- Sep 23, 2013
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My wife and I got into chickens back in April. We bought ourselves 6 "pullets" from Orsheln, and I throw that in quotes, since 4 turned out to be roosters. My buddy and I did a cull at the end of May, leaving us with a single rooster and hen, both Rhode Island Red's.
Of course, my German Shepherd was going nuts a couple weeks later, so I looked out the window to see a fox carrying away my lone hen.
At that point, we were down to our lone chicken-- a 2 month old Rhode Island Red rooster.
A few weeks later, we ordered from California Hatchery (www.californiahatchery.com), based on their variety and large customer base. That was a disaster, and I will never send them another dime, much less penny. We ordered 9 chicks. 3 survived the trip. 2 died within hours of getting them home to heat, water, and food. I had to constantly nurse back to health the lone survivor, and staye awake for 48 hours in the process. I'm a Marine vet-- nothing dies without my permission, and nothing dies that I care about, and y'all got no idea how I love my chickens.
The folks at CA Hatchery, as part of their "Arrive Alive Guarantee," require you to take part in the macabre ritual of photographing your dead chick as proof you are not ripping them off. Needless to say, I did it, and 3-4 weeks later, they sent me my "replacement." It had 6 chicks in it, since evidently it was my fault the other two died in the original shipment. We got the replacement a week ago, and, of course, there was a weakling I had to similarly pull a Thoros of Myr (all my A Song of Ice and Fire fellow nerds will get this) on.
In the interim, roughly 3.5-4 weeks ago, we bought and received a batch of 4 brown egg layers from www.mypetchicken.com Everything about the process was an absolute joy. The chicks showed up healthy and strong within 48 hours of leaving the hatchery, and now, they are outside in the coop with their surrogate mother hen, a 5-6 week old Blue Andalusian.
All told, I have essentially 3 chicken locations at my commpound:
Inside the house under the lamp in box: 1 week old: 2 Blue Andalusians
2 Rhode Island Reds (1 former weakling)
1 New Hampshire Red
1 Wyandotte
Pullet/Chick Insulated & Heated Coop:
6 week old: Blue Andalusian (surrogate mother hen)
3 week old: 1 Blue Andalusian
1 Buff Orpington
1 Wyndotte
1 Rhode Island Red
Longhouse Coop: 5.5 month old: Rhode Island Red Rooster (he is 5.5 months old in my avatar picture as of 9/23)
That brings us to a total of :
Rhode Island Reds: 4 (1 rooster)
Blue Andalusians: 4
New Hampshire Red: 1
Wyandotte (Silver or Blue laced, unknown at this point): 2
Buff Orpington: 1
TOTAL: 12 (1 rooster)
Of course, my German Shepherd was going nuts a couple weeks later, so I looked out the window to see a fox carrying away my lone hen.
At that point, we were down to our lone chicken-- a 2 month old Rhode Island Red rooster.
A few weeks later, we ordered from California Hatchery (www.californiahatchery.com), based on their variety and large customer base. That was a disaster, and I will never send them another dime, much less penny. We ordered 9 chicks. 3 survived the trip. 2 died within hours of getting them home to heat, water, and food. I had to constantly nurse back to health the lone survivor, and staye awake for 48 hours in the process. I'm a Marine vet-- nothing dies without my permission, and nothing dies that I care about, and y'all got no idea how I love my chickens.
The folks at CA Hatchery, as part of their "Arrive Alive Guarantee," require you to take part in the macabre ritual of photographing your dead chick as proof you are not ripping them off. Needless to say, I did it, and 3-4 weeks later, they sent me my "replacement." It had 6 chicks in it, since evidently it was my fault the other two died in the original shipment. We got the replacement a week ago, and, of course, there was a weakling I had to similarly pull a Thoros of Myr (all my A Song of Ice and Fire fellow nerds will get this) on.
In the interim, roughly 3.5-4 weeks ago, we bought and received a batch of 4 brown egg layers from www.mypetchicken.com Everything about the process was an absolute joy. The chicks showed up healthy and strong within 48 hours of leaving the hatchery, and now, they are outside in the coop with their surrogate mother hen, a 5-6 week old Blue Andalusian.
All told, I have essentially 3 chicken locations at my commpound:
Inside the house under the lamp in box: 1 week old: 2 Blue Andalusians
2 Rhode Island Reds (1 former weakling)
1 New Hampshire Red
1 Wyandotte
Pullet/Chick Insulated & Heated Coop:
6 week old: Blue Andalusian (surrogate mother hen)
3 week old: 1 Blue Andalusian
1 Buff Orpington
1 Wyndotte
1 Rhode Island Red
Longhouse Coop: 5.5 month old: Rhode Island Red Rooster (he is 5.5 months old in my avatar picture as of 9/23)
That brings us to a total of :
Rhode Island Reds: 4 (1 rooster)
Blue Andalusians: 4
New Hampshire Red: 1
Wyandotte (Silver or Blue laced, unknown at this point): 2
Buff Orpington: 1
TOTAL: 12 (1 rooster)
