Starting my chicken journey

I've recently ventured into chicken keeping. I've wanted my own backyard chickens for almost 7 years now, ever since we found a flock in my neighbor's yard. We caught those, and they went to a friend's house as she had a better set up for them. I've helped with them, had ups and downs, and learned a lot. I finally took the plunge towards my own birds.

My first birds are 4 Rhode Island Red pullets from a feed store nearby. Well...not really, the feed store is actually about an hour away from us. It was worth it to me to get my first chicks though. At the chain farm store, you have to buy 6 chicks at a time. Most hatcheries require you to buy 15 so they stay warm during shipping. My feed store allows whatever you want to buy, so four it is!

Here are the babies the day I brought them home. I set up the brooder, set them in, and they all fell asleep-face first in the shavings:



Time went on, and they outgrew two brooders, so we had to come up with something that would last. Here is the brooder we built using a large dog crate, and cardboard.



It's been three weeks today, and I can't believe how much they have grown. I call them my ostriches because they are so big.



My husband needs to hurry up and build me a coop, these ladies will soon be ready to go outside. Keep checking back as I blog my exciting chicken journey.

God Bless
Chela