Mar 18, 2011

Chickens!

MrsZ and I had been talking about getting chickens since we bought the house. Last year, things didn't work out - just too much other stuff going on.

This year, I decided to sort of force the issue (and force myself to build a coop) by ordering chicks.

I went through Tractor Supply and got the pieces I need to start the chicks - a 2x2x4 stock tank to hold them, a foam sheet to put underneath (cellar floor is COLD), a heat lamp, waterer, feeder, pine shavings, and so forth.

Off to Agway and I ordered chicks: 10 mixed bantams (straight run, there will be some culling in our future), 5 Buff Orpingtons, and 5 Barred Rocks. They should be here in about four weeks, so I've got six weeks to get the coop done and still have a couple weeks leeway to make sure things are spaced right.

Now I have to draw plans for the coop and get materials purchased. Fresh eggs by fall!

4 comments:

elmo iscariot said...

I'm dying of envy.

bluesun said...

We've got four Barred Rocks, some Araucanas (blue eggs!) and a couple Rhode Island Red hens. I just got some New Hampshire Red , a couple Andalusians, and a couple more Araucanas chicks. Chickens are a lot of fun, they're always doing something silly to laugh at. And the eggs!

Guffaw in AZ said...

Being the sick twist I am,(and not at all agrarian) all I could think of after reading your post was an episode from The Firesign Theatre, "I was a cock-teaser for Roosterama...I used to enrange the bantams!"

On a Wing and a Whim said...

Every time I go into Tractor Supply, I get distracted by their high soft peeping. The clerks say after about half an hour, it becomes background noise - but they are so cute!

Look forward to hearing how it goes as the chicks grow up into chickens :-)