Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Growing like a wildfire!



The chicks are growing like wildfire!

Bringing home the girls

I received the call that our girls were in. I drove over to the hardware store to pick them up. As i entered the store it was overrun with the sound of peeping. The clerk took my name, dug for my order slip and started to go outback. I followed.
We entered a back room full of tubs. there had to be about 14 tubs filled with all kinds of poultry. peeping and squawking filled my ears and excitement of getting my new friends filled my body. He loaded 6 chicks in the box closed it and handed the box to me. I couldn't believe I had my girls in hand!

I drove home and loaded the girls into their new chick pen. They peeped and poked around the bin.



This post was from May 6, 2011

Monday, April 4, 2011

The Coop Decision

  I ordered a couple books off of Amazon.com. One was "Storeys guide to raising chickens" by Gail Damerow and the other was "Chicken coops, 45 plans to house your flock" by Pangman. While I waited for the books arrive I was soaking up info on the internet. SO many websites for backyard chickens!! Forums filled with questions and answers from experienced chicken owners it a great way to read up on my new adventure.
  Storeys guide defiantly is a great book for everything-chicks to chickens. This book helped me find the right breeds for our backyard coop. Dogeared pages and chicken scratch handwriting in the margins, it has now become a family favorite on the coffee table.. I saw my husband nose deep in it last night, saw my Father-in-law scoping it out and making notes mentally. My mother-in-law is SO excited for the chicks to come. She has reserved her seat in the car when I go to pick them up. If she cares for these chickens like she cares for her cat, we will have some spoiled rotten, well loved chickens.

 The chicken coop book I received has colored pictures as well as building plans. The book is well organized, which I love! Each design has a little back story on where it came from and who built it. It also let you know how many hens and/or cocks it is suitable for.  Simple building plans will let the building novice understand what they are doing. Which in my case is VERY key.


  My husband Mike ran into an old friend the other night downtown. She has mentioned to him that her brother had a chicken coop just sitting around. For some reason or another he stopped raising chickens and just has this coop laying around. Mike tells me this guy builds houses for a living. This could be a really great coop! Now to get my husband to start looking up in this lead.
    We do have a month before the chicks arrive then another month before its warm enough and they are strong enough to be  in the coop. So 2 months total to get it all together. I'm ready to get it done now, but with me working a full time job and my husband in college full time getting together is hard. But I am positive we will get it done. !
    The website I use most often I have made them my links in the top right column on this blog page. ENJOY!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Every adventure has a beginning...

   This is my begining of a backyard chicken owner.

Today my Husband and I drove over to a local hardware/feed store in Portland. Our April Fools snowstorm put a damper on the feeling of spring, but it didn't not stop us from ordering our chicks. The ordering here is a 6 minimum order, so with the minimum order of got the half dozen.
  After much internet searching and book reading, I had figured the breeds I wanted. I based my decisions from, cold hearty, large eggs, good reproduction, docile, and no noise. I picked 3 breeds when I broke it all down. They are...

3 Barred Rocks
 2 Buff Orpingtons

 1 Giant Jersey Black

(these pictures are of the grown chicken. I will be receiving chicks on May5th)

So after $12.90 before tax I purchased my first Portland backyard flock. Now wait till May 5th when the chicks will arrive. Till then I will prepare- chicks pen, build a coop & run and everything between.