sleepygreens
In the Brooder
- Jul 10, 2020
- 5
- 17
- 21
With our kids off in college now, my husband & I decided to start a “hobby” by getting a few chickens for eggs. This is our first time to raise any kind of livestock. We bought 8 baby chicks (7 Easter Eggers & 1 mystery chick) from our local farm supply store. We intended to buy all “pullets”, but the jury’s still out on one of them.
Despite the fact that we shamefully did NOT do enough research before jumping into this, we’re happy to say that we’ve kept the chicks alive for 4 months and they seem happy & healthy. We live in the country on several acres of wooded land with no fencing, so we keep the chicks in an 8’ x 16’ iron-barred walk-in run, covered with hardware cloth on the walls & a tarp over the top. We have 2 tiny coop houses inside the run, but the chicks never go inside them. They just roost on top of them. I image the coops (which are filled with pine shavings) will likely only be used for laying. And probably for warmth in the winter. (We live in very hot, very humid east Texas, so I can see why they don’t spend time inside those little coop houses). We recently built an 8’ x 10’ x 4’ high chicken “tractor” out of pvc pipe & chicken wire (partially covered by tarp). We transfer the girls to the tractor every morning, to graze in different parts of the yard all day. And we transfer them back into their “fortress” run every evening before dark. Their only feed, right now, is organic chicken starter/grower. Will start incorporating layer feed soon. We have so much to learn still. But after we get a good grip on chicken-parenting, we plan to start doing some container gardening.
Despite the fact that we shamefully did NOT do enough research before jumping into this, we’re happy to say that we’ve kept the chicks alive for 4 months and they seem happy & healthy. We live in the country on several acres of wooded land with no fencing, so we keep the chicks in an 8’ x 16’ iron-barred walk-in run, covered with hardware cloth on the walls & a tarp over the top. We have 2 tiny coop houses inside the run, but the chicks never go inside them. They just roost on top of them. I image the coops (which are filled with pine shavings) will likely only be used for laying. And probably for warmth in the winter. (We live in very hot, very humid east Texas, so I can see why they don’t spend time inside those little coop houses). We recently built an 8’ x 10’ x 4’ high chicken “tractor” out of pvc pipe & chicken wire (partially covered by tarp). We transfer the girls to the tractor every morning, to graze in different parts of the yard all day. And we transfer them back into their “fortress” run every evening before dark. Their only feed, right now, is organic chicken starter/grower. Will start incorporating layer feed soon. We have so much to learn still. But after we get a good grip on chicken-parenting, we plan to start doing some container gardening.
So glad you decided to join! 
Make yourself at home here.
