Once there was a girl who wanted chickens. It’s not like she dreamed of having chickens from the time she was little, but as an adult she realized that having a few chickens would be a great experience for her family. They could have animals to take care of, and even fresh eggs.
But the girl’s husband did not share her enthusiasm for the feathered creatures, perhaps because they had so many birds inside the house already. Or perhaps it was the fear that the girl would undoubtedly ask him to BUILD something for the chickens. Because while the girl has plenty of enthusiasm for starting a project, she sometimes lacks the know-how or the right tools to do all the follow through.
Then, in a happy coincidence, the girl found someone offering up a chicken coop on freecycle. And not some far away chicken coop, but a chicken coop in her very own town, not far from her own castle, I mean house. So the girl arranged a pick up time, asked her son and daughter to follow her over in the old beat up truck, and they loaded up the chicken coop and hauled it on home. What could be better?
The children were super enthused about the coop, and they helped the girl paint it a lovely red color.
And a nearby friend even offered up the baby chicks that she had hatched for her preschool kids (Ok, truthfully, she *tried* to hatch some fertilized eggs in time for Easter, but they just didn’t hatch, so she went to IFA and bought some chicks so they would be there by Monday. Her preschool kids were through the roof excited, but now she doesn’t really want to add 3 more chicks to her coops. She already has about 40 chickens. So, as soon as it’s warm enough to keep them outside in this little coop, we’ll adopt them.)
But then the friend un-offered her baby chicks because her husband wanted to keep them (What?) so the girl had to find her own chickens. CLASSIFIEDS!
So the girl found an ad on KSL.com, asked about them, and went over and got some.
We got two California White Leghorns, and two Rhode Island Browns.
When they grow up, they should look like this 
(I think.)
They certainly didn’t look so comfortable in the box we brought them home in.
We really don’t know much about them except I got some food, a food dish, a water dish and some bedding, and we’ll see how they do. This week it should really warm up so I won’t need to worry so much about them being cold, which is good.
We put them into their little coop and they seemed a little bit lonely and overwhelmed, and aren’t sure what to do. But they are chickens, after all. They don’t need to do all that much.
The kids are so excited about them. We’re going to have to pick out names, even. When they were all huddled together in the bottom of the pen, I had John crawl in there and get chickens and hand them to me so I could put them up in the nesting box for the night, so they would be warmer. I don’t think they know how to navigate the “ladder”. This morning we all had to run out there and make sure they were still ok, and it looks like they survived the night. Everyone wanted to pet them and say hello.
Ryan tells me I had better be completely happy for the next 6 months. What? I guess I will, then. The girl finally got her chickens. The girl (and her kids) is happy to embark on this chicken raising adventure.
I’ll say this once and once only, you are crazy. Amen.
Hmmm. I’d say it could be fun. Hope nothing goes wrong so Ryan could say “I told you so.”
Yea Paige! You finally got your chickens. Now you can feed them all your table scraps and broccoli from bountiful baskets. And baby chicks are so cute! : o )
I’m jealous. I would love to have a few chickens. Like Ryan, Jamie is not as enthused. I’m sure they’d be attacked/eaten by some sort of wildlife here anyway–a skunk, racoon, fox, coyote, cougar, neighbor dog/cat, etc.
My friend has a large coop with quite a collection of exotic chickens. Be careful for neighborhood animals and other wild birds eating the chickens. Keep posting pictures.
Paige, I think you’ll love keeping chickens!! We’ve had them for at least four years now and it’s been awesome. IFA stocks plenty of chicken feed. Your chicks will need grower mash for now, but once they’ve completely feathered out you can feed them the layer mash. And they will eat just about anything. They will eat all kinds of kitchen scraps. If the kids can’t finish their food they have to take their plates out to the coop to feed it to the chickens. I started my flock over again this year with Rhode Island Reds, and they’re growing so fast! Call me if you have any questions (I’ll see if I know the answers!). Good luck!
You shouldn’t name them…because then you can’t have chicken soup someday 😮
and congrats on the win over at my blog … who would guess random.org would pick number one? too cool. You’ll love the book..it’s not light but it is amazingly powerful and so well written and you’ll learn stuff without even knowing you are learning. I think it might be my choice for next years book club. I’ll bring it by.
there’s only one word for you: AMAZING!