I'm new to the site and to chickens. Let me give you a little background... I'm a single mother of 4. Oldest is off in college, younger 3 (one special needs) are in elementary school. That alone makes life interesting.
Now on to the chickens... A very dear friend of mine has RIR. One day she gives me an egg and tells me to put it in a cooler with a light bulb and a bowl of water. Said to make sure I turned it 3 times a day for 18 days then leave it alone for 3 days... Well, the darn thing hatched... It was pretty cool. She gave me another egg the same day to put in the cooler to start all over.
Well, I had an issue with it constantly peeping at me at all hours of the night. The kids couldn't sleep. We were all exhausted after 3 days. Another very dear friend informed me that chickens are flock birds and that my chick needed friends to calm it down.
Off to the local family farm store I go to buy friends for the chick... (if only I could do that for my children) Not knowing what to by and them all looking so cute, I ended up buying 6 chicks. At this point no one has informed me that they can't go outside and stay outside for a few weeks...
Fast forward to this morning... the second egg hatched a day early. I have 8 chickens living in my kitchen that I can identify by name on sight. I just ordered more eggs because Americana, RIR, and Plymouth Rocks just aren't enough. Had to have silkies too.. AND I HAVE NO COOP!
I've looked at a bunch of designs, tried to come up with my own design even... I'm in an area that has snakes, raptors, and neighborhood cats (really not liking the cat lady) so I've decided that a completely enclosed run is a must. But I have no idea how big I need it to be. No idea what elements a coop should have other than nesting boxes.
If there is a way to do things wrong (or just backwards) I'll fall into it. I never planned on having chickens. Now, in just 6 weeks, I'm trying to figure out coops, ordering eggs, going to flock swaps, and getting the kids involved in 4-H...
Life is an adventure mixed with slap-stick comedy. Somewhere between The Beverly Hillbillies and Mission Impossible is where you'll find me.
~Kbandwe aka Kat
Now on to the chickens... A very dear friend of mine has RIR. One day she gives me an egg and tells me to put it in a cooler with a light bulb and a bowl of water. Said to make sure I turned it 3 times a day for 18 days then leave it alone for 3 days... Well, the darn thing hatched... It was pretty cool. She gave me another egg the same day to put in the cooler to start all over.
Well, I had an issue with it constantly peeping at me at all hours of the night. The kids couldn't sleep. We were all exhausted after 3 days. Another very dear friend informed me that chickens are flock birds and that my chick needed friends to calm it down.

Off to the local family farm store I go to buy friends for the chick... (if only I could do that for my children) Not knowing what to by and them all looking so cute, I ended up buying 6 chicks. At this point no one has informed me that they can't go outside and stay outside for a few weeks...
Fast forward to this morning... the second egg hatched a day early. I have 8 chickens living in my kitchen that I can identify by name on sight. I just ordered more eggs because Americana, RIR, and Plymouth Rocks just aren't enough. Had to have silkies too.. AND I HAVE NO COOP!
I've looked at a bunch of designs, tried to come up with my own design even... I'm in an area that has snakes, raptors, and neighborhood cats (really not liking the cat lady) so I've decided that a completely enclosed run is a must. But I have no idea how big I need it to be. No idea what elements a coop should have other than nesting boxes.
If there is a way to do things wrong (or just backwards) I'll fall into it. I never planned on having chickens. Now, in just 6 weeks, I'm trying to figure out coops, ordering eggs, going to flock swaps, and getting the kids involved in 4-H...
Life is an adventure mixed with slap-stick comedy. Somewhere between The Beverly Hillbillies and Mission Impossible is where you'll find me.
~Kbandwe aka Kat