Hen brained
In the Brooder
I didn't grow up with Chickens. Falling in love with them was kind of a late in life thing for me. It happened first at a children's petting area at a Scottish Highlands Games festival for me. I have always loved animals of all sorts, but that was my first time holding and stroking a chicken. SO soft! And the noises were so comforting!
I have had many different kinds of animals in my life. Everything from the common place dogs and cats to lovebirds, hedgehogs, tarantulas, South American Short-tailed Opposums to a variety of lizards and snakes. But there was something different about chickens for me.
Six years ago, my wife built me a small coop and got me a pair of older hens for my birthday. They were graceful little old ladies at the end of their careers, but I loved them. After they were gone, life was too busy for me to try to start over again from scratch, so I spent a few years with an empty coop and started researching breeds.
I settled on Ameraucanas and was lucky enough to have a friend with the means and space to be able to brood babies for me. (I work 12 hours a day Mon-Fri, so brooding babies that need a lot of care is not possible for me...and I have several dogs and cats in the house.)
We searched out a few NPIP certified breeders and purchased a number of Lavender Ameraucanas, plus a blue, a black and a pair Olof splashes. Now everybody is between 20-24 weeks old and we are re-homing cockerels and settling in the pullets between my coop and my friend's coop.
In the meantime, I built a nice little coop from a kit and my wife and I built a nice pen surrounding the coop so the girls have some space to stretch out and be happy chickens.
In the process, I have learned that I still have a LOT to learn. We had an illness go through my flock not long ago that took out 4 pullets VERY quickly. Too quickly to even have a chance to find out what happened. Fortunately, the remaining 3 pullets and the 1 cockerel are all doing very well. The cockerel was slightly affected and lost some weight, but he is coming back very well. I'm hoping to get him back into VERY good condition before he has to go elsewhere. (If he will just hold off crowing for a bit, that would help!)
Since I still have my small coop that sat empty for so long, this weekend, I'll be adding a Black Copper Marans pullet and BCM X Araucana Olive Egger pullet. They both come from the same breeder, so I can quarantine them together in my smaller coop until everyone is ready to be roomies.
I'm hoping being here will help me to borrow from the knowledge of others with more experience than me so that I can give these chickens a wonderful life. They have been hand raised since babies and we are quite attached to them.
I have had many different kinds of animals in my life. Everything from the common place dogs and cats to lovebirds, hedgehogs, tarantulas, South American Short-tailed Opposums to a variety of lizards and snakes. But there was something different about chickens for me.
Six years ago, my wife built me a small coop and got me a pair of older hens for my birthday. They were graceful little old ladies at the end of their careers, but I loved them. After they were gone, life was too busy for me to try to start over again from scratch, so I spent a few years with an empty coop and started researching breeds.
I settled on Ameraucanas and was lucky enough to have a friend with the means and space to be able to brood babies for me. (I work 12 hours a day Mon-Fri, so brooding babies that need a lot of care is not possible for me...and I have several dogs and cats in the house.)
We searched out a few NPIP certified breeders and purchased a number of Lavender Ameraucanas, plus a blue, a black and a pair Olof splashes. Now everybody is between 20-24 weeks old and we are re-homing cockerels and settling in the pullets between my coop and my friend's coop.
In the meantime, I built a nice little coop from a kit and my wife and I built a nice pen surrounding the coop so the girls have some space to stretch out and be happy chickens.
In the process, I have learned that I still have a LOT to learn. We had an illness go through my flock not long ago that took out 4 pullets VERY quickly. Too quickly to even have a chance to find out what happened. Fortunately, the remaining 3 pullets and the 1 cockerel are all doing very well. The cockerel was slightly affected and lost some weight, but he is coming back very well. I'm hoping to get him back into VERY good condition before he has to go elsewhere. (If he will just hold off crowing for a bit, that would help!)
Since I still have my small coop that sat empty for so long, this weekend, I'll be adding a Black Copper Marans pullet and BCM X Araucana Olive Egger pullet. They both come from the same breeder, so I can quarantine them together in my smaller coop until everyone is ready to be roomies.
I'm hoping being here will help me to borrow from the knowledge of others with more experience than me so that I can give these chickens a wonderful life. They have been hand raised since babies and we are quite attached to them.
. But just like a regular family, there is constant conversation, people trying to help others, encouragement, warnings "don't touch that hot stove", etc. So pull up a chair to the family table and just start in...pie's in the oven and coffee is perculating! 
