- Apr 8, 2009
- 10
- 0
- 22
Hello everyone.
A few years back my wife and I bought our first house out in the countryside of Poland, Maine (where Poland Spring Water comes from) and I've been thinking about trying my hand and raising a few chickens to get some fresher eggs (the wife who is an avid animal lover has 'axed' any concept of raising chickens for meat).
Right now I'm just in the initial 'planning' stages of doing this. My background is in Accounting & Computer so 'farm' life is pretty new to me. I just realized today (through reading through other sites and posts) that hens don't need a rooster to lay eggs (they're just unfertilized eggs). I had no idea about that...
My first "big" decision is what breed to start out with. Right now I'm only thinking about having 4 hens....something easy to get started with. At first glance the White Leghorn appears to be the ideal Egg Layer, but now that I'm reading up on 'Personalities', it appears these little buggers aren't the most friendly. Now I'm leaning more towards the Golden Comet as I'm reading that these tend to be more friendly birds. And living in the colder climate of Maine it appears Comets are more hardy.
I have two daughters, ages 3 and 1 and would like a breed that will be good for them to interact with (in the case of the 1 year old, when she's a few years older...)
I've been on a 'sustainable' living kick for the past twelve months or so, planting a couple Honey Crisp Apple trees, planning for other fruit trees, and getting ready to plant a small 10x10 garden.
A few years back my wife and I bought our first house out in the countryside of Poland, Maine (where Poland Spring Water comes from) and I've been thinking about trying my hand and raising a few chickens to get some fresher eggs (the wife who is an avid animal lover has 'axed' any concept of raising chickens for meat).
Right now I'm just in the initial 'planning' stages of doing this. My background is in Accounting & Computer so 'farm' life is pretty new to me. I just realized today (through reading through other sites and posts) that hens don't need a rooster to lay eggs (they're just unfertilized eggs). I had no idea about that...
My first "big" decision is what breed to start out with. Right now I'm only thinking about having 4 hens....something easy to get started with. At first glance the White Leghorn appears to be the ideal Egg Layer, but now that I'm reading up on 'Personalities', it appears these little buggers aren't the most friendly. Now I'm leaning more towards the Golden Comet as I'm reading that these tend to be more friendly birds. And living in the colder climate of Maine it appears Comets are more hardy.
I have two daughters, ages 3 and 1 and would like a breed that will be good for them to interact with (in the case of the 1 year old, when she's a few years older...)
I've been on a 'sustainable' living kick for the past twelve months or so, planting a couple Honey Crisp Apple trees, planning for other fruit trees, and getting ready to plant a small 10x10 garden.
