A year ago I received a wonderful present. A “chocolate box” of 5 chickens! One white, 1 speckled, 1 blonde, 1 black, and an amber-colored Amercauna. The hens had mostly stopped laying and rather than dispatch and eat them, a friend kindly offered them to my husband to give to me as an anniversary gift. YAYYYY!
keeping chickens
Chicken Feed
The chickens have been w/ us 7 weeks, and although confident in my ability to care for them, I’m still feeling like a teacher with a new class. I can identify two of the chickens (the larger and smaller black ones) but the other 4 red ones, forget it. I speak to them sweetly and try to be impartial. Ooooh aren’t you cute, mumblemumblemumble.. and YOU, soandso….
You’ve seen their house. Inside its confines they have an endless supply of food and we’ve taken to dishing out additional treats. Our chickens like table scraps.
The Chickominium
A month ago I introduced you to the adorable fluff balls known as Fred, Cuddles and the rest of the girls. AKA, our baby chicks. In just 4 weeks these formerly tiny chicks have morphed into big birds with fully functional wings. And once chicks start flying around the living room, it’s time they move outside.
My husband & I had to build a coop, and fast. But having never owned chickens before, let alone built a coop, we needed to do a little research before starting construction. We read a few books and found a photo of a coop we really liked. A quick Google search turned up plans for the “Playhouse Coop” shown below.
