adamgreenberg
In the Brooder
- Apr 22, 2015
- 8
- 2
- 11
My raising chickens began last year when I visited a friend of mine. I got to his house and he had chickens running around his yard. I asked why the heck did he have chickens? He said they laid an egg everyday and they were great to have around the yard. I asked him how he trained them go back in the coop, he said he feeds them and they just go back in
I started doing some thinking, I eat eggs, I love animals and I can control what they eat!!! Wow brilliant concept. I told my wife about my master plan, she said no, so I went up to the local feed and grain store and got myself 4 baby chicks. I left them in a box in my kitchen for my wife to find. Since we have 4 parrots that roam our house and are like our children, I knew once she saw them she would be ok lol. She was mad at first then saw them and held them and I was in the clear. My friend came over and helped build a small coop for them. We made a run off the coop with a hatch door that could be accessed from outside the coop. He didn't put in a window in the coop but the hatch door was going to be left open into the run that was covered with wire top to bottom.
So I started with 4 (2 barred rock and 2 aracauna) my friends kindergarten class was hatching baby chicks, when they got too big for the school, guess who ended up with 10 more chicks So my small little project of 4 chick turned into 14. It was the middle of the summer and very humid, I left the hatch door up as I normally did, but in the middle of the night a terror happened. The chickens were days away from laying their first eggs when a fisher cat pushed his way through the run and killed all 14 chickens. It broke my heart and my wife stayed in bed all day. The run was not secured with a door yet, we just had not had the time to frame out a door, it was secured only by attaching the wire.......learned the worst lesson ever.
After that day I was determined to never let anything like that happen again. So I got right back on the saddle and ordered myself 16 assorted chicks from Meyer Hatchery. It was also time to turn the little project into a fortress that would protect my girls. I took a pick axe, started digging a pond, built a bigger coop next to the smaller one, made a huge run, framed out a door and put a second fence around both coops for an outdoor play area.
I now how 13 hens in the big coop with 3 ducks that live on the ground floor; I have 5 silkies and 2 polish in the small coop (one of the polish thinks she is a dog, she follows us around, comes up the deck and knocks on the sliding door TRUE STORY).. Everyone gets along great. Oh yeah and now I have 14 more chicks in my basement about to come out and be introduced to everyone
To finish out my flock, im actually looking for mandarin duck pair. If anyone knows anyone that is hatching please let me know
Glad to be here, been reading these forums for a while and finally decided to join
Last thing Im in CT and I have a brooder, sitting on Silkie eggs and my white crested duck eggs if anyone is interested. I don't want anything in return, just a good home if someone wants me to hatch any
-Adam
I started doing some thinking, I eat eggs, I love animals and I can control what they eat!!! Wow brilliant concept. I told my wife about my master plan, she said no, so I went up to the local feed and grain store and got myself 4 baby chicks. I left them in a box in my kitchen for my wife to find. Since we have 4 parrots that roam our house and are like our children, I knew once she saw them she would be ok lol. She was mad at first then saw them and held them and I was in the clear. My friend came over and helped build a small coop for them. We made a run off the coop with a hatch door that could be accessed from outside the coop. He didn't put in a window in the coop but the hatch door was going to be left open into the run that was covered with wire top to bottom. So I started with 4 (2 barred rock and 2 aracauna) my friends kindergarten class was hatching baby chicks, when they got too big for the school, guess who ended up with 10 more chicks
So my small little project of 4 chick turned into 14. It was the middle of the summer and very humid, I left the hatch door up as I normally did, but in the middle of the night a terror happened. The chickens were days away from laying their first eggs when a fisher cat pushed his way through the run and killed all 14 chickens. It broke my heart and my wife stayed in bed all day. The run was not secured with a door yet, we just had not had the time to frame out a door, it was secured only by attaching the wire.......learned the worst lesson ever.After that day I was determined to never let anything like that happen again. So I got right back on the saddle and ordered myself 16 assorted chicks from Meyer Hatchery. It was also time to turn the little project into a fortress that would protect my girls. I took a pick axe, started digging a pond, built a bigger coop next to the smaller one, made a huge run, framed out a door and put a second fence around both coops for an outdoor play area.
I now how 13 hens in the big coop with 3 ducks that live on the ground floor; I have 5 silkies and 2 polish in the small coop (one of the polish thinks she is a dog, she follows us around, comes up the deck and knocks on the sliding door TRUE STORY).. Everyone gets along great. Oh yeah and now I have 14 more chicks in my basement about to come out and be introduced to everyone
To finish out my flock, im actually looking for mandarin duck pair. If anyone knows anyone that is hatching please let me know
Glad to be here, been reading these forums for a while and finally decided to join
Last thing Im in CT and I have a brooder, sitting on Silkie eggs and my white crested duck eggs if anyone is interested. I don't want anything in return, just a good home if someone wants me to hatch any
-Adam
Good luck with your flock!
Adam 
