- Feb 23, 2011
- 38
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Hi All,
After an eleven year break from having chickens, we decided over the past few months to have another flock.I asked for a chicken coop for Christmas, and DH thought it was a crazy request but said okay, as long as he could wait til it wasn't zero degrees outside to build it.
I ordered our chicks today, and they are set to arrive in mid April. Like all expecting parents, we are nervous and excited. And like some expectant parents who think they are done with their childbearing and have a little surprise package show up later, lol, we are wondering how many rusty chicken parent skills we need to work on, and how many changes have occurred in the chicken world since we were last a part of it.One big, wonderful resource available now is the internet, which wasn't available in our very rural location way back in the day, and I am sure we will be spending many an hour on here (I happened to come across this board surfing for chicken tractor plans).
We have decided to start with Easter Eggers, as this is what our main flock was before, and I truly adore the beautiful colored eggs and their personalities. We hope to pasture raise our own meat birds, also, but haven't decided on a breed as of yet.I am also partial to Buff Orpingtons, as we had a Buff gal given to us when we had our other girls, and she was a sweetheart.
We live on a micro farm in NW Indiana. We have been raising our own grass fed beef for about five years at this location, and are now going to start raising the chickens and a couple of feeder pigs again.We also have a large garden and do a lot of canning and freezing.We moved about seven years ago, and the four hundred mile difference has meant getting used to a whole new climate (cool northern MI to much warmer IN) with different animal husbandry skills required.
Besides gardening (my passion), we also like to camp, hike, and bike (both motor and pedal). I like to read, draw, and lift weights. I also like to create pysanky (Ukranian decorated eggs), so will probably branch out and have a few white egg layers eventually.
Our DD has also finally reached her lifelong goal of having her own little farm, and she would like some chickens also, although I think she is debating this with her DH still. Since the minimum order for chicks IS twenty-five, I bought that many, and may be quickly dividing our flock and gifting her with her very own small flock for Mother's Day if her hubby says yes.
After an eleven year break from having chickens, we decided over the past few months to have another flock.I asked for a chicken coop for Christmas, and DH thought it was a crazy request but said okay, as long as he could wait til it wasn't zero degrees outside to build it.
I ordered our chicks today, and they are set to arrive in mid April. Like all expecting parents, we are nervous and excited. And like some expectant parents who think they are done with their childbearing and have a little surprise package show up later, lol, we are wondering how many rusty chicken parent skills we need to work on, and how many changes have occurred in the chicken world since we were last a part of it.One big, wonderful resource available now is the internet, which wasn't available in our very rural location way back in the day, and I am sure we will be spending many an hour on here (I happened to come across this board surfing for chicken tractor plans).
We have decided to start with Easter Eggers, as this is what our main flock was before, and I truly adore the beautiful colored eggs and their personalities. We hope to pasture raise our own meat birds, also, but haven't decided on a breed as of yet.I am also partial to Buff Orpingtons, as we had a Buff gal given to us when we had our other girls, and she was a sweetheart.
We live on a micro farm in NW Indiana. We have been raising our own grass fed beef for about five years at this location, and are now going to start raising the chickens and a couple of feeder pigs again.We also have a large garden and do a lot of canning and freezing.We moved about seven years ago, and the four hundred mile difference has meant getting used to a whole new climate (cool northern MI to much warmer IN) with different animal husbandry skills required.
Besides gardening (my passion), we also like to camp, hike, and bike (both motor and pedal). I like to read, draw, and lift weights. I also like to create pysanky (Ukranian decorated eggs), so will probably branch out and have a few white egg layers eventually.
Our DD has also finally reached her lifelong goal of having her own little farm, and she would like some chickens also, although I think she is debating this with her DH still. Since the minimum order for chicks IS twenty-five, I bought that many, and may be quickly dividing our flock and gifting her with her very own small flock for Mother's Day if her hubby says yes.
