Hi! My husband and I recently bought about 4 acres after being city folk most of our lives. (I did spend the first 8 yrs on a farm) We have 4 kids, only 3 still at home. Our oldest is 19. Then 17, 13 and 7 months. The 13 yo is the only girl. I'm a SAHM.
We are trying to be backyard farmers I guess. I planted my first garden (well, everything else was container gardens but never successful). Its so fun seeing everything growing big and pretty! Now to just make it to harvest! Lol!
We bought some chickens from a neighbors (who does that - a hatchery). He doesnt sex them tho. Plus we didnt want baby chicks but ones that could go immediately into a coop. So we got 6 of those. 3 rir, 1 americauna, and 2 delewares. About a week later we got 2 more americaunas. They were being bullied in the pen bc they were only americaunas I think. (??) It took almost 2 days for the first 6 to accept them but its gone well since. We are sure we have 2 roosters. 1 rir, and 1 deleware. The rir is most definately the dominant one! They are currently about 3 months old. Maybe a little less. I cant remember exactly how old when we got them and I think its been about a month. Then a week ago my son calls (he works part time for this neighbor) who has 3 chicks about 2 or 3 weeks old if we want them. 2 rir and 1 americauna. So we get a setup inside the house for now. They are cute as can be but now I'm worried they might become more like pets (we got chickens for eggs and eventually meat if needed).
We had 2 dogs, a min pinscher and a chi/doxie mix ("chiweenie"). The min pin was awful - super stressed and anxious and I think only saw lunch she couldnt get to. (Her breed I guess. She was the best mouser we had ever seen and I grew up w a Lot of cats!) Sadly a week ago today I hit her w the van and killed her. Very sad. Our chi was always a bit high strung and interested in the chickens (inside and out) but not overly interested. Now that the last few days we have been letting the chicks out of their pen inside the house (to clean their cage and spread their wings), he has become interested. Hasnt tried to nip - but is always trying to sniff their tonsils thru their butt. Lol! And herds them in a circle. He licks them too sometimes. The last 2 days ive been taking them outside for a short time to experience that. He herds them if they wander and has to be sniffi g at what they are pecking. Now he has taken to whining whe they are locked up, having to sniff qnd lick each one if we pick them up or they squak loudly. Like a mama (papa?) dog. Obviously I'm not gonna leave him alone w them. But its cuteand reassuring nonetheless.
We tried to see how the big chickens would react to the little ones and of course they wanted to bully. Ive done a lot of reading tonight and I guess that wasa bad idea! Lol! No one got hurt tho. Today I took them out and let them explore *outside* the pen. I also (later) took pepe (dog) inside the pen to see how they/he would react. When he had gotten in before on accident he was chasing them like play. Today he was head down, sniffing the ground, hanging by the gate, not making eye contactand relieved to be let out. Obviously the rir roo and a couple dominant hens tried to approach a few times. I guess I'm nervous about when I free range them, how he or they will get along. (Which reminds me of a question I have - if they havent started laying eggs yet - and I start free ranging them, will I have to hunt for eggs or will they go back to their coop to lay?)
So I'm nervous bc I figured we could intro the chicks in a couple more weeks to the bigger ones - like put them out there together but it sounds like we needs to keep them separate a couple more months? Time to figure out a better shelter.
Overall I'm excited about our life changes! Lots going on, lots of learning! I'm excited about being here and learning more about our chickens. I guess thats a short story about me made long! I'm a tad wordy. ;-)
We are trying to be backyard farmers I guess. I planted my first garden (well, everything else was container gardens but never successful). Its so fun seeing everything growing big and pretty! Now to just make it to harvest! Lol!
We bought some chickens from a neighbors (who does that - a hatchery). He doesnt sex them tho. Plus we didnt want baby chicks but ones that could go immediately into a coop. So we got 6 of those. 3 rir, 1 americauna, and 2 delewares. About a week later we got 2 more americaunas. They were being bullied in the pen bc they were only americaunas I think. (??) It took almost 2 days for the first 6 to accept them but its gone well since. We are sure we have 2 roosters. 1 rir, and 1 deleware. The rir is most definately the dominant one! They are currently about 3 months old. Maybe a little less. I cant remember exactly how old when we got them and I think its been about a month. Then a week ago my son calls (he works part time for this neighbor) who has 3 chicks about 2 or 3 weeks old if we want them. 2 rir and 1 americauna. So we get a setup inside the house for now. They are cute as can be but now I'm worried they might become more like pets (we got chickens for eggs and eventually meat if needed).
We had 2 dogs, a min pinscher and a chi/doxie mix ("chiweenie"). The min pin was awful - super stressed and anxious and I think only saw lunch she couldnt get to. (Her breed I guess. She was the best mouser we had ever seen and I grew up w a Lot of cats!) Sadly a week ago today I hit her w the van and killed her. Very sad. Our chi was always a bit high strung and interested in the chickens (inside and out) but not overly interested. Now that the last few days we have been letting the chicks out of their pen inside the house (to clean their cage and spread their wings), he has become interested. Hasnt tried to nip - but is always trying to sniff their tonsils thru their butt. Lol! And herds them in a circle. He licks them too sometimes. The last 2 days ive been taking them outside for a short time to experience that. He herds them if they wander and has to be sniffi g at what they are pecking. Now he has taken to whining whe they are locked up, having to sniff qnd lick each one if we pick them up or they squak loudly. Like a mama (papa?) dog. Obviously I'm not gonna leave him alone w them. But its cuteand reassuring nonetheless.
We tried to see how the big chickens would react to the little ones and of course they wanted to bully. Ive done a lot of reading tonight and I guess that wasa bad idea! Lol! No one got hurt tho. Today I took them out and let them explore *outside* the pen. I also (later) took pepe (dog) inside the pen to see how they/he would react. When he had gotten in before on accident he was chasing them like play. Today he was head down, sniffing the ground, hanging by the gate, not making eye contactand relieved to be let out. Obviously the rir roo and a couple dominant hens tried to approach a few times. I guess I'm nervous about when I free range them, how he or they will get along. (Which reminds me of a question I have - if they havent started laying eggs yet - and I start free ranging them, will I have to hunt for eggs or will they go back to their coop to lay?)
So I'm nervous bc I figured we could intro the chicks in a couple more weeks to the bigger ones - like put them out there together but it sounds like we needs to keep them separate a couple more months? Time to figure out a better shelter.
Overall I'm excited about our life changes! Lots going on, lots of learning! I'm excited about being here and learning more about our chickens. I guess thats a short story about me made long! I'm a tad wordy. ;-)
