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| Most of our acreage |
Chickens...what? Are you serious? Ever since we bought our acreage, around four years ago, my husband has been talking about getting into livestock. You know, just because you have 5 1/2 acres, doesn't mean you have to use it. In addition to that, I'm not a farm girl. Sure, I grew up on my friends' farms and hung out at my parents' friends who had farms, but I didn't do daily animal chores or deal with the veterinary side of things so the idea of farm animals kind of freaks me out. My husband was the farthest thing from a farm boy, which is probably why he's all for the idea. When I think about getting chickens, I instantly assume that means I'll be doing the bulk of the chores, which doesn't sound like fun. Instead, I figure this is the perfect learning experience for our kids. Everyone keeps saying that chickens are the gateway animal and before we know it we'll have goats and cows and everything else. I may have to eat my words later, but NO THANK YOU.
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Excitedly picking up
the chicks |
So why did I finally agree to the idea of chickens? If you had any idea how many eggs we go through on the average week, you'd understand. I'm pretty sure my family would eat eggs every day if they took the time to make them. We are omelet, sunny side up, fried, hash (eggs, hash browns, peppers, mushrooms, onions, etc.), one-eyed jacks (aka-toad in the hole), hard boiled, soft boiled and egg bake eaters (say that in your best Bubba Gump voice). We didn't go out and order 15 egg layers because that sounds like a lot of egg collecting, but we did order 18 broilers for butchering and 7 layers. If we are lucky, we'll end up with about 20 chickens in the end because it's pretty common to lose a few when they're young.
To embark on this adventure, I've been doing lots of research in the best place possible (Pinterest!) because these are actual people who have failed and succeeded at raising chickens. What better source is there? I have seen some crazy chicken coops that look like something Ma and Pa Kettle would have had and I've come across some Taj Mahal coops that are bigger than my house. Let's just say this is our "trial" year so we won't be constructing anything too fancy. I'm lucky to have my extremely talented husband who will likely build something more elaborate and functional than I can dream up. I have also learned some great things from other chicken bloggers based on their trial and error, such as
The Chicken Chick,
Backyard Chickens or
Hansen Woodland Farm. When I peruse Pinterest, the bulk of my pins and most informative articles are from these three sites. If you have any interest in procuring chickens in your future, check them out. They are a wealth of
knowledge.
So as we excitedly awaited the arrival of our new flock, we planned and prepped accordingly. We set up a brooder in the garage (that's chicken talk for a small holding/warming area for baby chicks) consisting of totes, pine shavings, waterers, feeders and heat lamps. We have a few plan ideas for the coop, nesting boxes and a run but we won't have to worry about that for a few more weeks. Again, that Pinterest has some great ideas for cheap projects. Thanks to some friends we have old milk crates to use for nesting boxes and we have access to a lot of pallets for anything we can dream up.
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| Bailey is so curious |
As far as the chicks, we ordered them from Krause's, a local farm supply store, who uses the Hoover Hatchery out of Rudd, IA. Jim Krause is another invaluable source who has provided us with a great amount of knowledge. Due to a back order last week, we were afraid we weren't going to get our chicks for two weeks, but we were pleased to receive the call we impatiently waited all week for, "Your chicks are in." After work/school Matt and Elsie picked them up and brought them home. They went directly into the brooder to warm up and get a drink. From all our reading we learned it was important to show them their water and make sure they were drinking. In our batch, only a couple needed to be encouraged, the rest flocked to the water and began drinking immediately. Not only were we excited to bring the chicks home, but Bailey was enamored with them. He spent all evening in the garage and had to be forced to come in the house to go to bed that night.
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| Bailey won't leave their side |
I can tell that this new endeavor is going to be a learning experience for all of us. The kids have been great about changing the food and water multiple times each day. Man those chicks can stir up a lot of mess in their brooders. This morning their watering dishes were so full of pine chips that they had absorbed all the water. Now I don't expect the kids to be as diligent about caring for them in a few weeks but so far, I am impressed. In addition, against our recommendations, Elsie has some creative names for the chicks such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Buffalo Wings, Wild Wings, Chicken Strips, Chicken Nuggets, Spots, and Fake Spots. Riley chimed in with a few of his own including Chicken Tenders and Jonathan (even though they are supposed to be all females).
After the most beautiful few days, we spent Sunday afternoon doing what we love most. We enjoyed the day on the water. It was a cold day for the swimming kiddos but it didn't stop them from getting. We kicked off the season with the first, of many, Sunday Rumdays of the year relaxing in our friends' pontoon. Hopefully we can get our boat and pontoon de-winterized this weekend so it's ready for the next warm day. With only 4 days of school left, I look forward to a summer filled with ball games, lots of memories made, great times on the water and new adventures for our family. Summer hasn't even begun and the calendar is already full. 
