Good Morning,
As you can see, my username is JustRambling. I thought, what better place to post a sort of diary of my journey as a chicken owner than the "Random Ramblings" forum.
Anyway, so my purpose for writing this is so that I can look back on things that work, things that don't, and learn from it. Others are welcome to learn from my mistakes as well. 
A History: So, When I was a teen, my family got chickens. First we bought chicks, we named them all, and later, we found out they were ALL roosters! The parents decided since we won't be getting eggs, maybe we should use them for meat...
This did not go over well with my sensitive heart. But, there we all were, Dad killing them, Mom(stepmom)...doing something, not sure what, and I was stuck with plucking the feathers. It was disgusting! LOL! I swore I would never eat chicken again because I was afraid it would be my pet chicken. I stayed true to that promise until I left home. Anyway, we decided to get an established flock with a rooster to protect them from wild animals in the area. We named the Rooster Carter. He was THE meanest rooster, I have ever known...I have the scars to prove it. So does one of my little brothers. But, we got eggs, and they were good...until my aunt, who is a year older than me, told me, "Just think, every time you eat an egg, you are eating a baby chicken." That turned me off of eggs for several years. 
Of course, later I learned that isn't true of eggs from chickens who are not around roosters.
Fast Forward to June 2017. I currently live in Connecticut, although I grew up in California. We went back to visit my family. We always stay at the house with my stepmom. She had chicks and it was so much fun to just sit and watch them. I have been wanting to have chickens for several years, for eggs. I have looked into it a bit, but this just really made me step up the campaign to talk my husband into getting chickens. For several months I have been searching, researching and reading anything I can get my hands on. Long story short, we agreed that we would get chicks this spring. Then comes the news that I have to have Hip replacement surgery.
I would never be able to take care of chicks in the basement after surgery, so I was very sad that I now have to wait until NEXT year to get chicks. But wait...we don't have a coop yet. But some wonderful friends approached us and told us that they would GIVE us their coop! 
They still have 3 older chickens and want to give us those chickens too! 
Adult chickens I can handle. LOL! And I can get my two grown boys to help out with them after the surgery.
This is the coop we are going to get. We may make some changes to it in the future, like raise the roof so I don't have to stoop to clean out and take care of the food and water.
These are the three hens that come with the coop. The white one is a Leghorn that they named Bugs. I want to rename her Martha, she is the oldest and no longer lays, but she's the leader of the flock. The next one is a Dark Brahma who I want to name Mabel. The third one is a Black Sex-link that I want to name Maxine. She is the youngest. I don't have them in my yard yet, but hopefully soon. When I am re-"coop"erated, (Did you see what I did there?
) we can get some chicks to raise and eventually introduce to the older ladies. My friend tells me that these ladies are very accepting of new chickens, but we will be careful anyway. So starts our journey to chicken ownership.
This is the Dark Brahma I want to name Mabel. Better Picture.
Next step: Get the Dang birds and coop in my posession!
As you can see, my username is JustRambling. I thought, what better place to post a sort of diary of my journey as a chicken owner than the "Random Ramblings" forum.
Anyway, so my purpose for writing this is so that I can look back on things that work, things that don't, and learn from it. Others are welcome to learn from my mistakes as well. A History: So, When I was a teen, my family got chickens. First we bought chicks, we named them all, and later, we found out they were ALL roosters! The parents decided since we won't be getting eggs, maybe we should use them for meat...
This did not go over well with my sensitive heart. But, there we all were, Dad killing them, Mom(stepmom)...doing something, not sure what, and I was stuck with plucking the feathers. It was disgusting! LOL! I swore I would never eat chicken again because I was afraid it would be my pet chicken. I stayed true to that promise until I left home. Anyway, we decided to get an established flock with a rooster to protect them from wild animals in the area. We named the Rooster Carter. He was THE meanest rooster, I have ever known...I have the scars to prove it. So does one of my little brothers. But, we got eggs, and they were good...until my aunt, who is a year older than me, told me, "Just think, every time you eat an egg, you are eating a baby chicken." That turned me off of eggs for several years. Of course, later I learned that isn't true of eggs from chickens who are not around roosters.Fast Forward to June 2017. I currently live in Connecticut, although I grew up in California. We went back to visit my family. We always stay at the house with my stepmom. She had chicks and it was so much fun to just sit and watch them. I have been wanting to have chickens for several years, for eggs. I have looked into it a bit, but this just really made me step up the campaign to talk my husband into getting chickens. For several months I have been searching, researching and reading anything I can get my hands on. Long story short, we agreed that we would get chicks this spring. Then comes the news that I have to have Hip replacement surgery.
I would never be able to take care of chicks in the basement after surgery, so I was very sad that I now have to wait until NEXT year to get chicks. But wait...we don't have a coop yet. But some wonderful friends approached us and told us that they would GIVE us their coop! They still have 3 older chickens and want to give us those chickens too! Adult chickens I can handle. LOL! And I can get my two grown boys to help out with them after the surgery.This is the coop we are going to get. We may make some changes to it in the future, like raise the roof so I don't have to stoop to clean out and take care of the food and water.
These are the three hens that come with the coop. The white one is a Leghorn that they named Bugs. I want to rename her Martha, she is the oldest and no longer lays, but she's the leader of the flock. The next one is a Dark Brahma who I want to name Mabel. The third one is a Black Sex-link that I want to name Maxine. She is the youngest. I don't have them in my yard yet, but hopefully soon. When I am re-"coop"erated, (Did you see what I did there?
) we can get some chicks to raise and eventually introduce to the older ladies. My friend tells me that these ladies are very accepting of new chickens, but we will be careful anyway. So starts our journey to chicken ownership.This is the Dark Brahma I want to name Mabel. Better Picture.
Next step: Get the Dang birds and coop in my posession!
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