So I have grown up wanting chickens so badly, and now that I have my own home and space it is chicken time! I live in Ojai, Ca and the local feed store luckily had babies coming on Valentines day this year so I picked out four beautiful babies. Scrambles (Easter Egger), Sunni (Speckled Sussex), Sanders (Giant Blue Cochin) and Benni (Blue Andalusian)...Unfortunately, Benni fell very ill and even with our strongest attempts (we both are vet technicians) she passed away in my fiancé's hands. However, almost one month later Scrambles, Sunni and Sanders are all doing so very well! They play with Dori (Chihuahua) and all the cats! Obi my little 11 month old white dachshund is figuring out what they are, true to his doxie nature he watches them day and night. I can't believe how much we love these little girls! They are so full of personality and they are loving all the toys and treats we give them. Every morning I wake up and put four of these shiny soft little cat toy balls in a box and by the end of the day Sanders has them all out and is sleeping on them. Scrambles is such a trouble maker! Easter Eggers I read can be docile and sweet, but she is the POLAR opposite of docile! She runs around trying to fly at any opportunity and jumps on everyone! Sunni is SUPER sweet and very curious. So since these are my first chickens we are going through the whole process of starting a flock from growing our babies, building their coop and figuring out chickens in general.
OH I almost forgot, we love these chickens so much that I convinced my fiancé to let me try my hand at incubating, ordered two white silkies and an extra Japanese mix came along, I started the incubation on 3/4/14 and I downloaded this awesome app (iHATCH for iPhones). You input your incubating information (like the day you started incubation) and the app tells you exactly what is going on inside and out and has pictures of what the egg should look like when candled, you can also input reminders like turning, checking temp or adding water. I really recommend this app for first time hatchers or parents hatching with kids it is awesome. I hope my eggs hatch!
Well I am super happy to be here! If any of you have tips or tricks to a successful happy flock and the best ideas for a cost effective but extremely safe coop let me know!
I'm going to live vicariously through you until I move from Hawaii and I can have my own 
