Hi all! Greetings from Estonia!
We are a family of four living in a suburban area of Tallinn. Full time working parents, two kids... and a Maine Coon cattery. I'm a huge show enthusiast and devoted to that wonderful breed of gentle giants. So it is totally natural that this kind of family decides to take also some chickens. Not. According to my mom.
I was playing with the idea of raising some chickens for eggs already last year. But by the time I had wrapped my head around that thought, it was already too late - it was already summertime and there were no pullets available. Didn't want to start with baby chicks and the idea of taking some older layers from poultry farms didn't sound too appealing.
So this year when in March I came across an ad that 2,5 months old Dominant CZ pullets were for sale, it was time to talk my husband into this idea. He thought I was crazy. But he has been living with me and my crazy for more than a decade so he knows that when the switch has been flipped, there's no way back. So the next morning (when I had been pouting in the kitchen for a few hours) he thought that it is a wonderful idea and we should be getting ready if we wouldn't want to miss the chicken truck. And after 4 hours drive we were back at home with our 4 pullets. Since I only saw the ad the day before, there was no time to do any preparations so these young ladies had to stay in the cat enclosure (without the cats in it of course) and had a wooden box with old towels to keep them warm in the night. In a few days they got a little coop of their own with a small run area, all the feeders and drinkers and correct pullet feed. During the days they get to roam freely in our yard and nibble on everything that they find eatable and poop on all the rest. They are really social, follow us around with the hope of some treats (because that's what we are for, right?). By now they have started laying and we get a pretty decent egg supply.
But as I was familiarizing myself with all the chicken keeping topics, joining some facebook groups, scanning through BYC forum, I came to learn a lot about different breeds. I thought that some day I would really like to have some Araucanas or Legbars or Marans... But that some day came earlier than expected with a Facebook post where there were Lavender Araucana, Cream Legbar and Black Copper Marans chicks sold. Has to be faith, right? Can't ignore. "Dear, what would you think if we got a few baby chicks too?". After getting to know in which establishments I belong to, we were once again in the car and five hours later arrived home with a beeping box. The chicks were a week old. Two Cream Legbars, two Lavender Araucanas, one Black Copper Marans. The chicks moved in to our bedroom (which is a cat-free zone) and had themselves a nice brooder box with heating lamps and all the other necessities. Today they are already 7 weeks old, still living in our bedroom, creating saw dust tornados, lots of poop and crazy amount of fun. Out of this bunch one Araucana is looking like a cockerel, the rest should be pullets (so far). So I'm wondering is Ebay the best platform for selling my neighbors or is there a better place for this purpose?
Since winters are harsh in our neck of the woods, temperatures can be as low as -20 C, we are building an insulated proper chicken coop for our flock. Two IT people are not the ideal work force for carpentry tasks but we are slowly getting there. No severe injuries so far, so that has to count for something.
Oh, and the cats. They are fascinated by chickens. Their own Chicken TV from windows, possibility to check them out really close by from their cat run, listening to the chirping of chicks behind our bedroom door (and being a bit afraid of them when shown closely). They seem to enjoy every part of this experience.
Happy to become part of this community.
We are a family of four living in a suburban area of Tallinn. Full time working parents, two kids... and a Maine Coon cattery. I'm a huge show enthusiast and devoted to that wonderful breed of gentle giants. So it is totally natural that this kind of family decides to take also some chickens. Not. According to my mom.
I was playing with the idea of raising some chickens for eggs already last year. But by the time I had wrapped my head around that thought, it was already too late - it was already summertime and there were no pullets available. Didn't want to start with baby chicks and the idea of taking some older layers from poultry farms didn't sound too appealing.
So this year when in March I came across an ad that 2,5 months old Dominant CZ pullets were for sale, it was time to talk my husband into this idea. He thought I was crazy. But he has been living with me and my crazy for more than a decade so he knows that when the switch has been flipped, there's no way back. So the next morning (when I had been pouting in the kitchen for a few hours) he thought that it is a wonderful idea and we should be getting ready if we wouldn't want to miss the chicken truck. And after 4 hours drive we were back at home with our 4 pullets. Since I only saw the ad the day before, there was no time to do any preparations so these young ladies had to stay in the cat enclosure (without the cats in it of course) and had a wooden box with old towels to keep them warm in the night. In a few days they got a little coop of their own with a small run area, all the feeders and drinkers and correct pullet feed. During the days they get to roam freely in our yard and nibble on everything that they find eatable and poop on all the rest. They are really social, follow us around with the hope of some treats (because that's what we are for, right?). By now they have started laying and we get a pretty decent egg supply.
But as I was familiarizing myself with all the chicken keeping topics, joining some facebook groups, scanning through BYC forum, I came to learn a lot about different breeds. I thought that some day I would really like to have some Araucanas or Legbars or Marans... But that some day came earlier than expected with a Facebook post where there were Lavender Araucana, Cream Legbar and Black Copper Marans chicks sold. Has to be faith, right? Can't ignore. "Dear, what would you think if we got a few baby chicks too?". After getting to know in which establishments I belong to, we were once again in the car and five hours later arrived home with a beeping box. The chicks were a week old. Two Cream Legbars, two Lavender Araucanas, one Black Copper Marans. The chicks moved in to our bedroom (which is a cat-free zone) and had themselves a nice brooder box with heating lamps and all the other necessities. Today they are already 7 weeks old, still living in our bedroom, creating saw dust tornados, lots of poop and crazy amount of fun. Out of this bunch one Araucana is looking like a cockerel, the rest should be pullets (so far). So I'm wondering is Ebay the best platform for selling my neighbors or is there a better place for this purpose?
Since winters are harsh in our neck of the woods, temperatures can be as low as -20 C, we are building an insulated proper chicken coop for our flock. Two IT people are not the ideal work force for carpentry tasks but we are slowly getting there. No severe injuries so far, so that has to count for something.
Oh, and the cats. They are fascinated by chickens. Their own Chicken TV from windows, possibility to check them out really close by from their cat run, listening to the chirping of chicks behind our bedroom door (and being a bit afraid of them when shown closely). They seem to enjoy every part of this experience.
Happy to become part of this community.
Glad you joined.
