Spring Chickens

This year I have decided to tackle a few of the projects that my husband and I have been talking about doing for years.  One of these goals has been to get chickens and raise them for their eggs.  We ordered our chicks from our local feed store as soon as we were able to.

Before we ordered our chickens I did a lot of research on which breed would fit our family.  I have four children that are still quite young and I wanted the chickens that we raised to be nice birds and not ones who might peck their toes or run from “a little gentle” holding.  I checked out about half a dozen books from the library, checked a few websites and we found our chicks.  We decided to go with a mixed flock with breeds that were gentle and ones that can handle cold winters.

These are the girls at about two weeks old.

We got:

Two black Silkie Bantams- we named Blackie and Sally- they lay peewee sized cream eggs

A Black Australorp-  named Aussie- she lays large brown eggs

A Dark Brahma- named Holly-she lays medium to large brown eggs

A Buff Orpington- named Kylie- she lays large to extra-large brown eggs

An Easter-Egger- named Bunny- she lays medium to large blue eggs

Here are the chicks on the day we got them all snug under a red heat lamp.

We set up a brooder box in our bathroom in the bathtub because our garage was being used as a wood shop to tackle a few other projects.  We used peat moss for bedding and had a chick water fount and feeder that attached to mason jars.  We have enjoyed watching them grow, they are really funny girls.