I Didn't Want Chickens

[TimLewallen]

These are my chickens and this is my story.

 

[Hybridchucks]

No offence but "what"???

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

I'm confused. Do you mean you didn't originally want / intend to have chickens but now you have them?

 

[TimLewallen]

I will have posts here. I am having them copied over from my "intro" thread. I intended to make this my spot for the comings and goings of my flock. All will become clear.

Thanks for the interest!

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

Awe I get it! Can't wait then!

 

[Hybridchucks]

Awe I get it! Can't wait then!

x2

 

[TimLewallen]

Greetings everyone.

My name is Tim and I live in East Texas in a little town called Nacogdoches.

My father-in-law and brother-in-law both have large backyard flocks of chickens (60-80 birds) and they have been on me for months about how I needed to have chickens too. I was dead set against it.

With 4 children, three dogs and two cats I felt I was already fighting above my weight class. I didn't need to add to the hassle.

Well, my brother-in-law and my youngest son set about building a coop at his house with the plans of bringing it over to our house along with three hens. My son begged and begged, swore he would care for the birds, he would be super responsible. You know the drill.

So, one evening I get the call that the house and the birds are on their way. We got it setup and the birds installed. I told my boy that the chickens were his responsibility. I was not going to lift a finger to help. He was fine with that.

The coop-

The boy-

The chickens-

So, fast forward a few weeks. The girls got bigger and started supplying us with brown, blue and green eggs. Those dark orange yolks were delicious.

The girls started to grow on me. I found myself out in the backyard feeding them clover, talking to them and carrying them around. They won me over.

So I started on a new coop.

Several years back I built a backyard fort for my two boys and two girls to play in. They have outgrown it for the most part and I thought it would make a perfect coop. So I made some alterations, put up some fencing for a chicken run and here we are.

We are planning on getting another 20 birds or so from a local friend who is hatching several different breeds.

Now if I can just keep our dachshunds from trying to eat them.

 

[TimLewallen]

Originally posted April 4, 2017-

So last week sometime Lucy (the chicken in my profile photo) flew out of the chicken run and was quickly dispatched by the dogs.

That brought us down to a single chicken, Emily. Since we had already decided on getting new chicks we felt it would be best to move her to my father-in-laws coop to be with his chickens and start fresh in our coop. She fell right in with them and was happy.

Sunday we picked up our new chicks. I bought 7 from a friend that is starting up a hatchery business at their home. From her we picked up

3 Easter Eggers
2 Barred Rocks
2 Rhode Island Reds

Then we headed over to Tractor Supply that had their pullets on sale for $.99 each. I picked up 20.

So that gives me 27 total chicks. They will be safe and sound in the coop for a few weeks and that gives me time to reinforce the chicken run and put up netting over the top. I hope to have eggs around the end of the summer.

 

[TimLewallen]

Originally posted April 25, 2017-

A more recent photo. They are getting there. A few more weeks and I will let them out.

 

[TimLewallen]

Originally posted May 1, 2017-

I got the Little Giant automatic waterer installed this weekend. The girls took to it immediately. The installation was a snap. I highly recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Giant-Poultry-Fount-Waterer/dp/B000AYFZ6U/