Chicken City

So we finished building Chicken City! 

$2.50 sale on plastic crates at Wal-mart was an inventive idea for nesting boxes.  My husband used an electric saw and cut the fronts out of these exquisite condos, leaving a small lip at the bottom to hold in the bedding.  Though we have wood chips on the property, we decided to try local hay at first for the litter. 

My husband measured and made stands with 2x4's and plywood to lift the crates off the ground.  If you have tools already, this proved to be an inexpensive way to make a cozy nesting place for the hens!

Just as our book suggested, we contacted the local feed store to find a source for chickens. While we were unsure of what breed of chickies we wanted, we knew that a dual purpose breed would be the best route.  (Dual purpose meaning good egg layers and good for meat.)

Luckily, the breeder, was informative.  He may have been intoxicated on our visit to his home, but man, he is the chicken whisperer!  (He was so much fun!) We decided to go with "Production Reds" because they are just as their name suggests...productive! They are a vigorous, hearty chicken that lays lots of brown eggs.   

We decided to buy one already laying, one about to lay, 2 four month old, a younger one, and a rooster!  The rooster is not a production red, but a bantam.  Since we are planning to free range them after they have settled in, we felt it best to get a rooster.  If a predator is around, the rooster will alert the hens to run to safety...alerting us as well.  And anyway, who doesn't want little baby chickies? :)  

Here they are, about to get settled into their chicken high rise :)

Katie's favorite....the baby :) 

For about a month, we will be going out to the coop at least 2 times a day to get them used to interacting with us and to train them with scratch grain in preparation for free ranging.  And of course, to watch chicken TV!

"My favorite chicken is a sweet chicken (you might even want to meet it too).  Chickens are a great idea for an animal.  You might even use it for eggs too! Chickens are the best ever! My favorite part about raising chickens is having fun activities to do, like getting eggs from the egg nests. I see you can see the picture...I hope you like it!" ~Katie