As some of you may know, at the end of Spring last year, we decided to take in 6 Hens. We did not start them as chicks, we got them as full grown Hens! In the beginning, this was my idea from the previous year. In case you haven't noticed, the price of eggs is edging up some. Actually, the price of everything is edging up. I have a theory on the reason why, which really isn't a theory but a known fact. And at the risk of starting up some political debates that I absolutely hate getting into, I'll stop with that! After all, this is a blog about family, not politics! At any rate, eggs do seem to be on the rise some. My theory of getting chickens was this:
1.) We'd have eggs all the time, no matter what and not have to pay store prices for them!
2.) It would be fun and somewhat educational for the girls to learn about how we get some of our food!
3.) No matter what, chickens are pretty fun to watch as they peck around the chicken run trying to rustle up sum grub!
Well as the Summer of 2012 went on, it developed into something more that I didn't expect... the girls could show them in a 4H club! This was Amy's contribution to justify having chickens around the house, lol! Because until that moment when Amy and the girls saw the chickens at Newton and Lake County Fairs, she really wanted nothing to do with the idea of having these funny looking feathered creatures around. Now, I have had a little experience before with chickens. My Dad's Dad had them on his farm, and every now and then when I was there I would help him feed them. But truth be told, that was the extent of my experience with chickens. After all, how hard could it be to raise them?
Honestly, it's really not that hard to take care of them. Once they are full grown, they are pretty much self sufficient, other than you having to come down to the coop to feed, water and change their bedding out now and then. And even this isn't really all that hard to do. Especially if you make it the job of the entire family to help out with their care! We had made a family project out of them! Someone would take care of the food and water, and the rest of us would take care of keeping the chicken run and the coop itself clean. Not really all that bad if you keep up with it! We had bought a kit for the coop, which later ended up being a bit of a boo-boo for the simple fact that the wood it was put together with that they give you, really isn't all that sturdy, and second, you can NEVER, EVER go by what they tell you on how many chickens can actually fit into the coop you purchase. For instance, our coop was rated to hold at least 10 big chickens. In reality, the six we had barely fit in it together! So if this is the route your taking, keep in mind, the bigger the better! Your chickens will be happier if they have room to spread out a bit. Now, they do make designer coops at Niemen Marcus, but who can afford that with the exception of the top1% in America!? And even then, those people probably have people who take care of their things anyway, so they would probably never see their chickens to begin with! At any rate, your probably better of building your own coop.
We had our first flock from the end of last May all the way up to almost a week or two before Christmas. That's when our entire flock was ravaged by a Raccoon. Yes, those masked bandits may look all cute and Innocent, but if you keep chickens, you know all too well how much damage they can do to your flock! A Fox or A Coyote will get in, get what they want and then leave. A Raccoon will not only get in to get what they want, but they will also kill everything else left alive. Such is what happened to our flock. All six of our birds were massacred by those little masked rascals! So unfortunately, our birds would not get the chance to participate with our girls in any 4H events. The girls were saddened by this for a bit until they realized that we were going to get more this Spring! Now, that's all they keep talking about. Oh, and... me too! I must admit that in the beginning, I just thought of them as a food source. All they were there for was to give us fresh eggs and that was it! But, as time went on, they became a little more than that. Heck, I think Amy and I were more upset by their demise than the girls were! The only way I can describe a chicken is this. After a while, they become like feathered dogs! They follow you around the yard and with the right breed, become very affectionate animals! I know! Who'd of thought, right!? And for these reasons, we decided to get more of them. Now, what makes us the crazy chicken people down the block? We actually attended a 2 hour seminar last weekend on chickens! The girls actually sat still for this and I think we all walked away with a little more knowledge of these animals than we walked in with! There were all sorts of Door Prizes like: A baby chick feeder, plastic egg cartons, small 5lb. bags of feed, hats, T-shirts and more! Amy and Charity each won a hat.
So here we are, Spring of 2014 and we have decided on the breeds of chickens we will be getting hopefully by Easter from Meyer Hatchery. We will be getting a few Light Brahmas, a few Buff Orpingtons, a few Barred Plymouth Rocks from our friends Chuck and Laura, and also from Meyer Hatchery a breed called a Golden Laced Wyandotte. All told, we will end up with 12 chickens after giving a few to our neighbors down the block who are also interested in keeping chickens! We are all pretty excited and can't wait for their arrival! And... apparently... neither can the rest of the family!
Well, that's kinda were we are at right now at this point! Oh, and Soccer season is once again upon us! Opening day for us is April 5th, provided the ground is okay enough for us to start. This will be the girls last season as U8's and they will be U10's this fall. So I plan to get lots of pictures of both the girls during Soccer season this year and with our new chickens! All of witch will hopefully make the next blog update! I'll try to make it sooner between updates, but with all that the girls are involved in now, it's just the matter of time to fit it in with everything else! But, keep checking back here anyway, because you never know when the next one may pop up! Until next time!
