- Aug 19, 2011
- 6
- 0
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Hi! I'm new to the whole chicken raising thing. I'm from Indianapolis, IN. I grew up in the city & all we ever had were cats & dogs. My husband grew up more in the country (no pigs or chicks or cows, but sort of out of town). He wanted to have land in the country, so we bought a house 2 yrs ago that's 40 miles outside of Indianapolis. We have 5 acres, & I guess the previous owners had horses because we have a horse barn & a pasture.
In March of this year my husband bought 25 chickens. I'll be honest, I was not pleased. I didn't want chickens or any other "farm" animal for that matter.
The chicks were little & we kept them in our garage until May. At that time, my husband built a chicken coop & we moved them to an area on the side of the barn that was probably a training ring for horses. For the first couple of months the chickens were free range, I guess. They were let out of the coop every moning & they roamed the yard, all 5 acres, as they pleased.
We have since put up fencing around the area, mainly to keep wld animals out, as the chickens still can fly up on the top of the fence & get over when they want too.
So, since they've been out in the yard, I've gotten attached, if you will, to them. I've learned that we have 13 ISA Brown hens, that are very curious girls. My 12 yr old daughter named them all Matilda. Since they all look alike we call them the same name. They started laying eggs about the second week of July. We also have 11 Auracana (sp) hens & 1 Auracana rooster. I'm not sure if these might actually be Easter Eggers? We have had 2 start laying blue eggs though. My daughter has named all of the Auracana's. They vary in color from golden (wheat?) to black/white, black/gold & silver. The rooster is red/white/black. He's very pretty.
I have found that I really look forward to going out & collecting eggs & some days I may spend an hour out there in the morning just watching the hens. The Matilda's love to talk to me. When I go out there they all run up to me, talking all at once. As the Auracana's have started laying eggs and the ones that seem to be getting close to lay, they've started greeting me also. I think they are very proud of themselves for laying eggs. I know I am proud of them & tell them that when I collect all the eggs.
I'm glad I found this site because I thought I was crazy for talking to chickens!! Who knows, maybe some day I'll enjoy having a cow!
In March of this year my husband bought 25 chickens. I'll be honest, I was not pleased. I didn't want chickens or any other "farm" animal for that matter.
The chicks were little & we kept them in our garage until May. At that time, my husband built a chicken coop & we moved them to an area on the side of the barn that was probably a training ring for horses. For the first couple of months the chickens were free range, I guess. They were let out of the coop every moning & they roamed the yard, all 5 acres, as they pleased.
We have since put up fencing around the area, mainly to keep wld animals out, as the chickens still can fly up on the top of the fence & get over when they want too.
So, since they've been out in the yard, I've gotten attached, if you will, to them. I've learned that we have 13 ISA Brown hens, that are very curious girls. My 12 yr old daughter named them all Matilda. Since they all look alike we call them the same name. They started laying eggs about the second week of July. We also have 11 Auracana (sp) hens & 1 Auracana rooster. I'm not sure if these might actually be Easter Eggers? We have had 2 start laying blue eggs though. My daughter has named all of the Auracana's. They vary in color from golden (wheat?) to black/white, black/gold & silver. The rooster is red/white/black. He's very pretty.
I have found that I really look forward to going out & collecting eggs & some days I may spend an hour out there in the morning just watching the hens. The Matilda's love to talk to me. When I go out there they all run up to me, talking all at once. As the Auracana's have started laying eggs and the ones that seem to be getting close to lay, they've started greeting me also. I think they are very proud of themselves for laying eggs. I know I am proud of them & tell them that when I collect all the eggs.
I'm glad I found this site because I thought I was crazy for talking to chickens!! Who knows, maybe some day I'll enjoy having a cow!
