We started keeping chickens 9 years ago. It all started when I realized my children didn’t actually realize where their eggs/chicken came from. That has been a driving force in many areas of our homestead. For instance our grand daughter didn’t know potatoes grew in the ground, but that is a story for another day.

Growing up my Moms parents had a farm so I was exposed to all sorts of farm animals. Chickens, (those bantams are fast) cows, pigs, turkey, and of course the dogs, cats and the pony my cousin got a little later. We grew up knowing and growing what happened on a farm. However, as with most things in my life I still had a learning curve to navigate around. I researched but probably should have done more but we jumped in with both feet. Sometimes that’s the best way to learn. Sink or swim.

Last year we lost all but one of our flock to either predators or age. We only had one girl left from the original bunch and she was the Queen Clucker, we called her Broody. We had a family of raccoons that ravaged most of them. I was devastated. The lone survivor was pretty beat up as well and she still doesn’t have feather for about and inch behind her comb. They wont grow back. Being the only one left she was lonely and finally received a name, Chatty Cathy, Any time anyone was near the coop or run she would follow you around and cluck up a storm. She went to stay with our friends flock and has integrated well and we still see her regularly.

Moving on and starting over we will be constructing a new coop this year considerably closer to the house and with the observations we were able to make note of there will be changes in placement and design of the new coop. All of that will come later. For now I’ve ordered the chicks and if they are ready before the new coop is they will go into the old coop area until the new one is finished. We do want to take our time on the design and construction of the new coop and be able to make it as predator proof as possible. Building a better mouse trap.

We decided on a mix of breeds one because it’s fun. We like seeing the different types of birds and the personalities and we two because we wanted to make sure we had strong laying hens as we use a lot of eggs in our family and we also want friendly birds. Kids like to see the birds and help collect eggs if they are around and friendly hens make that experience a lot more pleasant. We will not be getting roosters though. I respect my neighbors need to sleep and have peace and quite far to much. Contrary to some beliefs they do not only crow in the morning but in fact all day long.

The varieties we decided on are the Australorp which is a breed from Australia, it is a prolific egg layer and has a docile personality. It is dark brown/black in color. The Barred Plymouth Rock is a black and white speckle feather chicken, another good tempered and prolific layer as well as an American bird. The Rhode Island Red is also a native bird that was a cross between an Oriental and Italian breed many years ago. The personality of this bird can honestly go either way. We’ve has nice ones and a few grouches. The Rhode Island Red is also known as a good egg layer. The Buff Brahma is a large bird with light colored feathers, it has almost a collar around the shoulders of a darker brown. They are not very strong egg layers but friendly as can be. The Buff Orpington has basically the same atributes as the Brahma without the collar color. Another friendly member to the flock. The Easter Egger is the last on our list and it is said to be both docile and a good egg layer. Additionally the Easter Egger lays blue/green tinted eggs which is always fun.

We ordered two of each breed and expect them to arrive by the end of the month. In the mean time I need to consider the brooding space inside the house and get going on that. We won’t be able to start on the new coop until the ground thaws so fingers crossed Puxsutawney Phil was right and spring is right around the corner.

We chose to order our day old chicks from mypetchicken.com I have used them before and was very happy with the results except for the Sussex Speckled we got instead of the Cuckoo Marans. Those Sussex bird were some of the meanest. You couldn’t tell they were wrong until they were a lot older and they still provided us with eggs so we were ultimately happy. From what I have gathered they are a New England hatchery so the chicks don’t have to travel as far. The do not sell meat birds though. That is an area we delved into last year and will be doing again. We will be ordering those chicks from another hatchery in a much larger capacity. Meat birds however do not stay around very long. We will discuss that at a future time.

We hope you enjoyed reading and if you are considering chickens for your backyard they are easy to care for do not take up a lot of space and when it’s not so cold you can get as few as 3 from My Pet Chicken. We also plan on getting a pair of ducks this year. That should be fun!