Novice Poultry Owners

That's right, everyone!  We now have chickens.   I've been buying eggs from a co-worker for several years now.   Her husband keeps a few chickens as a hobby and I've got to tell you that if you have never eaten a "home grown" egg, you don't know what you have been missing. 


I've been working on Tom for a couple of years to get some chickens.  He was staunchly against it at first, but I kept pecking away at him.  (No pun intended).  Then several weeks ago, he came in and announced that Atwood's had baby chicks and when did I want to go pick some out!  After I picked myself up of the floor, I stammered that perhaps we'd better do some reading about chickens first.  So, off to the library we went.


Some of the books we read were downright alarming regarding the number of different ailments and parasites chickens can get, not to mention them pecking each other as well as their owners.  So, now, I'm feeling a little worried about our ability to handle this new responsibility.  However, I have a good friend who has chickens and has been mentoring me in all aspects of being a responsible chicken owner.  I won't mention names here, but she reads this blog and will know who I am talking about. 


So, yesterday we went to Atwood's to pick out our chickens.  They must have had 20 different kinds.  We decided to forego the tiny chicks and get some that were a little bigger thinking they would have a better chance of survival in our novice hands.  After reading a pamphlet they had there in the store about the different kinds, we ended up getting 3 New Hampshire Reds and 3 Gold Sex Linked.


Here is what wikipedia says about "sex linked" chickens.  Apparently, they are not a real breed, but a cross.  And, you can tell the sex of the chicken by its color.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_link

New Hampshire Reds descended from Road Island Reds and were developed more for meat than for egg production.  But, apparently, they are still good egg layers and we really didn't have much choice if we wanted chickens that were a little older than the tiny ones.  


So, here's a picture of our little flock.

They are definitely cute.  But, they are very wary of us.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they each had a small metal band clamped to their wing when we got them and I had to hold each one of them still while Tom removed the band with a pair of pliers.  But, I think it is more instinctive, rather like baby quail will hold very still when they sense predators nearby.  At any rate, I think as they get older and learn that we bring good things, i.e. food and water, then they will be okay.