- May 28, 2014
- 2
- 0
- 7
Hello there!
I have been looking for a backyard chicken community and it looks like I came to the right place!
For a while now I have wanted to have chickens of my own for a few different reasons. I had them as a child and I remember having them around was always fun. In addition to being an animal lover I also eat Paleo and for those of you who don't know what that is I basically eat entirely organic non-GMO whole foods (No sugar, grain or dairy) so that means a ton of protein and veggies. So a back yard coop made sense. I am a Crossfit coach now but I was a professional wood worker for years so naturally I wanted to build the coop and enclosure myself. So I searched the web for some cool "modern" ideas for coop design and proceeded to hunt through my father in laws scrap pile (contractor- Score!) and started building. I thought the White trash chicken trailer (which you can find by Googling "Modern chicken coop" was a simple enough and cool design to execute so I went for that.After I had that all finished up it was time to build an enclosure for the hens. Unfortunately there wasn't enough scrap in the pile to get this done so off to Home Depot it was! In just two weekends I was finished (well almost) with the coop and enclosure and I was ready to pick out some ladies for my backyard. I named them Aretha, Etta, Chaka and Dolly. All Brown Sex Links. I love them. They greet me at the door in the morning and the evening when I bring them treats in their suit cage and drop ice blocks in their water (Its been hot here the last few days). I have 2 of the 4 who get under me and love to get pet and scratched.
I do admit I am quite green when it comes to backyard chickens. Alright I have tried to introduce two new hens and quickly relocated them to a local free range farm because I don't have the heart to go through (or put them through) the pecking order. I had no idea that it was such a involved process to introduce new hens but as I left the farm center the sales clerk warned me "Don't put those hens together, they will kill each other" as I held the two new hens outside of his store. I located a puppy pen and from the second I put them in there I felt horrible.after a week (and a lot of research) I tried to let them mingle and after 5 minutes of scuffling I posted the girls on craigslist. It was only a few hours before a nice family with an established flock (and experience) came and got them. And then there were 4.. Again.
I am still doing lots of reading about the best ways to take care of them, how to promote healthy eggs and laying, how to keep them happy and entertained and thinking of improvements I can make to the enclosure and coop, basically searching for any way to spoil my ladies. I have a local craftsman building us a "dine-a-chuck" style feeder and I ordered cups from eBay to fabricate my own waterer.
I am still learning the personalities of each chicken and how they act in certain situations. Obsessively trying to determine if how they act at any given moment is due to a stress or because they are just now starting to lay. I have one who is laying soft eggs and I found her eating one so I am trying to research ways to break her from that habit. Other than that Im just having a lot of fun in my yard spending time with them and watering my veggies.
I am excited to learn more and make them a part of the family. I will take some pictures and post them tonight!
Thanks for reading!
I have been looking for a backyard chicken community and it looks like I came to the right place!
For a while now I have wanted to have chickens of my own for a few different reasons. I had them as a child and I remember having them around was always fun. In addition to being an animal lover I also eat Paleo and for those of you who don't know what that is I basically eat entirely organic non-GMO whole foods (No sugar, grain or dairy) so that means a ton of protein and veggies. So a back yard coop made sense. I am a Crossfit coach now but I was a professional wood worker for years so naturally I wanted to build the coop and enclosure myself. So I searched the web for some cool "modern" ideas for coop design and proceeded to hunt through my father in laws scrap pile (contractor- Score!) and started building. I thought the White trash chicken trailer (which you can find by Googling "Modern chicken coop" was a simple enough and cool design to execute so I went for that.After I had that all finished up it was time to build an enclosure for the hens. Unfortunately there wasn't enough scrap in the pile to get this done so off to Home Depot it was! In just two weekends I was finished (well almost) with the coop and enclosure and I was ready to pick out some ladies for my backyard. I named them Aretha, Etta, Chaka and Dolly. All Brown Sex Links. I love them. They greet me at the door in the morning and the evening when I bring them treats in their suit cage and drop ice blocks in their water (Its been hot here the last few days). I have 2 of the 4 who get under me and love to get pet and scratched.
I do admit I am quite green when it comes to backyard chickens. Alright I have tried to introduce two new hens and quickly relocated them to a local free range farm because I don't have the heart to go through (or put them through) the pecking order. I had no idea that it was such a involved process to introduce new hens but as I left the farm center the sales clerk warned me "Don't put those hens together, they will kill each other" as I held the two new hens outside of his store. I located a puppy pen and from the second I put them in there I felt horrible.after a week (and a lot of research) I tried to let them mingle and after 5 minutes of scuffling I posted the girls on craigslist. It was only a few hours before a nice family with an established flock (and experience) came and got them. And then there were 4.. Again.
I am still doing lots of reading about the best ways to take care of them, how to promote healthy eggs and laying, how to keep them happy and entertained and thinking of improvements I can make to the enclosure and coop, basically searching for any way to spoil my ladies. I have a local craftsman building us a "dine-a-chuck" style feeder and I ordered cups from eBay to fabricate my own waterer.
I am still learning the personalities of each chicken and how they act in certain situations. Obsessively trying to determine if how they act at any given moment is due to a stress or because they are just now starting to lay. I have one who is laying soft eggs and I found her eating one so I am trying to research ways to break her from that habit. Other than that Im just having a lot of fun in my yard spending time with them and watering my veggies.
I am excited to learn more and make them a part of the family. I will take some pictures and post them tonight!
Thanks for reading!
and Welcome To BYC! Nice introduction, good luck with your flock! Pullets often do become a little weird when they are starting to lay, always figured it was their hormones making them act up. Shell-less eggs (and other odd eggs) are pretty common when they start to lay, it is just them getting in gear, and it is usually nothing to worry about as they will eventually straighten out. If you are getting a lot of them, or one chicken is only laying soft eggs, you might look into other things that could be going on. Chickens do seem to like to eat soft shelled eggs, but it doesn't really seem to lead to eating regular eggs. There is a nice article in the Learning Center on breaking egg eaters. Be sure to keep fake eggs in the nesting boxes especially. 
