February- The Chickens

Amy and I set a date near the end of February to get chickens. A breeder was recommended by our neighbor (who also has chickens) and breeder chicks seemed to be a bit healthier than the mass produced ones you find at the stores.

But Will and I found ourselves in the Co-Op one day and we just could resist. We bought 3 chicks and cuddled them all the way home.

We surprised Amy and Tyler with them after school. And it WAS a surprise! They were sooo excited. I wish squeals and excitement could be captured in photos, but you'll have to take my word for it. Even the dog was curious.

They slept in a container in Amy's room and cheeped all night. She loved it. By day 3, they had to go into the garage because they are noisy!! 

That weekend Amy and I drove to the chicken lady and got the remaining 7. (Our goal was to get 10 total. Well, it started at 4, then went to 6, then went to 8 and if you are going to get 8, you might as well get 10. Chicken math is real.)

I mean, really!? HOW cute are these things???

It was so cold the day we drove out there, but here is Amy, happy as can be with a box of chicks. You know she held onto that thing the whole way home!

We originally wanted one certain breed, but they were really hard to tell the males and females- and we did not want a rooster, so we opted for an "easier to identify" breed.

We ended up with:
3 Black Australorp (the ones from Co-Op)
3 Isa Brown
4 Salmon Favorelle

All good, tame breeds that were great layers.

As they grew we did realize that one of the Salmon Favorelle was a rooster. We weren't thrilled about that at first. The chicken lady offered a trade, but by then we had grown attached to him. Actually, in a large flock, it's good to have a rooster. It helps keep the ladies calm and he is protective of them. He's just part of the family now. And anyone up and down the street can hear his crow. Oops! Actually, we tried to ignore it, but each of the neighbors came to us and said "I love listening to the rooster every morning. It doesn't bother us at all!" So phew on that one! (We live in the county so we can do what we want. There aren't any ordinances against it. But the last thing you want to do it make your neighbors mad!)

When the chicks outgrew the container, I needed a new place to store them until it was warm enough for them to go outside. Enter the old pack n play. haha. It worked perfectly!

Finally, it was time to move them into their new home. We worried about them all night that night! But they were fine and loving all their space. You know Amy wanted to get right in there with them!

It took until August to get our first egg. And since then they've been consistently laying. With 9 hens, we got 8-9 eggs per day. Which was a lot to keep up with! Since then we've added one more hen to the group. A friend of mine asked if we'd take her as she was the last of her flock and she knew she'd need a flock to keep her warm through the winter. I was hesitant since introducing a new lady to the group is touchy at best, especially since these have grown up together. It took a few weeks, but she's now just another member of the family and they seem to tolerate her. So currently we have 10 hens and 1 rooster. That's all we have room for at the moment. :)