One of the items I mentioned I had wanted to add to our house was chickens. Many people love to comment that chickens are descendants of dinos…I know the science behind that is slightly more involved than a simple “they are related to” but go with me on this one. Maybe I won’t get as as many in the video I was thinking like six or 8 to start. We moved in over October and in the spring of last year I began to do my research. I swore I would never get another pet that I hadn’t really looked into. You know like that Tortoise we adopted from a friend who will out life me and maybe need his own room at that homestead. So I began by joining some local facebook groups on backyard chickens. Let me tell you that was eye opening…..The amount of crazy stuff that can go wrong with your chickens is humbling for sure!
Next I began to do what I do best…research…I am a historian after all! Ok so history teacher by career historian by degree! So I took out every book I could find on chicken raising for the library and read through them. I found a few I thought were really helpful and purchased them to have on hand. Although, lets be real there is a lot at my finger tips on the internet….but I am old school I love a vetted book source.
Then began coup research. We are handy, and by we I mean Ryan. I started to look into coups. I had Ryan ask a good friend to take a look at my choice and see if it was a worth one. We also asked our dear neighbors who also have a flock their opinions. We decided to go with a pre-fab coop from Tractor Supply Store (TSS for those in the know). It was delivered this week and will be our April Vacation project this year.
We also found a local farm that hatches a variety of chickens in Bloomfield which is just a town away. called 4 Five Farm We are expected to get our babies on or around 4-15 and they will be just a few weeks old when we get them. We have a special enclosure that I bought for them. We are planning on getting Two Rhode Island Reds, Two Delawares, Two Easter Eggers, and Two Black. Below are the pictures of all except the Easter Egg…those chickens vary in what they look like just like the color of their eggs. Easter Eggers do just what their name says…give you colored eggs. Some are blue, green, or even pink. I am very excited the name them….if one of the Delaware’s has a black collar I am going to name her RGB (After my girl)
There is of course some fear involved….like can I keep these tiny dinosaurs alive? Will they like me? will this be a colossal waste of money? Then again I haven’t met an animal I didn’t love! I can’t wait to post an update once the babies get here! Wish us luck!
Hunt Family Homestead 