- Jul 30, 2011
- 612
- 9
- 156
Hi, everyone!!
I've been lurking on this forum for awhile now and decided I just have to join. I got bit by the chicken bug four months ago when I got my first two chicks. One died the first night and I was heartbroken. Off I went to get another one to replace it the very next day. I painstakingly raised them until they were old enough to go outside and had my Dad (a carpenter) build what we call our "chicken mansion" and sizeable run under our deck. They were so friendly and happy to be around people, I let them free range most of the day. Tragically, a few weeks later, the "replacement chicken" , which at the time was my favorite, was killed by our neighbor's dog...my son and I cried and cried.
But more on that later...in other posts, surely.
So that left my original chicken, Brownie, alone again, at about 2 1/2 months old! So I got a new 1 week old chick ( Black Copper Maran )to keep her company. I was afraid they wouldn't get along at first, so I separated them in the coop...well, Brownie kept jumping in with her and getting stuck ( she was way to big )
and they made fast friends!
But I decided that the new chick was probably a rooster ( what do I know, haha ) so I go a couple of days later and get one more chick from the same brood. I was convinced this one was a hen, and they all got along famously. I was wrong. First one WAS a hen, the second, a rooster. He's very cool, but I know I may have to give him up.
The chicken math kicked in, and I got another ( 3 week old ) chick from a friend of my son's, but my, now older flock, pecked it unmercilessly, so I had to seperate her, in the coop again. Well, she was lonely. Even with a mirror in there to gaze into. So I went back and got her a friend ( brother, sister? ) and they are happy, but I'm dreading the upcoming introduction...
Why didn't I just get six or seven chicks to begin with and avoid all this mess? Because I had no idea what I was doing. Also, because this was all my husband's fault!! He wanted them, me, not so much....But once I got those first two, I was hooked.
Now I'm the one who takes care of them, obsesses over them, spends all my time with them, dreams about them, gets picked on my friends because of them......yes, I am the crazy chicken lady.
I've been lurking on this forum for awhile now and decided I just have to join. I got bit by the chicken bug four months ago when I got my first two chicks. One died the first night and I was heartbroken. Off I went to get another one to replace it the very next day. I painstakingly raised them until they were old enough to go outside and had my Dad (a carpenter) build what we call our "chicken mansion" and sizeable run under our deck. They were so friendly and happy to be around people, I let them free range most of the day. Tragically, a few weeks later, the "replacement chicken" , which at the time was my favorite, was killed by our neighbor's dog...my son and I cried and cried.
So that left my original chicken, Brownie, alone again, at about 2 1/2 months old! So I got a new 1 week old chick ( Black Copper Maran )to keep her company. I was afraid they wouldn't get along at first, so I separated them in the coop...well, Brownie kept jumping in with her and getting stuck ( she was way to big )
But I decided that the new chick was probably a rooster ( what do I know, haha ) so I go a couple of days later and get one more chick from the same brood. I was convinced this one was a hen, and they all got along famously. I was wrong. First one WAS a hen, the second, a rooster. He's very cool, but I know I may have to give him up.
The chicken math kicked in, and I got another ( 3 week old ) chick from a friend of my son's, but my, now older flock, pecked it unmercilessly, so I had to seperate her, in the coop again. Well, she was lonely. Even with a mirror in there to gaze into. So I went back and got her a friend ( brother, sister? ) and they are happy, but I'm dreading the upcoming introduction...
Why didn't I just get six or seven chicks to begin with and avoid all this mess? Because I had no idea what I was doing. Also, because this was all my husband's fault!! He wanted them, me, not so much....But once I got those first two, I was hooked.
Now I'm the one who takes care of them, obsesses over them, spends all my time with them, dreams about them, gets picked on my friends because of them......yes, I am the crazy chicken lady.
