The Beginning...

Since this is a first blog post, I probably should start at the beginning.

It was a hot day in July when my mother felt something odd...er, ok. Maybe we shouldn't go that far back.

Lets start with last July. My husband told me I could have 25 chickens for my birthday if I could first come up with enough money to build a coop.At this point in time, I'd been at him about chickens for a few years. I think his capitulation was the best birthday gift ever. The chickens themselves were/are nearly as wonderful.

Permission granted, I was off like a shot and doing what I do best. I began several weeks worth of intense research. When I say "intense" I mean that I became obsessive. I read everything I could get my hands on, visited hatchery websites, lurked in chicken forums, poured over books, asked questions of other poultry raisers, and more. I had a blast. Sometimes gleaning information is more fun and exciting than the projects I'm trying to learn about.

 My poor husband. All conversations between us became chicken themed. When I'm in research mode, that's all I want to talk about. He knows this about me, and took it in stride. He's nothing if not supportive. Usually my interest and involvement in my hobbies waxes and wanes quite quickly. If I am interested in something once, I'll go crazy learning about it. but eventually I'll burn out for a few weeks, months or years. I always come back to my hobbies eventually. This hasn't been the case (so far) with the chickens. My poor man. It's been over a year and it's still chickens, chickens, chickens! He still loves me. I think I'll keep him.

I decided to order my chicks from McMurray Hatchery. I decided upon black and red sex-links and easter eggers. I liked that the sex-links were capable of laying 300 large brown eggs per year. They had a reputation for being able to handle cold weather, and they weren't terribly large birds. I ordered 6 of each color.

I chose the Easter Eggers because of their green and blue eggs. I'd never seen a green egg and thought they might be exciting to my egg buying customers. You didn't think I was planning on eating 25 eggs per day, did you? At the time, I thought the Easter Eggers were purebred Americaunas. The hatchery certainly presented them as such (a touchy subject and one I'll save for a later post). These were also supposed to be cold hardy, calm, and good layers. I ordered 13 of them.

The birds arrived a few days later. I was happy to see that only one bird out of 25 had died during shipping. I put them in their brooder and managed to keep all but one alive. I lost a black sex-link to what I believe was shipping stress. I managed to keep all my birds alive and healthy for another six months. I raised them in a brooder garage for 6 weeks before putting them outside in their newly-made (thanks again to my husband) hoop house. I did everything by the book, so I'll spare you the details of their care. The only thing I think I should mention is a warning. Chicks are VERY dusty, especially in quantities as large as 25. I don't think ANYTHING I read could have prepared me for the dust and dirt they kicked up. My garage is STILL covered in it. Take that into consideration when you think about raising birds of your own. I have no way to fully prepare you for the mess they make. You're just going to have to figure it out on your own. Despite that, I think I did pretty well for a first-time chicken raiser!