Meet the Chickens
It’s time for you to finally meet the chickens!
I’ve mentioned them here and there, but I haven’t gotten around to a formal introduction. Backyard chickens seem to be trendy lately, so I thought I’d share our story with you here; because who knows? Maybe you’re interested. If the photos seem somewhat hazy, it’s because I took them through the chicken wire (I don’t like going into the coop with flip flops on, you understand).
We have twelve chickens- all egg layers (not broilers, which are raised just for meat). We got our chickens about a year ago through the mail via My Pet Chicken. They were delivered to the local post office, where I picked them up in a little box (with holes, don’t worry) and they chirped the whole way home. They lived in the garage for a while while my husband built the coop. They were pretty cute at first, but turned a little freaky when they hit their “teenage” years- not fully grown, but acting crazy! As soon as they started jumping out of their box, mama sent them right outside.
We actually started out with 16 chickens. Three of them died as chicks and one turned out to be a rooster (it’s very difficult to figure out the gender of chicks, so occasionally, you’ll get a rooster instead of a hen). We decided to get rid of him since we live in a residential neighborhood and we didn’t want him clucking away every morning and waking the neighbors. Nick took care of it, and I made some broth (gotta do what you gotta do). If you have any questions about that process, I’ll pass them along to Nick.
Nick is great with the chickens. Typically he feeds and waters them in morning and gathers the eggs. (Recently, he’s started cooking them up for breakfast, too- thanks, babe!) I do the chicken chores when he’s traveling, but I’m not a huge fan of the job. I wouldn’t say I’m “scared” of the chickens, I just don’t like to hang out in the coop longer than I have to.
We typically get about 8-10 eggs a day. We eat most of them, but I love having extra to give away to friends. The chickens seem to come up in conversation a lot, so it’s nice to have enough extra eggs to pull out of the fridge and let people try. You can easily tell the difference between our eggs and store-bought eggs. They have darker and richer yolks, stronger whites (try whisking them, geez) and thicker shells.
Nick designed and hand-built the coop. It has gone through a few changes and it’s not too fancy, but it works for us. Inside the coop are three water containers, two feed containers and some hay bales for them to lay eggs on (we used to have boxes for laying, but they never went in them). The chickens eat some feed, some greens and lots of our leftovers. We wish we could let them roam free in the yard, but we want to respect our neighbors and keep them safe.
We’ve really enjoyed having the chickens so far. They’ve been pretty easy to take care of and the fresh eggs are absolutely worth it.
What do you think? Does anyone out there have chickens or want to have chickens? Any questions about how to raise them? Do you think it’s crazy to have chickens in our backyard? Id’ love to hear what you think!
I had chickens growing up (in the city!) and loved it. The eggs are much better. We let them out to walk around part of the day, and the put them back in the coop. We also had ducks. I would love to have them again! Good luck!
I’ve been waiting to hear about your chickens! I’m still sad I never got to try any of their eggs. We’ve been buying local eggs out here and I’m shocked at the difference between fresh and store-bought eggs—I never want to go back to the neon yellow yolks again! Great post! I’ve had a couple people mention wanting to get some chickens, so I’ll pass this along.
My husband and I have been considering raising some chickens,I think it’s totally cool! thanks for this post, love the coop! I’m just worried about the upkeep (and the fox and stuff getting to them) I pretend i’m tough but really i’m well, a fraiddy cat.
I’m always so impressed with people that keep chickens. It seems like such a big commitment. I have somewhat of a bird phobia, so I don’t know how that would go over, but fresh eggs do sound amazing! How does Elliott like the chickens? My grandparents had chickens when I was growing up, but lost them to a fox that got into their barn. 🙁
I have some friends who have their own chickens and ducks and they absolutely love it!! I grew up in a farming community and my mother and her best friend started their own little chicken coop, I loved to play with them when I was younger…. One day I would love to have my own little chicken coop (once my husband and I stop moving around so much) … Was there some sort of permit you had to get from your community to have them in your yard?