I may have put the cart a little before the horse casue I just posted this in the hatching section, but came back to post it here too, just so everybody knows.
Hi All. My name is Rob. Brand new to the sight and thought it'd be cool if I told you a little story. The wife and I recently rescued 4 New Hampshire Red Hens, a Silkie Hen and a Rose Comb Rooster, from the old boy across the road who up and moved off and abandoned his flock. After about two weeks we just couldn't take it anymore and we went over and rounded them up and put them in our back yard. Man did we ever start something. Always thought about raising chickens but never really had a place to do it before. The next day which was the Saturday before easter, we went to the feed store and bought 6 more New Hampshire pullets. Sadly we lost two in the first couple of days. When these chicks began flying out of their box at about 3 weeks old I built a chicken tractor out back and moved them into it. However, at two weeks old I ended up back at the feed store and bought 16 more chicks. We've lost our bloomin minds. We have Black Orpingtons, silkies, barred rocks, Rhode Island reds, you name it. Obvious we had to do something, so next we built a small barn with nest boxes and all the trimmings. Did I mention we have 4 baby goats out there too? Two of them are still being bottle fed. Those were rescued from a farmer whose herd had lost them in mud out in the middle of nowhere. Tuesday, we clipped wings and turned all the chicks out into the yard with the grown birds from across the street and the goats. Oh, and I almost forgot, 3 weeks ago, I also bought a cooler, we put in 9 eggs we collected over 3 days. 1 from the Silkie and the others are from the New Hampshire hens. The Avatar you see by my name is the beginning result of that experiment. You talk about awesome to watch. It pipped about 7 this morning and by 11 it was a chicken. The intensity of wanting to help the thing out of the shell was almost overpowering . The New Hampshires haven't began pipping or anything yet. That has me a little worried as you can imagine. Its kinda like being a parent. The hatchling has began drying out, and is active but chirping an awful lot. That has me concerned as well. Every bit of the learning we've acquired has been a result of this web sight. You folks got it goin on. Now all I gotta do is learn how to raise the 5 turkeys I bought yesterday and it'll be hunky dory huh!!! Oh and one more thing-- Its like a disease. I came home with the turkeys yesterday and tried unsuccessfully to hide the 3 Buff Orpington chicks, but I got caught.
Hi All. My name is Rob. Brand new to the sight and thought it'd be cool if I told you a little story. The wife and I recently rescued 4 New Hampshire Red Hens, a Silkie Hen and a Rose Comb Rooster, from the old boy across the road who up and moved off and abandoned his flock. After about two weeks we just couldn't take it anymore and we went over and rounded them up and put them in our back yard. Man did we ever start something. Always thought about raising chickens but never really had a place to do it before. The next day which was the Saturday before easter, we went to the feed store and bought 6 more New Hampshire pullets. Sadly we lost two in the first couple of days. When these chicks began flying out of their box at about 3 weeks old I built a chicken tractor out back and moved them into it. However, at two weeks old I ended up back at the feed store and bought 16 more chicks. We've lost our bloomin minds. We have Black Orpingtons, silkies, barred rocks, Rhode Island reds, you name it. Obvious we had to do something, so next we built a small barn with nest boxes and all the trimmings. Did I mention we have 4 baby goats out there too? Two of them are still being bottle fed. Those were rescued from a farmer whose herd had lost them in mud out in the middle of nowhere. Tuesday, we clipped wings and turned all the chicks out into the yard with the grown birds from across the street and the goats. Oh, and I almost forgot, 3 weeks ago, I also bought a cooler, we put in 9 eggs we collected over 3 days. 1 from the Silkie and the others are from the New Hampshire hens. The Avatar you see by my name is the beginning result of that experiment. You talk about awesome to watch. It pipped about 7 this morning and by 11 it was a chicken. The intensity of wanting to help the thing out of the shell was almost overpowering . The New Hampshires haven't began pipping or anything yet. That has me a little worried as you can imagine. Its kinda like being a parent. The hatchling has began drying out, and is active but chirping an awful lot. That has me concerned as well. Every bit of the learning we've acquired has been a result of this web sight. You folks got it goin on. Now all I gotta do is learn how to raise the 5 turkeys I bought yesterday and it'll be hunky dory huh!!! Oh and one more thing-- Its like a disease. I came home with the turkeys yesterday and tried unsuccessfully to hide the 3 Buff Orpington chicks, but I got caught.
