DesertNuggets
In the Brooder
- Aug 13, 2017
- 6
- 3
- 17
Growing up here in Arizona my family always had a flock of chickens, most of which we hatched in an incubator (the anticipation and careful watching was such fun!). Now that I have a little family of my own and have finally moved to a town that allows backyard poultry, we are excited to keep our own little band of hens!
While we were planning on building a coop over the next couple of months and bringing home chicks in the late fall, we very suddenly acquired 4 hens and 5 chicks, plus a too-small kit coop. Babies are roughly 2 and 4 weeks old and in the brooder, but we are hoping to move them into their own temporary small coop soon. The 4 hens were wild free range ladies, and were a package deal with the chicks and coop. They are terribly afraid of people but on their previous property they were prolific layers--we are hoping they will relax enough to lay again soon! It's been a long time since I've owned chickens, and most of what I remember was playing with the hens, cleaning out the coop, and collecting the eggs--I'm so glad to have a community to learn from!
Our breeds are anyone's guess. The chicks are certainly a mix of mystery breeds, and the hens may be as well. Running wild on acreage with several roosters of dubious background, we haven't a clue to which blend these ladies and the nuggets are!
We are a family of four with two young children, recently moved into an urban home with a good sized backyard--we are hoping that along with our chicks, we will soon be adding a small garden and doing what homesteading we can manage on our lot. Along with the birds, our pug keeps us on our toes (she is interested in the chickens...maybe too interested). I stay home with the kids and am a modern quilter, while my husband works as a programmer.
While we were planning on building a coop over the next couple of months and bringing home chicks in the late fall, we very suddenly acquired 4 hens and 5 chicks, plus a too-small kit coop. Babies are roughly 2 and 4 weeks old and in the brooder, but we are hoping to move them into their own temporary small coop soon. The 4 hens were wild free range ladies, and were a package deal with the chicks and coop. They are terribly afraid of people but on their previous property they were prolific layers--we are hoping they will relax enough to lay again soon! It's been a long time since I've owned chickens, and most of what I remember was playing with the hens, cleaning out the coop, and collecting the eggs--I'm so glad to have a community to learn from!
Our breeds are anyone's guess. The chicks are certainly a mix of mystery breeds, and the hens may be as well. Running wild on acreage with several roosters of dubious background, we haven't a clue to which blend these ladies and the nuggets are!
We are a family of four with two young children, recently moved into an urban home with a good sized backyard--we are hoping that along with our chicks, we will soon be adding a small garden and doing what homesteading we can manage on our lot. Along with the birds, our pug keeps us on our toes (she is interested in the chickens...maybe too interested). I stay home with the kids and am a modern quilter, while my husband works as a programmer.
