Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Our New Venture



We had a baseball game here last night. N is playing on the local rec team again. He loves it. He has such a great time playing catcher & batting & the whole thing. In fact last night he had a great game. He hit a line drive at the coach (it's a coach-only pitching league) and made it on base that time plus he got on again in his last inning & was eventually batted home. 

Then we were driving home when we came across my MIL walking her dog. We stopped to say hello & she told us that my FIL had a surprise for us. We needed to go right over & see him. 

So we did. He took us down to the basement & this is what we saw....


A few months ago he had mentioned chickens to us. He thought it would be good for the boys. I agreed. Hubby wasn't so on board with the idea. I did a bit of research but since hubby wasn't all that thrilled by it, I let it go for now. However, my FIL walked in to the local Agway store last night after work & saw the chicks there. Apparently he couldn't resist & bought us a "chick six-pack." 

The boys & I are thrilled. Hubby is coming around to the idea.



These chicks are still very young. You can see in this photo that they still have their egg tooth attached. They are of the Barred Rock variety. We have no idea yet whether we have only hens or if there are any roosters in there. Currently there are just six balls of peeping fluff.

Now that I really have chicks here I spent quite a chunk of time last night researching coop designs as well as chicken tractors. I really want a tractor first. 

So what is a chicken tractor? Basically it's a portable chicken coop without a floor. This allows the chickens to peck & scratch at the ground & gobble up all the bugs & such they find there. You move it around every couple of days & they eat the bugs & fertilize your lawn. Neat huh?

I do want a regular coop built for the winter, but for now I'm looking at tractors. Here's one that I thought was pretty neat, easy to build & light enough for me to move easily.



Most of the sites I went to last night either wanted money for their plans (understandable but I'm cheap frugal) so I spent a lot of time just looking at photos. One site did have plans (in terms of a materials list & photos) that I think might work for what we need. Considering we only have six chicks, we certainly don't need anything huge. And believe me, there were some pretty elaborate coops/tractors on the sites I visited.


Officially called "Cluckingham Palace" you can click HERE to check out more details.

One of the best websites I found for information was BackYard Chickens. I'm looking forward to when the chicks are older & bigger & we can start feeding them treats. There is a whole list on that site. 

7 comments:

  1. Hi, I saw your comment on my blog. Chickens are the best!! We have 1 barred rock hen, her name is Mrs. Dashwood. She is so sweet and gentle! I think in time, your husband will be glad they are great pets for children, so fun to watch and so fun to collect your own eggs.

    Did you see this post on Mrs. Dashwood, she is so sweet!
    http://happygoldenyears.blogspot.com/2008/11/leggo-my-eggo.html

    Enjoy!

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  2. Congrats to N for having so much fun at baseball. Hunter is sad ours is done.
    Chickens could be an adventure. I think it is cool. My mom is getting some the day before we arrive. Not sure what kind hers are though. I'll have to ask her next time I talk to her. :)
    P.s. I liked the red chicken house!

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  3. LOL! Thanks for the pictures. I couldn't imagine what a checken tractor might be!

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  4. I think they eat ticks too! Thery eat all the bad stuff on the lawn - organic bug killer. ;) I've been wanting chickens for a long time, but my husband says we don't have enough room for more pets. I think my cat would probably try to eat them anyway.

    Someday we will have chickens, and I also want a chicken tractor.

    It's nice your son loves baseball! My son is so not into sports. We pushed it for a while, but then stopped because he just wasn't interested.

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  5. Congrats on the chickens! I've always wanted them but can't in our subdivision. I'll be following along to see how things go!

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  6. Oh Lisa, I can't wait to read all about your Chicken Adventures!

    We had them growing up and I miss everything about them.. well, almost!

    :)
    Hugs,
    Christa.

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  7. Cluckingham Palace looks great! A chicken tractor does sound like a good idea.

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