- Jun 11, 2011
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Hello Everyone! I am 4 weeks into chickens and this site has been a God-send so far! My husband is having a mid-life crisis of sorts...he is really getting into the chicks
Good thing for him its the feathered kind!
Started out by getting 2 Barred Rock pullets at the local Coop for my granddaughter. We told her two years ago that we would get "a couple" chickens. She held us to it! (Just like Disney when I told her at 3 I would take her for 5th bday, she remembered and we went!) Well, the two quickly turned into 5 that week when my husband found an add for Maran mixed chickens (wanting the dark eggs). Ok, 5 is ok out here in the woods. I can handle 5 little hens laying eggs and clucking, right?! Well, the next SAT the 5 DOUBLED! We stopped at another Coop for ONE Amercauna...I should have known better. At the Coop they had many baby chicks...SO cute and irresistable! They had these little Gold Spangled Hamburgs that are suppose to lay lots of eggs and tolerate cold, wet, weather. So we leave with one of each. Pre-sexed (fingers crossed) THEN I am informed that we are going to look more Maran mixes! Sheez...we don't even have a Coop built at this point! Ok, so I am open, one more...ONLY one! This lady has like HUNDREDS of chickens and other birds. She has this little cage with many baby chicks. About 4 days old. We choose a Blue Maran, then another. Boy, two more. There is this teeny little guy in there...she said he is a Maran Cochin mix...SO small. She says "hey, you want to take that little one too...he is just going to get stomped". What else could we do! So we now have 10. I am afraid I have may roosters than we wanted but because we are a NO KILL home farm I guess we will have roosters too.
Well that is my story 4 weeks into this. So far they are all thriving! We have a temporary coop outdoors for the older chicks while the main coop is being completed. We have a 6' x 6' dog kennel in our garage that we made a brooding pen. The little guys are doing well too. The ones outside follow my granddaughter everywhere...like little puppies! I hope that nothing happens to them. She will be devastated. I look forward to lots of advice from those of you with experience!
And I sure wish someone could tell me how to tell the difference between a hen and rooster...the age old question!
Chik -n- the stix
Started out by getting 2 Barred Rock pullets at the local Coop for my granddaughter. We told her two years ago that we would get "a couple" chickens. She held us to it! (Just like Disney when I told her at 3 I would take her for 5th bday, she remembered and we went!) Well, the two quickly turned into 5 that week when my husband found an add for Maran mixed chickens (wanting the dark eggs). Ok, 5 is ok out here in the woods. I can handle 5 little hens laying eggs and clucking, right?! Well, the next SAT the 5 DOUBLED! We stopped at another Coop for ONE Amercauna...I should have known better. At the Coop they had many baby chicks...SO cute and irresistable! They had these little Gold Spangled Hamburgs that are suppose to lay lots of eggs and tolerate cold, wet, weather. So we leave with one of each. Pre-sexed (fingers crossed) THEN I am informed that we are going to look more Maran mixes! Sheez...we don't even have a Coop built at this point! Ok, so I am open, one more...ONLY one! This lady has like HUNDREDS of chickens and other birds. She has this little cage with many baby chicks. About 4 days old. We choose a Blue Maran, then another. Boy, two more. There is this teeny little guy in there...she said he is a Maran Cochin mix...SO small. She says "hey, you want to take that little one too...he is just going to get stomped". What else could we do! So we now have 10. I am afraid I have may roosters than we wanted but because we are a NO KILL home farm I guess we will have roosters too.
Well that is my story 4 weeks into this. So far they are all thriving! We have a temporary coop outdoors for the older chicks while the main coop is being completed. We have a 6' x 6' dog kennel in our garage that we made a brooding pen. The little guys are doing well too. The ones outside follow my granddaughter everywhere...like little puppies! I hope that nothing happens to them. She will be devastated. I look forward to lots of advice from those of you with experience!
And I sure wish someone could tell me how to tell the difference between a hen and rooster...the age old question!
Chik -n- the stix
