Who knew this could be so much fun!

[FisherPal]

Well my OH and I have only been at this for a little over a month. Got ourselves 8 'red' chickens between 1-2 yrs old. The fellow that had them is in the egg laying business and was getting rid of the older ones and replacing them with younger hens. At $2 a piece ... well ... how could you resist, right? He told us they were starting to moult and were 'off the lay'. Well, thank God for that! If they ever do get back 'on the lay' we will be swamped with eggs! We consistently get six eggs a day and, for a family of three, that's a heck of a pile of eggs a week. Our friends are very happy with our little purchase.

Anyway, we have fine-tuned the back-yard for them over this past month with the appropriate amount of fencing to protect the two greenhouses and potato patch (mostly!) and they have lots of room to roam. But the most surprising thing I have found is how much enjoyment we get from these gals! They are a hoot. What personalities they each have. Some of them more than others ... I tell my friends that you know you must be getting old when your biggest entertainment is sitting on the backyard swing watching your chickens! And hey! They are every bit as good as a dog for running to greet you when they see you (yeah, I know ... they're only looking at you as a 'treat machine', right? But then again ... )

They are the friendliest, most laid-back chickens you could hope to find. My husband was sitting in the back yard the other week with them and eating a freshly made biscuit. Before he knew it, one of them jumped up on his lap, walked up his chest and looked him straight in the eye. Obviously saying 'hey! Are you going to share that thing or what?'

The funniest thing is that he originally bought them thinking that you just didn't get any cheaper meal than $2 a chicken. Well ... now ... hmm ... told him it was a good thing I remembered how good pressure canned chicken was because by the time they die of old age, that's all they'll be good for.

Anyway, also wanted to say that I have lurked here a lot this past month and thanks to so many of the posts that you all have written up, I have learned a lot about what to do which has made this journey even more enjoyable.

Thank you all.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Well, first let me say welcome to BYC, and second, I'm so glad that you are so happy with your chickens. It sounds like their previous owner took excellent care of them. I love my chickens. I've had them since April of '09, so a little over a year now, and I am so glad I got into owning and raising them, they are wonderful! I love to go sit in the chicken yard and watch them forage, and it's a pleasure when one will take the time to come jump on my lap for a pet. I was in a car accident at the beginning of this month and I've been having a lot of trouble getting around, and it took me four days before I could even limp out to the chicken yard. It was my birthday though and I was determined, lol! Anyway, I sat down in my chair, and instantly had babies in my lap that apparently had REALLY missed their mommy, lol, and then, to my surprise, my Bantam Black Mottled Cochin rooster Bam Bam jumped up on the arm of my chair and sat down to be petted! Bam Bam is the kind of chicken that likes humans...from a distance. He doesn't care to be handled, but when he is, he's a gentle boy, so it greatly surprised me to see him come up to me for love! He had missed me, apparently a lot! That just made me feel so good inside! And it may sound silly but last night we refilled the water in the brooder where I have chicks that range in age from 3 1/2 weeks old down to 1 1/2 weeks old, and they managed to knock the waterer over as soon as it was placed in the brooder, so naturally there was water everywhere. The bad thing was all the chicks got wet, but the super tiny ones had taken almost the full brunt of the water, and they were soaked to the bone, so I scooped up all the super wet chicks and dried off the older ones as best I could, but no matter how much I patted at the itty bitties, I couldn't get them dry enough to go back in the brooder, so I wrapped them up in a dry sham, then in a dishtowel, and placed them in a little bowl, and next to me they slept. They huddled together all night, and this morning they were happy and dry. I was so glad too, I had been worrying. But it's funny how much a person can love a chicken. They really are sweet creatures, and such a joy to have. I hope your girls are around for many years to come!