I’ve never kept birds. Not even as a regular pet. My mom had one when she was younger called Henry. It was a green something or other. Yet somehow, we’ve ended up with ten backyard chickens, all hens. Specifically for egg laying. We are beginner chicken keepers. That’s as true as the sea. Or whatever that saying is.
We bought 10 ladies from a local farm store of all different kinds. We chose them based on these things, in this order 1. Average egg count 2. Hardiness to temperature 3. Temperament 4. What looked pretty or was on sale
4 birds were half off because they were older.
6 were high layers.
So we have three wynadottes (gold, silver and blue)
Two americanas
Two Isa browns
A starlight olive egger
A prairie bluebell
And a tiny silver polish, little Pol-ina.
Yes, they all have names already.
We bought them at 1 week and a few were 2&3 weeks. I honestly don’t really remember. I can’t even recall when we bought them. It’s a haze of feathers and bedding at the moment.
But now that they’re finally getting older, and the weather is warmer, we are preparing the outdoor run for them!
The Chickens Brooder Setup
We were blessed enough to find a home with a coop and run already built. However, it gets little to no sunlight. We remedied that with our garden run.
Luckily, having chicks wasn’t as difficult as the articles I read made it out to be. We changed their bedding every few days, wore gloves when we held them, then washed our hands, of course, and constantly made sure their food and water was poo free.
I didn’t wipe butts or worry terribly about them dying. Our set up was simple and easy.
A used collapsable dog kennel, with a removable tray. Heat lamp, feeder, waterer and some 2×4 scrap pieces of wood from our garden fence.
The first few weeks we had made a cubby they could go under for extra warmth and comfort.
Just like sitting under mama..if mom was a set of wooden blocks…
Then, as they got older, we perched up their water so they wouldn’t keep scratching and kicking bedding and poo into it.
Then came the roosts.. playground finds of fallen tree limbs with the twigs snapped off.
We rose the heat lamp every two weeks or so.
And changed the bedding every three or four days.
Eventually we upgraded to a hanging waterer that held more because the older they get the more water they drink!
We took the wood blocks out after about five weeks. They were getting so big that the blocks were just taking up space. They prefer the sticks anyways.
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Off to the outdoor run
And now my friends, we are readying the outdoor run for the birds to move in!
They will OFFICIALLY be true backyard chickens instead of just shop chicks.
Currently underway: Fixing escape holes, planning the food/water situation, and building a big rock candy mountain. Minus the candy.
They’ve gotten a few hours accumulatively of outdoor time too, when it was warm enough. Just chicken wire in a patch of grass works for them!
The weathers been lingering and staying cold, but we think we are finally moving into the warm, bright days of late spring!
Nesting boxes …check
Run secure… check
Access to the compost and garden run… almost check
Otherwise, it’s time to retire the dog kennel once again and migrate these birds to bigger and better living accommodations.
Cheers to keeping backyard chickens and making it work as you go!
***Update: we are now down by two chickens. One became a male, and the other flew the coop while the dogs were out..so nature took its course on our beautiful Goldie.
