[tonyp]

My wife ordered 14 baby chicks (assorted styles and colors!) and they arrived today, they are so adorable! In the laundry room we converted one of the big utility sinks into a holding area equipped with feeders, water dispenser and heat lamp. I also bought an extra thermometer when i was building my fermentation tote, which works great! It'll be awhile before they are big enough to lay eggs, I think my wife said about a year, but boy it'll be nice to have fresh organic eggs again.

We live on 4 acres and have an old broken down chicken coop (foxes killed all of our chickens a few years ago) and a fenced in area so my wife also ordered a new 3x5 coop for their new home which should be here in a month or so.

The orange glow is from the heat lamp:



Cheers!
Tony

[weazletoe]

Congrats! If you think they are adorable now, just think how adorable they will be in a while, laying on your smoker, and then plated with some bbq sauce. 

[euge]

Congrats!

We used to let them range freely when we had them but then they laid their eggs all over the place. Will a 3x5 coop be a sufficient size for the birds?

[denny]

Cool!  We had chickens when we got here, but the raccoons killed them off.  We planned to get more, then found our chicken coop had been painted with lead paint....don't want chickens scratching around in that stuff!  As soon as we can get set up in a new area, we're gonna get more.  This place http://eugenebackyardfarmer.com/ opened a couple years back and is a great resource around here.

[bluesman]

I hope my wife doesn't see this post. She loves any kind of animal babies and will probably suggest we get some. Cool! 

[tonyp]

Congrats!

We used to let them range freely when we had them but then they laid their eggs all over the place. Will a 3x5 coop be a sufficient size for the birds?

My wife did all the research, the 3x5 should be more than enough. All of the chicken species she bought are very small, I don't have the whole list but i know a few are Bantams, Belgians, etc they don't get as big as normal chickens. I think she ordered 2 of each type, so 7 diff species total. i think one type lays blue eggs!

[tonyp]

Congrats! If you think they are adorable now, just think how adorable they will be in a while, laying on your smoker, and then plated with some bbq sauce. 

I said that once...once. I'm still recovering.

[punatic]

We let our neighbor a few places over do all of our chicken farming for us.  I keep bees, they handle the chickens.  Man, fresh eggs are the best though!  We had some store-bought eggs on a Scout campout a while back and they were nasty compared to fresh.

Not sure what kind of chickens our neighbor raises, but the egg shells are light green, and they have a really rich flavor.

[denny]

Not sure what kind of chickens our neighbor raises, but the egg shells are light green, and they have a really rich flavor.

Araucana....one of the breeds we used to have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucana

[punatic]

Not sure what kind of chickens our neighbor raises, but the egg shells are light green, and they have a really rich flavor.

Araucana....one of the breeds we used to have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucana

That's them!  
Green eggs and Spam!

[corkybstewart]

I'd like to have  few laying hens but right now skunks are eating all my neighbor's eggs so I really don't see the point. 

[majorvices]

I would really like to get a chicken coup up someday. How much work is that?

[1vertical]

Keith it is not that bad building a coop....but EVERY DAY
ya get to water em, feed em, collect eggs, and then shut em up at night....EVERY NIGHT without fail
else predation will decimate your flock...just one more thing to tie person down....
no overnight trips with the wife for a gambling junket...unless someone helps out @ home
with the livestock....

[denny]

Keith it is not that bad building a coop....but EVERY DAY
ya get to water em, feed em, collect eggs, and then shut em up at night....EVERY NIGHT without fail
else predation will decimate your flock...just one more thing to tie person down....
no overnight trips with the wife for a gambling junket...unless someone helps out @ home
with the livestock....

With 2 dogs and 5 cats, I'm already on that situation!

[tonyp]

I would really like to get a chicken coup up someday. How much work is that?

My wife ordered her coop from some place in south west jersey, I think its an amish farm. It cost around $900 fully assembled and delivered. The only thing we are going to add ourselves are some wheels and a handle so she can move it around if need be. We're getting those from Harbor Freight.

There are a ton of places online where you can order them, either pre-made or in kits.