I just wrote this as a posting in Official Backyard Chickens BYC: Hello, fellow chicken owners (or lovers)! In my experience, chickens are very loving, and lovable, pets. I got my three-day-old chicks at a local store. I picked out the chicks, and I named one of them. The breeds and their names: Amber, Rhode Island Red Patch, Black Star Phoebe, Barred Plymouth Rock Chatty, Ameraucana Now, we took home our little chirpers, and put them in a 4ft x 6ft bin in my room, filled with shavings. We added a chicken wire and plywood lid, and attached a heat lamp. Waterers and feeders were filled and added to our roomy chick habitat. My 17-year-old brother even took a liking to the little girls. All of the chicks were 90% assured to be pullets, but I was still wary. weeks went by, and I got worried that Amber was a cockerel. I was sad, and I tried to sever my feelings of attachment to my baby. That day, I did some more research to try to make sure my accusations were correct. Luckily, I was wrong, but overjoyed. At one point, I discovered that cheese was ok for chickens to eat as a treat, and I gave them a taste of dairy. My chicks loved it so much, that Chatty jumped to my friends arms from mine, a distance of two feet, for string cheese. It was hilarious. Eventually, the chicks feathered out, and it was time to build a henhouse! I worked on it with my moms friend, and in a day, the 4ft x 4ft henhouse was done. We attached a feeder and a waterer, and the next day we moved them out. A few weeks later, I was getting tired of letting the chickens out for their evening run, and it was time to build a chicken run! Our first attempt was futile, with a horrible, shaky, structure. After our failed attempt, my mom decided to hire someone to convert a fence, one side of a barn, and some open space into a chicken run. It turned out to be monstrous, with the same dimensions of a school bus (If you take out the wheels and drivers seat)! I loved it, and so did the pullets. After affixing a nesting box and roost to the inside of the henhouse, our chicken coop was finished! One week later, Patch layed the first egg! A few weeks ago, it got cold out. I checked out where I should put a heat lamp, and BYC was super helpful! Eventually, I got my dad to help put up a heat lamp, and I had a toasty warm henhouse. Now my chickens are happy and healthy, with no fatalities. I taught them a food call as chicks, so at ay hint of danger I will utter my shrill call, and lead my hens into the coop. I hope that you have (or had) as much fun raising chickens as me! Thanks for your tolerance, Sincerely, A very Dusty Dawg
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 06:05:12 +0000
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