Now, before you think I'm a crazy animal collector (which I very well may be), let me explain that 6 of them are my new baby chicks. And 3 of them are horses, which are not really as much work as one might think. Thankfully they live outside with the chickens so that cuts down dramatically on the fur in the house. The other 5 are... well, sadly they have the run of the place. Two of them are "barn cats", who have no clue what it's like to spend the night anywhere but the center of a big queen bed.
The chickens, however, are the ones who make me feel like I might just be becoming a bit of a farmer. And I have no idea what I'm doing... so I thought I'd blog my learning process.
They weren't a quick decision. I've been considering chickens for over a year now. Truthfully, I don't need them for the eggs. I have a neighbor and a father who both own chickens and are wonderful about sharing surplus eggs. I do, however, love the way they look wandering the yard. Pair that with the fact that they are supposedly excellent at controlling the bug population- especially the ticks- and I'm ready to be a chicken owner.
Yesterday, we made the trek to the local Agway to pick up our babies. I was armed with the names of several breeds recommended to me by friends, and several breeds that I'd spend hours researching the night before. I was prepared. However, when I got there, I found I had only 4 types to choose from, none of which were on my "special breeds" list. Later, I found that you can special order different breeds from breeders around the country. However, a store like Agway needs to stock the most popular breeds, quite understandably. I was also considering getting a couple of guinea hens, because they're so good at eating bugs, but they aren't available until June. We shall see.
Our baby chicks were only a day old when we purchased them, and they wanted to be at a balmy 95 degrees. Unfortunately, our upstate NY weather is hovering closer to a damp 50 degrees.
An hour later, I was home and settling in with my new friends. I have an old chicken cage... a large metal contraption that I had once planned on re-purposing as a rabbit hutch (our stint as rabbit owners was short lived!). We lined the grated bottom of the cage with a piece of plywood and covered that with a generous layer of pine shaving. We added a water dispenser and a covered feed dish, fixed a heat lamp above them, and we were ready to go. Check out our set up!
I'll start introducing you to our babies tomorrow. I have to admit, I'm falling in love with one in particular...but it's great to see all their different personalities already starting to show.
Goodnight for now... I have to be up early and take care of my little zoo!
