AngryBabs
Hatching
Hi all - I'm new to BYC and wanted to say hello. My story into urban chicken raising started in March of this year (2016). Arriving home one afternoon, I heard what was an unmistakable sound... the sound of a chicken clucking at me from behind. Now, I must point out that I live in Metro Detroit. The sounds of chickens aren't really something we are used to.
Turning around, I saw, in all it's glory - a large white chicken sitting on my chain link fence. We looked at each other, and as I moved around the fence, I talked to it. It jumped down from the fence, into the neighbors yard and walked toward the other side of their property. As I approached, this pretty little bird walked a little, turned, and clearly waited for me to pick it up. This was someone's pet.
So, I picked it up and started to pet it. It loved interaction, but being a chicken I wasn't about to wear a new color on my clothes. My wife and I setup a dog crate for it, and gave it a little spot to nest with some straw. Not knowing what to feed this chicken, we gave it some kale and did a little reading. Where did I end up? Here.
After some reading I decided this was a leghorn and given I am in the city, I figured this had to be a hen (this was an un-educated best guess). We bought it some feed (at a not-so-nearby story.) When we came back, we had an egg. A very large, white egg.
We fed her and let her range in the bottomless cage around the yard. We posted on some lost pet facebook pages to find her owner. Another day goes by, and out came another planetoid sized white egg. Later that day, we got a phone call - it was her owner. Her name was Luna, and they lived one street behind us. She checked out how well we took care of this little lady, and she asked us if we have ever thought of raising chickens. I didn't realize we could even have chickens where I live.
Long story short, a week later I had a brood box built and she bought three Isa Browns for us from a small scale breeder she knows. Over the following weeks I built a coop in the garage, attached to an external run outside which can be opened into our greenhouse. I have spent the last 6 months reading everything I could on this site, and our girls are loving life. They are healthy, and are producing.
I just want to say this site has been a wealth of info - and up until today I have never made an account. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone.
Turning around, I saw, in all it's glory - a large white chicken sitting on my chain link fence. We looked at each other, and as I moved around the fence, I talked to it. It jumped down from the fence, into the neighbors yard and walked toward the other side of their property. As I approached, this pretty little bird walked a little, turned, and clearly waited for me to pick it up. This was someone's pet.
So, I picked it up and started to pet it. It loved interaction, but being a chicken I wasn't about to wear a new color on my clothes. My wife and I setup a dog crate for it, and gave it a little spot to nest with some straw. Not knowing what to feed this chicken, we gave it some kale and did a little reading. Where did I end up? Here.
After some reading I decided this was a leghorn and given I am in the city, I figured this had to be a hen (this was an un-educated best guess). We bought it some feed (at a not-so-nearby story.) When we came back, we had an egg. A very large, white egg.
We fed her and let her range in the bottomless cage around the yard. We posted on some lost pet facebook pages to find her owner. Another day goes by, and out came another planetoid sized white egg. Later that day, we got a phone call - it was her owner. Her name was Luna, and they lived one street behind us. She checked out how well we took care of this little lady, and she asked us if we have ever thought of raising chickens. I didn't realize we could even have chickens where I live.
Long story short, a week later I had a brood box built and she bought three Isa Browns for us from a small scale breeder she knows. Over the following weeks I built a coop in the garage, attached to an external run outside which can be opened into our greenhouse. I have spent the last 6 months reading everything I could on this site, and our girls are loving life. They are healthy, and are producing.
I just want to say this site has been a wealth of info - and up until today I have never made an account. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone.