- Aug 31, 2010
- 24
- 0
- 32
I have my first flock after being raised around chickens all my life and wanting some of my own someday. My grandma and grandpa raised chickens, turkey, guineas and hogs. My mom and dad had all the birds (no hogs) and my children always loved playing at their house and messing with the chickens, collecting eggs, etc. Sooo, after mom and dad split up, I had to get myself some chickens. I LOVE chickens! I'd rather have these silly creatures than a dog for a pet any day. (Though, we have a dog too...And I love her very much) But chickens are a lot of fun. We have 16. The entire first flock got eaten by dogs (still aren't sure whose dogs those were!) except for one little Cherry Egger, whom we named Blessing. Yeah, we name 'em!
The second flock is thriving. My son (who is 14) built their pen all from salvaged lumber from a house being torn down down the road from us (they said we could take as much as we wanted, we took it all!! LOL), siding (that my dad had given us) and tin that was found on an abandoned property (that used to belong to my uncle...he said we could have it)
Wow, the entire pen was free of charge! One happy momma!! Our hens are all about 5-6 months old and we have gotten 8 eggs here recently (one, sometimes two a day and only from the White Leghorns so far) but I know our Buffs and our New Hampshire's will start soon...and that Cherry Egger. We haven't named all the hens, just most of them. We are planning to let them lay until their laying days are done and then butcher them. We will keep 3-4 as pets to live out their lives and die of old age. Only because we've grown really attached to some of them. Goldie is the sweetest hen, you can just bend over and pick her up and hold her like a baby. She just relaxes in your arms and loves to be held.
I love that our chickens are sweet and good-natured. Though some are hard to catch, all of them are super sweet and tame and love being held. We hardly have any fussing amongst them because we have spent time with them and made them used to people. I see a big difference in how mine are and how my mom and grandma's were...their hens were just down-right mean! But no-one ever spent any time with them. You couldn't have held one if you'd wanted to! Well, I take that back...one time my grandma had one named Fluff that was sweet. That hen thought it was a person. It would come up to the screen door and peck on it and walk into the house when you opened the door. It went straight away to the bread door (where my grandma always kept her homemade bread and biscuits) and that hen would peck on the bread door until we opened it and gave her a piece. She was a sweet hen and the only one I ever remember being nice and like a family member...my grandma cried when she was killed.
Anyway, I am rambling on and on. We are a homeschooling family, I have six children (five of whom are schooling) ages 2 to 14. We live on five acres and are just starting to homestead. We plan to get more chickens next year (more breeds) and ducks and we want goats and a donkey...maybe someday a cow. I also want bunnies. We'll see. Thanks for listening if you got this far!
:0)
Jenn
The second flock is thriving. My son (who is 14) built their pen all from salvaged lumber from a house being torn down down the road from us (they said we could take as much as we wanted, we took it all!! LOL), siding (that my dad had given us) and tin that was found on an abandoned property (that used to belong to my uncle...he said we could have it)
Wow, the entire pen was free of charge! One happy momma!! Our hens are all about 5-6 months old and we have gotten 8 eggs here recently (one, sometimes two a day and only from the White Leghorns so far) but I know our Buffs and our New Hampshire's will start soon...and that Cherry Egger. We haven't named all the hens, just most of them. We are planning to let them lay until their laying days are done and then butcher them. We will keep 3-4 as pets to live out their lives and die of old age. Only because we've grown really attached to some of them. Goldie is the sweetest hen, you can just bend over and pick her up and hold her like a baby. She just relaxes in your arms and loves to be held.
I love that our chickens are sweet and good-natured. Though some are hard to catch, all of them are super sweet and tame and love being held. We hardly have any fussing amongst them because we have spent time with them and made them used to people. I see a big difference in how mine are and how my mom and grandma's were...their hens were just down-right mean! But no-one ever spent any time with them. You couldn't have held one if you'd wanted to! Well, I take that back...one time my grandma had one named Fluff that was sweet. That hen thought it was a person. It would come up to the screen door and peck on it and walk into the house when you opened the door. It went straight away to the bread door (where my grandma always kept her homemade bread and biscuits) and that hen would peck on the bread door until we opened it and gave her a piece. She was a sweet hen and the only one I ever remember being nice and like a family member...my grandma cried when she was killed.
Anyway, I am rambling on and on. We are a homeschooling family, I have six children (five of whom are schooling) ages 2 to 14. We live on five acres and are just starting to homestead. We plan to get more chickens next year (more breeds) and ducks and we want goats and a donkey...maybe someday a cow. I also want bunnies. We'll see. Thanks for listening if you got this far!
:0)
Jenn
