Howdy.
After discussing and debating for a number of years, I finally let my wife talk me into a few chickens in late October of last year. We started off with 4 barred rocks and a small coop, and incorporated them into our existing menagerie (which includes 3 kids still at home, 4 large Sulcata tortoises, a hedgehog, chameleon, red-eared slider, 2 Aussie shepherds, 2 rabbits, and a pony.)
We chose the Barred Rocks because they had interesting coloration and would be good dual purpose birds that could tolerate the desert heat in central AZ. They're pretty mellow, seem to enjoy our company, and the kids like to watch them. Recently they've begun laying eggs and I haven't had to buy them at the store for almost 2 months now.
The problems began when one of our original 4 got attacked by a predatory bird (we have a number of hawks, osprey, and even bald eagles in the area so don't know specifically what did it), and she ultimately died from shock and the damage. The next day we had replaced her with an Easter Egger (that we were incorrectly told was an Ameraucana), and a Delaware, along with an indoor brooding setup as they were 2 day olds and needed to be inside for a while.
A few weeks pass and the EE/Delaware get to go outside and join the Barred's in the coop. Ok, well, now we have this indoor brooder and it's empty, what do we do with it? Put it away?
Nope! We bring home 3 Gold-Laced Wyandottes, now known as the 3 amigos. They spend some time inside and then they get to go out to the yard too. By this point the other girls are big enough to be out during the day, so we leave the top of the coop open for them to come and go as they please but the 3 amigos are safe in the coop all day. The barred start laying, and I promptly buy off my neighbors on either side with fresh brown eggs. neither of them even knew we had gotten chickens, but they love fresh eggs, so if the birds get a little rowdy they'll not mind so much. Win!
A few weeks go by and all is well. Then my Aussies accidentally trample another of the barred rocks while wrestling, breaking it's neck. She was big enough to butcher so into the freezer she went after cleaning.
Oh, man. Now the kids are bummed out and sad because we lost another bird. What to do? Oh, hey, I know someone who has silkies and langshans, let's go take a look. Maybe we'll pick up one and replace the barred with it.
Wrong! I can't get them out of there without a white, black, and buff bantam silkie, and somehow I ended up with a black and blue langshan as well. They're week-olds, so again, they go into the indoor brooder for a while until they're big enough to handle outside. It's like a revolving door for baby chicks. My kids are the envy of the neighborhood because they have all these little babies to play with all the time, and I'm beginning to accumulate a nice stockpile of fertilizer for the roses and bouganvillea (which the girls all love hanging out under. Things are progressing along as they should. We're getting suspicious about one of the 3 amigos, as the comb and wattles are a lot deeper red and the tail feathers are not coming in as the other 2 are. We're still keeping an eye on that, but pretty sure He's going to live somewhere else soon as we don't really want any roos in the flock right now. not a huge deal, I have several friends who will take him happily if that's the case, he'll be gorgeous.
One afternoon a couple weeks later we're at the feed store picking up some crumble and the counter clerk mentions they have a new shipment of babies. Here we go again! This time, it's a Cuckoo Maran, a Silver Polish, and a Mottled Java. Into the hot box they go for a while until they can go outside. At this point we also set another coop, because we're gonna need a bigger roost.
Last weekend the wife is browsing craigslist and she mentions that she found a place locally with real Ameraucana day-old hatchlings. Cool. I really want blue egg layers, and we're not sure yet what we're going to get from the EE (she's due to start laying any time now), so we give them a buzz.
I think i might have been able to get out of there with just a Blue Ameraucana if I hadn't taken the kids...
Blue Ameraucana
Tolbunt Polish
Blue Isbar
Black Turken
Svart Hona
All came home and though we lost the isbar yesterday (too weak), that has already been replaced with an Olive Egger and we're going back out tomorrow to get a replacement Isbar
So, to sum up:
6 months of being a chicken owner
Many more birds than I had anticipated having
No end in sight
Please, help me. I'm not sure I can stop bringing home cool chickens. I keep blaming it on my wife and children, but I'm not sure whether that's legit or just denial of my own addiction.
