Chickens!

My husband and I made the decision to raise chickens about three years ago. We had recently bought our home on 7+ acres and knew that we needed to take advantage of our property. Chicken keeping was a popular hobby of trendy urbanites in the "cities" and we thought if they can raise chickens on a piece of property the size of my thumb, we could too. We were also starting to adopt a more healthy lifestyle where we became more aware of where our food came from and what went into our bodies. So, chicken keeping was right up our alley. We knew the quality of the eggs from our hens would far exceed any eggs that we could purchase from the grocery store. Our goal was to raise our hens the way they should be raised, with plenty of room to roam, a variety of food and plenty of time outdoors.

Plus, chickens make great pets. They don't need much attention. As long as they have plenty of space, water and food, they are just fine. We can go up north for the weekend and not worry about our "ladies" safe in their coop and run. They are extremely entertaining and my girls love to play and love on their chickens. We also love the fact that our girls are learning where their food comes from. They know from a young age that eggs come from their chickens. I will be posting all I know about raising chickens in future posts. I thought in my first post about chickens I would introduce you to our "ladies."

Our first batch of chickens arrived in the mail three years ago as day old baby chicks. That's right, they arrived in the mail! We still have three of our six original chickens left: General Tso, Kane & D-Rock (yes, my husband wanted to name two of our chickens after the Ying-Yang twins, a 90's rap group). We call them our old gals. Their laying days are pretty much over. Chickens are at their peak laying stage the first year of their life. As the years progress they lay fewer and fewer eggs. The old gals will lay an egg once in a blue moon, but they are pretty much retired. They are welcome to stay until they decide to visit that big chicken coop in the sky (unlike in the commercial egg laying world where they would be turned into chicken nuggets after the first year.)

This spring we got seven more chicks: Nugget, Kung Pao, A La King, Cordon Bleu, Tetrazzini, Salad and Colonel Sanders. These are our new gals. They just started laying eggs a few weeks ago, which was great news considering our old gals retired a few months ago. I actually had to buy eggs from the store. Oh, the tragedy! Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to the ladies.

THE LADIES



Nugget

 

 Nugget is a Buff Orpington. She is a new gal. Orpingtons are known for the their gentle nature and great egg laying skills. The girls love Nugget and every time we venture outside, she immediately goes up to the girls and allows them to pet her. She is very sweet, gentle and lays medium to large brown eggs. She is also at the top of the pecking order and is the only one that has been allowed to roost with the old gals.

 

 

Tetrazzini (Tetra)

 

Tetra is a White Brahma. She is a new gal. This breed is a very large breed. I saw some Brahma roosters at the State Fair this year and thought their were Turkeys at first. This breed is known for their size, gentle nature and furry feet. They are great for cold weather climates because of their large size and feathers on their feet. Tetra is very curious and is always checking us out when we come outside. She lays large brown eggs.

 

A La King (King)

 

King is a Golden Laced Wyandotte. She is a new gal. Wyandottes are great foragers and I love the pattern of her feathers. King recently had a run in with a neighbor dog and was beat up pretty bad. She is currently in medical isolation (our smaller coop that we use for chicks and isolation). We are hoping she will recover quickly so she can go out and play with her buddies. She lays medium size brown eggs.

 

Cordon Bleu (CB)

 

CB is a Silver Laced Wyandotte. She is a new gal. CB is a similar breed to King. Like King, she is a great forager and I love her feather pattern. She also is very sweet and seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order as is evident by her lack of tail feathers (the other ladies seem to be pulling them out, poor girl). She lays medium brown eggs.

 

Salad

 

Salad is a Brown Leghorn (like Foghorn Leghorn from Looney Toones, but brown). She is a new gal. Leghorns are well known for their egg laying capabilities. White Leghorns are the breed of choice for commercial egg laying companies. Leghorns are excellent foragers and lay medium white eggs. Salad keeps to herself and is very quick. I suspect she has found an alternative laying space in our yard as we have not had a white egg for a few weeks. Since our yard is huge, I've had a hard time finding her stash.

 

Colonel Sanders

 

Colonel Sanders is a Silver Laced Polish. She is a new gal. She is very sweet, but because of her size and feather plume on her head she is at the very bottom of the pecking order. As a result of this she keeps to herself during the day and doesn't go in the coop at night with the rest of the ladies. If we find her roosting at night we try and put her back in the coop, but often times we can't find her and she has been surviving each night on her own in the "wild." We think she's pretty bad ass for surviving at night by herself, if only the other chickens thought as we did they might leave her alone. The girls love Colonel Sanders and often try and look for her during the day as she likes to hide. It's our own version of toddler/chicken hide and seek. She lays small white eggs.

 

Kung Pao & Kane

Kung Pao (to the left) is an Easter Egger and didn't want to cooperate with my photo taking. She is a new gal. Easter Eggers are great foragers and are very popular with home flocks for the their colorful eggs. Kung Pao lays light blue eggs. Easter Eggers egg color ranges from light blue to olive green. Like Salad, Kung Pao has decided to lay her eggs somewhere in our yard as I have not gotten a blue egg in a few weeks. I will have to do some chicken spying to find out where their stash is.

Kane (to the right) is a Barred Plymouth Rock. She is an old gal. Plymouth Rocks are large and very sweet. When she was a few days old, she loved hanging out with the kids that would come visit our new chicks. She used to sit on my little cousin's fedora hat and he would just walk around with her on his head. She was the head honcho of the flock, but since retiring, she seems to have handed over her top of the flock status to Nugget. She laid large brown eggs.

D-Rock

D-Rock is a Dominique. She looks very similar to Kane with the exception of her size and comb. She is much smaller than Kane and her comb is flat to her head and small in comparison to Kane's larger and wider comb. She is also very sweet and no longer lays eggs. When she laid eggs, they were medium and brown.

 

General Tso

 

General Tso, like Kung Pao, is an Easter Egger (and very scary looking in this picture). She is very sweet and a great forager. She used to lay light blue eggs, but has since retired. When she was a chick she looked just like a chipmunk, which was very popular with the kiddos.

 

So, there you have it. We are so glad we made the decision three years ago to raise chickens and we hope to continue doing so for a very long time.