Hello from NW Indiana. My family and I are new to the chicken game and we have been having a grand time. I grew up on a farm so chickens are not new to me. I live in-city so when I found out that chickens were finally allowed to be homed within the city limits, I jumped on it. My friend has about 14 now. With her help we got everything we needed (she gave great pointers on where to look for supplies) and finally after 4 months, we are complete. This is our first summer with the girls so it has been exciting. Our granddaughter turns 4 next month and I wanted to get her involved outside, dealing with animals and nature at a young age and away from the electronics of today. She LOVES her chickens!
So we started our home brood in March. We ordered fertilized eggs and only one hatched. We purchased 4 more from our local TSC and started raising the little ones. Our survivor ended up passing and we ended up with a rooster which we rehomed (roosters not allowed in-city) to my cousin's farm. Then we decided to try to hatch more. We ended up with 5 EEs. We also found some of the more exotic ones and purchased those. At one point we had 17. We learned how fragile they are to scares (lost 2), and rehome the extras. We currently have 6 (Asian Black, Golden Comet, White Polish, Silkie, Mottled Houdan and 1 EEs).
My family who at first were beside themselves when I mentioned doing this now cannot imagine NOT having them. They are a joy to watch, relaxing, conversing with (yes I am called that crazy chicken mom by my family) and just interacting with them. My favorite is to read a book, on our patio, watching them. We have them in their fenced pen/run to keep away from our dogs (we have a husky who thinks the EE is her toy and a Lhasa apso who is smaller than a couple of our 18 wk old chickens).
I love this community as it has answered MANY questions I have had since we started. And today, we got our first egg. just not sure who laid it but it was exciting to find.
So we started our home brood in March. We ordered fertilized eggs and only one hatched. We purchased 4 more from our local TSC and started raising the little ones. Our survivor ended up passing and we ended up with a rooster which we rehomed (roosters not allowed in-city) to my cousin's farm. Then we decided to try to hatch more. We ended up with 5 EEs. We also found some of the more exotic ones and purchased those. At one point we had 17. We learned how fragile they are to scares (lost 2), and rehome the extras. We currently have 6 (Asian Black, Golden Comet, White Polish, Silkie, Mottled Houdan and 1 EEs).
My family who at first were beside themselves when I mentioned doing this now cannot imagine NOT having them. They are a joy to watch, relaxing, conversing with (yes I am called that crazy chicken mom by my family) and just interacting with them. My favorite is to read a book, on our patio, watching them. We have them in their fenced pen/run to keep away from our dogs (we have a husky who thinks the EE is her toy and a Lhasa apso who is smaller than a couple of our 18 wk old chickens).
I love this community as it has answered MANY questions I have had since we started. And today, we got our first egg. just not sure who laid it but it was exciting to find.