1.) We'd have eggs all the time, no matter what and not have to pay store prices for them!
2.) It would be fun and somewhat educational for the girls to learn about how we get some of our food!
3.) No matter what, chickens are pretty fun to watch as they peck around the chicken run trying to rustle up sum grub!
Well as the Summer of 2012 went on, it developed into something more that I didn't expect... the girls could show them in a 4H club! This was Amy's contribution to justify having chickens around the house, lol! Because until that moment when Amy and the girls saw the chickens at Newton and Lake County Fairs, she really wanted nothing to do with the idea of having these funny looking feathered creatures around. Now, I have had a little experience before with chickens. My Dad's Dad had them on his farm, and every now and then when I was there I would help him feed them. But truth be told, that was the extent of my experience with chickens. After all, how hard could it be to raise them?
Honestly, it's really not that hard to take care of them. Once they are full grown, they are pretty much self sufficient, other than you having to come down to the coop to feed, water and change their bedding out now and then. And even this isn't really all that hard to do. Especially if you make it the job of the entire family to help out with their care! We had made a family project out of them! Someone would take care of the food and water, and the rest of us would take care of keeping the chicken run and the coop itself clean. Not really all that bad if you keep up with it! We had bought a kit for the coop, which later ended up being a bit of a boo-boo for the simple fact that the wood it was put together with that they give you, really isn't all that sturdy, and second, you can NEVER, EVER go by what they tell you on how many chickens can actually fit into the coop you purchase. For instance, our coop was rated to hold at least 10 big chickens. In reality, the six we had barely fit in it together! So if this is the route your taking, keep in mind, the bigger the better! Your chickens will be happier if they have room to spread out a bit. Now, they do make designer coops at Niemen Marcus, but who can afford that with the exception of the top1% in America!? And even then, those people probably have people who take care of their things anyway, so they would probably never see their chickens to begin with! At any rate, your probably better of building your own coop.
We had our first flock from the end of last May all the way up to almost a week or two before Christmas. That's when our entire flock was ravaged by a Raccoon. Yes, those masked bandits may look all cute and Innocent, but if you keep chickens, you know all too well how much damage they can do to your flock! A Fox or A Coyote will get in, get what they want and then leave. A Raccoon will not only get in to get what they want, but they will also kill everything else left alive. Such is what happened to our flock. All six of our birds were massacred by those little masked rascals! So unfortunately, our birds would not get the chance to participate with our girls in any 4H events. The girls were saddened by this for a bit until they realized that we were going to get more this Spring! Now, that's all they keep talking about. Oh, and... me too! I must admit that in the beginning, I just thought of them as a food source. All they were there for was to give us fresh eggs and that was it! But, as time went on, they became a little more than that. Heck, I think Amy and I were more upset by their demise than the girls were! The only way I can describe a chicken is this. After a while, they become like feathered dogs! They follow you around the yard and with the right breed, become very affectionate animals! I know! Who'd of thought, right!? And for these reasons, we decided to get more of them. Now, what makes us the crazy chicken people down the block? We actually attended a 2 hour seminar last weekend on chickens! The girls actually sat still for this and I think we all walked away with a little more knowledge of these animals than we walked in with! There were all sorts of Door Prizes like: A baby chick feeder, plastic egg cartons, small 5lb. bags of feed, hats, T-shirts and more! Amy and Charity each won a hat.
So here we are, Spring of 2014 and we have decided on the breeds of chickens we will be getting hopefully by Easter from Meyer Hatchery. We will be getting a few Light Brahmas, a few Buff Orpingtons, a few Barred Plymouth Rocks from our friends Chuck and Laura, and also from Meyer Hatchery a breed called a Golden Laced Wyandotte. All told, we will end up with 12 chickens after giving a few to our neighbors down the block who are also interested in keeping chickens! We are all pretty excited and can't wait for their arrival! And... apparently... neither can the rest of the family!
Well, that's kinda were we are at right now at this point! Oh, and Soccer season is once again upon us! Opening day for us is April 5th, provided the ground is okay enough for us to start. This will be the girls last season as U8's and they will be U10's this fall. So I plan to get lots of pictures of both the girls during Soccer season this year and with our new chickens! All of witch will hopefully make the next blog update! I'll try to make it sooner between updates, but with all that the girls are involved in now, it's just the matter of time to fit it in with everything else! But, keep checking back here anyway, because you never know when the next one may pop up! Until next time!
