse, but its been fun and an adventure all at the same time.
Then finally after waiting for like forever, it was time for me to get my chickens. But first we had to convert an old "chicken coop turned into tool shed" back into a chicken coop and add a run. That was an adventure in itself. Thanks to this helpful forum we completed our coop and then it was just wait for the chickens. I placed an order for 5 RIR and 5 BR in November 2014, for a hatch date of April 6th 2015. I had no idea what torture it would be to wait that long. It was agony, especially reading this forum on a daily basis, seeing all the pictures and the stories, ughh. But it was also a wise choice on my part, I had collected everything I would need for the brooder and the coop way in advance of arrival day. My head was packed full of chicken knowledge, I was so ready but still months away from arrival day. February came along and so did the chicks in the feed stores, I couldn't restrain myself, I had to have some babies now! I rushed out and picked out the cutest 5 EEs . Only 5 to just to get a preview of what was coming when 10 came at once. I learned a lot with just those 5 chicks, the brooder issues, the dust, how incredibly fast they really did grow ( like you all said). I named them: Buffy, Coco Bean, OwLee, Arrow, and Vega.
That really did help with the wait anxiety I was experiencing. Finally April 6 came and my newest babies were coming in on the 8th. My EEs were 6 wks. so they got moved to garage so new babies could move into the indoor brooder. It was still anxiety all over again waiting for that call from post office, scared to death they would all be dead. I seriously don't think mentally I could put myself through that again. Thankfully all babies arrived alive and healthy!
Fun Fun. When the EEs outgrew large brooder in garage we moved them into coop. They loved it! Instead of moving babies into larger brooder in garage , they went into a large brooder inside of coop. separated from the bigs, but could see each other. As weather warmed up and everyone grew, eventually everyone was integrated...not without some hiccups along the way....and they all were allowed to free range. Oh what fun it has been watching them grow , exploring new areas and enjoying their incredibly spoiled chicken lives. They love to hang out on our deck , and its funny watching them run all over the property. We have lots of trees for them to hide under and luckily no predator problems, yet.
OwLee enjoying the garden bed before I plant it.
The Babies, as I like to call them, Playing on a wood pile
Hiding under one of their favorite bushes
My youngest holding Ellie a BR
I could show a hundred more pics of my babies, I guess Ill wait until they all are full grown. Right now I'm waiting for that first egg. At least this wait time is anxiety free!
