Tracking my chicken journey

[CLUCKING CHICKENS]

It has only been about 7 or 8 months that I have engaged in this new hobby of chicken keeping and I have learned so much. Made lots of mistakes along the way and had to adjust.
This platform actually made me aware to things that I was completely oblivious towards.
I have several threads I started but those were mostly all random as I navigated this new area of interest.
I am starting this thread to track my progress and evolution with this hobby so that down the road I can have the option to look back and in chronological order revisit how things went.
This thread will be what I update with new pictures as I make additions and updates to my flock and coops.

I went back to square one…. I re-homed all of the chickens I originally had and put a plan together for what I wanted and how best to make it work. With that plan intact I have restarted the process.

I have my original chicken coop and run ( 10 x 10 ) sitting empty out back while I contemplate improvements. I also have my Eglu Cube chicken coop ( with the 3 x 9 ft run ) with the walk in run extension ( 6 x 9 ) and a few add on accessories from Omlet sitting in boxes waiting to be set up this spring once I prep and level out the intended area.

I have recently purchased a assorted batch of chicks from MyPetChicken and this will be the chosen flock that will take over the current coop set up out back.
The 7 female chicks I purchased from MyPetChicken consist of;

1. Blue Copper Maran
2. Black Copper Maran
3. Blue Favaucana
4. Salmon Faverolle
5. Red laced Blue Wyandotte
6. Lavender Orpington
7. Cream Legbar

I received all the chicks in good health and they are currently 3 weeks old and still in their brooder.

I spent alot of time searching hatcheries online for bantam breeds I wanted for the new coop setup and had to do 2 separate orders from 2 different hatcheries in order to secure all the types of bantams that I wanted. I have an order coming the end of February and the other the beginning of April. I had to order extra bantams for the orders to ship, but I will be keeping 9 pullets and re homing the extras.

I want my chickens to be as much as for pets as for their eggs. I also want their coops to compliment my landscape. That is my goal for this spring and summer as I enter into my second season since buying my house. I want to be able to continue bringing my two hobbies of chicken keeping and landscaping together. So I apologize for the redundancy as I post the original pictures for comparison. Moving forward I will add on this post with updates.

 

[CLUCKING CHICKENS]

This is how everything started, I received a used chicken coop from a co worker back in May and painted it up after deciding where in the yard I should put it.

 

[CLUCKING CHICKENS]

I am not the handiest guy so I threw together this fence around it and bought some chickens from Tractor Supply… 7 sex links and 3 barred rocks.
My kids loved them and everything was great until a raccoon climbed in one night and turned it into a massacre… Thankfully I made the gruesome discovery and not the kids.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

I am not the handiest guy so I threw together this fence around it and bought some chickens from Tractor Supply… 7 sex links and 3 barred rocks.
My kids loved them and everything was great until a raccoon climbed in one night and turned it into a massacre… Thankfully I made the gruesome discovery and not the kids.

Oh dear @ a racoon getting in Hopefully some of the more experienced people can give you pointers on how to protect your chickens if you decide to get more. I'm a quail herder and know squat about chickens, LOL!

 

[CLUCKING CHICKENS]

So after the attack I improvised…. Keep in mind that I admitted to not being the handiest type of guy. I hated how this looked in my yard… reminded me of a hobo camp.

 

[CLUCKING CHICKENS]

After looking around at options I found this thing called EZ Frames online which was a kit that you buy which came with step by step instructions and cut list. I bought the 2x2x8 cedar lumber, deck screws, and chicken wire ( had no idea hardware cloth existed ) from Home Depot.
Took me a week off from work vacation to complete this thing… lol
There is room for improvement but it is evolving.

 

[CLUCKING CHICKENS]

The current flock of assorted chickens I purchased from MyPetChicken that will be going into the chicken coop and run that is pictured above.
These pics are when they first arrived but they are 3 weeks old now.

 

[CLUCKING CHICKENS]

For the new coop I learned from my prior experience and went with a prefab Chicken coop and run from Omlet.
These are all the boxes sitting in my house waiting for me to prep and level the new area in my backyard and set it all up for the Bantam chicks I have coming.
I am hoping it will all be easy and straightforward to assemble.

 

[CLUCKING CHICKENS]

Oh dear @ a racoon getting in Hopefully some of the more experienced people can give you pointers on how to protect your chickens if you decide to get more. I'm a quail herder and know squat about chickens, LOL!

I posted a thread of this before and got plenty of pointers that as a self aware man led me to realize next time I am just going with a Prefab coop and run….

 

[FantineFav]

The current flock of assorted chickens I purchased from MyPetChicken that will be going into the chicken coop and run that is pictured above.
These pics are when they first arrived but they are 3 weeks old now.

The chick in the top photo is particularly gorgeous - is she one of the marans? You've selected a nice assortment of breeds, the faverolles and marans do well together as they are both such gentle breeds.