After discussing and debating for a number of years, I finally let my wife talk me into a few chickens in late October of last year. We started off with 4 barred rocks and a small coop, and incorporated them into our existing menagerie (which includes 3 kids still at home, 4 large Sulcata tortoises, a hedgehog, chameleon, red-eared slider, 2 Aussie shepherds, 2 rabbits, and a pony.)
We chose the Barred Rocks because they had interesting coloration and would be good dual purpose birds that could tolerate the desert heat in central AZ. They're pretty mellow, seem to enjoy our company, and the kids like to watch them. Recently they've begun laying eggs and I haven't had to buy them at the store for almost 2 months now.
The problems began when one of our original 4 got attacked by a predatory bird (we have a number of hawks, osprey, and even bald eagles in the area so don't know specifically what did it), and she ultimately died from shock and the damage. The next day we had replaced her with an Easter Egger (that we were incorrectly told was an Ameraucana), and a Delaware, along with an indoor brooding setup as they were 2 day olds and needed to be inside for a while.
A few weeks pass and the EE/Delaware get to go outside and join the Barred's in the coop. Ok, well, now we have this indoor brooder and it's empty, what do we do with it? Put it away?
Nope! We bring home 3 Gold-Laced Wyandottes, now known as the 3 amigos. They spend some time inside and then they get to go out to the yard too. By this point the other girls are big enough to be out during the day, so we leave the top of the coop open for them to come and go as they please but the 3 amigos are safe in the coop all day. The barred start laying, and I promptly buy off my neighbors on either side with fresh brown eggs. neither of them even knew we had gotten chickens, but they love fresh eggs, so if the birds get a little rowdy they'll not mind so much. Win!
A few weeks go by and all is well. Then my Aussies accidentally trample another of the barred rocks while wrestling, breaking it's neck. She was big enough to butcher so into the freezer she went after cleaning.
Oh, man. Now the kids are bummed out and sad because we lost another bird. What to do? Oh, hey, I know someone who has silkies and langshans, let's go take a look. Maybe we'll pick up one and replace the barred with it.
Wrong! I can't get them out of there without a white, black, and buff bantam silkie, and somehow I ended up with a black and blue langshan as well. They're week-olds, so again, they go into the indoor brooder for a while until they're big enough to handle outside. It's like a revolving door for baby chicks. My kids are the envy of the neighborhood because they have all these little babies to play with all the time, and I'm beginning to accumulate a nice stockpile of fertilizer for the roses and bouganvillea (which the girls all love hanging out under. Things are progressing along as they should. We're getting suspicious about one of the 3 amigos, as the comb and wattles are a lot deeper red and the tail feathers are not coming in as the other 2 are. We're still keeping an eye on that, but pretty sure He's going to live somewhere else soon as we don't really want any roos in the flock right now. not a huge deal, I have several friends who will take him happily if that's the case, he'll be gorgeous.
One afternoon a couple weeks later we're at the feed store picking up some crumble and the counter clerk mentions they have a new shipment of babies. Here we go again! This time, it's a Cuckoo Maran, a Silver Polish, and a Mottled Java. Into the hot box they go for a while until they can go outside. At this point we also set another coop, because we're gonna need a bigger roost.
Last weekend the wife is browsing craigslist and she mentions that she found a place locally with real Ameraucana day-old hatchlings. Cool. I really want blue egg layers, and we're not sure yet what we're going to get from the EE (she's due to start laying any time now), so we give them a buzz.
I think i might have been able to get out of there with just a Blue Ameraucana if I hadn't taken the kids...
Blue Ameraucana
Tolbunt Polish
Blue Isbar
Black Turken
Svart Hona
All came home and though we lost the isbar yesterday (too weak), that has already been replaced with an Olive Egger and we're going back out tomorrow to get a replacement Isbar
So, to sum up:
6 months of being a chicken owner
Many more birds than I had anticipated having
No end in sight
Please, help me. I'm not sure I can stop bringing home cool chickens. I keep blaming it on my wife and children, but I'm not sure whether that's legit or just denial of my own addiction.
