Ok, I just quoted Barry Manilow in my title. Worse, I RECOGNIZED that I quoted Barry Manilow and wrote it anyway.
Before I explain my taking of another chance, let me explain my username. I am not a Jersey Girl. Hoboken Chicken Emergency is a book I read in 3rd grade and LOVED. Who wouldn't love a giant chicken named Henrietta who runs amok? I found HCE again as an adult and fell in love with it all over. When I needed a chicken-y name to register just now, I pounced on it.
Now back to my chance:
Two years ago I discovered that I could keep chickens in our city. 6, to be exact, with no roosters. I jumped all over my husband J to build me a coop, which he did despite having no coop building experience.
Then I ordered chicks from Cackle Hatchery. Mistake number 1, because I had to order a minimum of 15 -- and could only keep 6. I tried selling the extraneous 9 on eggbid, but kept getting non-buying bidders. I ended up giving the extras to my husband's ex. Hey, I was desperate.
The remaining chicks lived in my kitchen until they were big enough for the coop. Then the problems started. Our dog, a mini pinscher, discovered that he could get himself a chicken head dinner by luring the poor, naive things over to the wire run, then grabbing them when they poked their heads through to check him out. I went from 6 chickens to 3 in one hour. I was livid!
So the dog wasn't allowed out back anymore. Problem solved, right? Wrong. Two months later, I went out to hang laundry and found 2 more headless chickens. Apparently the neighbor's beagle had escaped and come over for a snack.
So now I was down to 1. Mind you, in all this time I have not seen a single egg. But I guarded that final chicken with my life. I reinforced the coop against dogs. I brought her into the garage for the winter. I treated her better than my children. No eggs. The next spring I took her back outside to her coop, only to find she didn't want to be there. Maybe it held bad memories for her. Who knows?
After a couple days of her trying to escape, I broke down and gave her to Dh's ex to live with her siblings, where she became a prolific egg-layer.
Dh said, "No more chickens." Dh said, "Chickens are more trouble than they're worth." I totally agreed, until a few days ago. I was browsing Ebay, and one of my favorite sellers was selling EE eggs. I tried putting it out of my mind, but all the old pro-chicken arguments came back. Including the fact that I just love chickens. It's hard to fight your feelings. So I bid and won. Thursday afternoon, I will be the proud mama of 6 eggs.
But wait--6 eggs shipped means about 3 chicks. 3 chicks means, statistically, 1-2 hens. Hmmm. So I started checking out the web (including this site) for another breed of chicken that looked appealing. I decided on bantam brown leghorns. Lo and behold, I found some on Ebay (eggs) and I just bought them.
Hopefully, my 12 eggs will amount to 3-4 chicks if my math is right, otherwise the ex has already agreed to taking the extras. But I digress. The whole point of this ramble is to introduce myself.
My name is HobokenChickenEmergency, and I need help because I don't learn from my mistakes. If you feel someone picking your brain it's probably me, trying to figure out a way to keep my chickies alive and get at least a FEW eggs.
Before I explain my taking of another chance, let me explain my username. I am not a Jersey Girl. Hoboken Chicken Emergency is a book I read in 3rd grade and LOVED. Who wouldn't love a giant chicken named Henrietta who runs amok? I found HCE again as an adult and fell in love with it all over. When I needed a chicken-y name to register just now, I pounced on it.
Now back to my chance:
Two years ago I discovered that I could keep chickens in our city. 6, to be exact, with no roosters. I jumped all over my husband J to build me a coop, which he did despite having no coop building experience.
Then I ordered chicks from Cackle Hatchery. Mistake number 1, because I had to order a minimum of 15 -- and could only keep 6. I tried selling the extraneous 9 on eggbid, but kept getting non-buying bidders. I ended up giving the extras to my husband's ex. Hey, I was desperate.
The remaining chicks lived in my kitchen until they were big enough for the coop. Then the problems started. Our dog, a mini pinscher, discovered that he could get himself a chicken head dinner by luring the poor, naive things over to the wire run, then grabbing them when they poked their heads through to check him out. I went from 6 chickens to 3 in one hour. I was livid!
So the dog wasn't allowed out back anymore. Problem solved, right? Wrong. Two months later, I went out to hang laundry and found 2 more headless chickens. Apparently the neighbor's beagle had escaped and come over for a snack.
So now I was down to 1. Mind you, in all this time I have not seen a single egg. But I guarded that final chicken with my life. I reinforced the coop against dogs. I brought her into the garage for the winter. I treated her better than my children. No eggs. The next spring I took her back outside to her coop, only to find she didn't want to be there. Maybe it held bad memories for her. Who knows?
After a couple days of her trying to escape, I broke down and gave her to Dh's ex to live with her siblings, where she became a prolific egg-layer.
Dh said, "No more chickens." Dh said, "Chickens are more trouble than they're worth." I totally agreed, until a few days ago. I was browsing Ebay, and one of my favorite sellers was selling EE eggs. I tried putting it out of my mind, but all the old pro-chicken arguments came back. Including the fact that I just love chickens. It's hard to fight your feelings. So I bid and won. Thursday afternoon, I will be the proud mama of 6 eggs.
But wait--6 eggs shipped means about 3 chicks. 3 chicks means, statistically, 1-2 hens. Hmmm. So I started checking out the web (including this site) for another breed of chicken that looked appealing. I decided on bantam brown leghorns. Lo and behold, I found some on Ebay (eggs) and I just bought them.
Hopefully, my 12 eggs will amount to 3-4 chicks if my math is right, otherwise the ex has already agreed to taking the extras. But I digress. The whole point of this ramble is to introduce myself.
My name is HobokenChickenEmergency, and I need help because I don't learn from my mistakes. If you feel someone picking your brain it's probably me, trying to figure out a way to keep my chickies alive and get at least a FEW eggs.
