Once upon a time there were these two princesses that were pretty good at getting their way. They pretty much had the king wrapped around their little fingers. It was springtime and Tractor Supply Co. had chicks in the store. You know those cute little chicks that all kids adore. However, they grow up to become chickens. The princesses promised responsibility. They'd handle the feeding, watering, cleaning, please, please, please… The king, as usual, was inclined to acquiesce to their request, especially after the lost puppy eyes.
The chicks were only a couple bucks each and were allegedly all females. Seems the royal gender checker screwed that one up. I wound up with two roosters and three hens. But I digress. The chicks were inexpensive, however they needed feed, waterer, food container, heat lamp, thermometer… Yes, this left the kings change purse a little lighter but oh so did put smiles on the princesses face.
When the chicks outgrew the brooder (big plastic tote) they moved on to take over the royal greenhouse. While enjoyable for the chicken, the king was displeased. It seems that contrary to popular rumors, chickens can fly. All of the king's vegetables were soon consumed by the chickens.
So the frugal king decided to build a coop and run. He secured some pallets for free, his favorite price. He cut, hammered, cussed and finally built a chicken coop and run. The whole project only ran about a hundred bucks. Last week we got our first eggs. The first two were cracked but the next three were perfect. The eldest princess scrambled up the eggs and then scrambled up the same number of Eggland's Best eggs. A blind taste test was in order. We all were able to identify the fresh eggs and all agreed they were better.
At this point, the king, also Southern Dad has decided its time to learn more about these birds so that we can actually learn to raise a better flock. So, I'm hear for the learning...
Alright
BYC has a very useful learning center
