2 Weeks Old and Trying to Fly the Coop

Its been 2 weeks now and I am just amazed at how quickly these little chickies are growing! Their big girl feathers are coming in fast. Today one of the Easter Eggers flew onto the edge of the brooder box - and she made it! The mesh lid we made will be essential at this point.

We let them out to explore a little and stretch their wings. They really are sweet little creatures.

Fun in the Kleenex Box

We created a makeshift "nesting box" out of a Kleenex box, and filled it with bedding. All day today the chickies have been taking turns sitting in it, fluffing the bedding up, and piling into the box.

Its been one full week of life for most of these ladies, and they already have bigger wing feathers coming in. They seem to have all figured out how to perch on the roosting bars as well. One of the buff orpingtons has developed a naughty habit of emptying the feeder onto the floor. She's such a pig.

When they fall asleep, which is frequently, they all pile up on each other or crowd into the box to snuggle. Then one will pop up and step on them all to wake them up. Silly birdies.

The New Little Flock

They have arrived! We had gotten word that the hatchery was short on Marans (the dark brown egg layers) so they swapped out a salmon faverolle for it. Even better - they are beautiful and shy with feathery legs in a salmon/white color. Faverolles are classified as a heavy breed and have a beard, muffs, feathered feet, and five toes per foot, rather than the usual four. Faverolles are considered to be very good layers, a well-cared for Faverolles hen will lay approximately four eggs per week.

So far, the Buff Orps, Easter Eggers, Faverole and one of the Wyandottes are doing very well. The other Wyandotte seemed to be weak and didn't make it through the first 48 hours. This gave us a reason to take a peek at the selection of birds at Farm and Fleet. We added two new ones to the flock: a Barred Rock and another Maran (the Maran however, has been picked on a lot so far and seems to be fading out).

Barred Rock chickens are known as "the kind of chickens Grandma used to raise" in the industry. They lay brown eggs and are friendly as well. Its been fascinating watching their behavior. At first the EE's were the most dominant, and have been the first to learn how to perch for short periods of time. Once the Barred Rock entered the scene tho, the pecking order had to be revised. She is a tough little bird it seems, so much so we've wondered if she might be a roo. There was much eyeball pecking for the first few days - especially with the fluffy yellow chicks - since their eye is so noticeable! They peck at every little thing. Unfortunately for the Maran, she got pecked to the point of injury on her back. So far she is still hanging in there, but she looks like she is headed the way of the other one we lost. We'll keep giving TLC and see if she can spring back.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of manners or social graces with these ladies. They walk all over each other if one is sleeping. As they tend to fall asleep frequently wherever they are, the others just plow on thru and wake them up. There are times when they all settle down and cuddle together in various chick piles. Cute.

The Coop Has Arrived

One big step closer to raising chickens has occurred! The coop "raising" has taken place, thanks to a helpful brother in law and two neighbors. We are so glad we didn't try to create this structure from scratch - it would have taken us all year to get it done. Thanks to www.ezcleancoops.com this project took a day and a half to finish! My son already got himself locked inside accidentally, so we installed a release lever to prevent future children (or adult) trappings. Now we can start the countdown - the chicks will arrive the week following Easter! Praying they all will survive the trip, so we don't have to run out for replacements.... Have a great day!

The construction of the coop begins

Let the fun begin! The coop arrived yesterday afternoon and is currently in parts in the garage. I had one of the boys helping me start to level a space in the back yard to get things going.

Here are the nesting boxes and associated other pieces of the chicken house.

And now my dear husband begins the foundation work! Since our yard is completely on a hill, there is much leveling to be done before the puzzle pieces in the garage can really begin to be assembled!

For now, my task is making cookies for all the hard work being done today. We'll need some helpers to get the rest of the coop raising done...

Outing for supplies

On this beautiful sunny and warm day I made my way to the local feed store to stock up for when the chicks arrive. The place was packed with people, but the salespeople were extremely helpful. I managed to come away from the store with feeders, waterers, starter chick feed and grit, a bale of straw, and pine shavings for bedding. The lady at the front was kind enough to share a few recommendations for places nearby that process chickens, in case we get a random rooster by accident in our mix... Its good to be prepared!

I also contacted the post office just to double check the procedure for when the chickies arrive. I'm expecting an early morning call letting me know they are here for pick up - then I'll try to drop everything and go get 'em right away!

The coop should arrive after next week sometime - everything seems to be coming together for now.

Chicken Planning

I've been studying up on the fine art of chickens for about a year now.  My neighbor used to have chickens, but let them free range, which didn't work out too well for the chickens, either the mink or the coyotes got them.  I've been looking at a variety of backyard chicken types of websites and currently I'm reading thru Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens - this book is a must have if you are serious about raising chickens for any purpose.  It covers the minute details of every fathomable thing related to chickens in the world, or so it seems.

I ordered a ready made chicken coop from ezcoops.com, which is actually a local company that also sells gazebos.  I like that they already thought of how to make it easy to clean, easy to get to the eggs, and more predator proof than a lot of cheaper coops I've seen advertized.  Plus I can order it in colors to match my house, so its pretty nice to look at too.  Its supposed to arrive in a few weeks, so we'll see what it looks like in reality.

Buff Orpington

Easter Egger

Cuckoo Maran

Silver Laced Wyandotte

The chicks are on order as well.  I ordered 2 Buff Orpingtons (brown eggs), 2 Easter Eggers (Pastel color eggs), 2 Silver laced Wyandottes (brown eggs), and 1 Cuckoo Maran (extra dark brown eggs).  They will arrive as 1 day old chicks that we have to pick up at the post office as soon as we get the call.  Apparently the post office has been delivering chicks for 100 years or so.  Not sure if my post office has been doing this for that long, but anyways...  Then we have to get them water and food asap, since the travels can be tough on them.

I'm expecting to learn much through the experience of raising chickens.  The kids are eager to help and play with them.  I have fond memories of visiting my great aunt in MO and playing with the fluffy brown chicken in her lean-to coop.  Seems easy enough, from a child's perspective, hopefully real life will be enjoyable and possibly nostalgic too.  I haven't come across any books or articles about disappointed chicken owners, so I have to think its going to be OK at the very least.