Our Chicken Adventure Commences

 BokBok Adventures

Oh, boy! I've gone and done it now. I am officially becoming a chicken keeper...owner...farmer...herder? I don't actually know the official term for what we are (really what I am) becoming. What I do know is that I am in the process of securing baby chicks of 2 different breeds, Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks, for the purpose raising them, culling their eggs, and if I'm being honest, making pets of them. Let me go back to the beginning...

Sometime a long, long time ago when I was a kid in middle school my mom had 3 big, white hens that laid big fat eggs. They were kept in a dog pen of sorts in our backyard on Kerr Road in Harford County, Maryland. They weren't really nice, they kind of stunk, their pretty white feathers were always filthy, probably due to the dust baths that I have since learned they like to take, and as a bonus they provided fresh eggs with the richest, darkest yellow-orange yolks. I loved them and decided I would one day also have my own chickens.

Fast forward twenty or thirty some odd years later...

I have been getting fresh eggs from a couple of providers I work with here at the ED. They trade me eggs for cartons or a few bucks. In the summers I have lots of eggs. The winters however are less fruitful. I hear chickens get lazy with their butt nugget productions as the daylight decreases. Obviously they've never understood the concept of culling. Just kidding!

One morning as I was fixing my over easy eggs- it was a trend and I was eating 2 over easy eggs every day- my husband said ever so nonchalantly, "we should have our own chickens so we can provide our own eggs". I was very silent for a hot minute, let that statement marinate in the air of imagination and then I jumped on it like white on rice. I said, "sounds like a great idea. I can totally make that happen."

To understand my excitement at his suggestion, you are going to need to know something about my amazing husband Bryan... he's not a fan of "one more thing to take care of". I married this man and we had 3 dogs within a year. In a 1200 square foot apartment. He liked animals! I suppose he still does, but he has less patience for them than he once did. Now that I've given him 5 kids, he's less enthusiastic about the animals. That being said, we DO have 1 dog, 3 cats not including our outdoor kitty, 3 fish and a partridge in a pear tree. Just kidding. We don't have any birds. It just kinda fell out of my fingers and on the keyboard as I was humming the tune. I do want a bird though, and thus the purpose of this whole story. 

Anyone who knows me knows that once I have an idea in my head, it's like a tsunami coming for the coast. It's all encompassing and becomes an almost unhealthy obsession. As any good wife in America coming out of the throes of a national pandemic, I go to my old friend, Amazon, and start researching. I knew that while I loved my mom's ornery white biddies, I really knew nothing much else about these birds so I bought a book. I hit up my doctor friends I work with that would supply me with eggs. Within a day I had joined 4 or 5 chicken keeper groups on Facebook. I learned so many fascinating things about chickens, including the fact that their poop is literal garden gold. Which then got me on a slight composting and raised gardening kick, but that's a post for another day. Just know... it's a become a thing for me.

Bryan quickly became contrite, wishing he had never suggested us having chickens. It's funny to me; he has been in my life for 26 years, and didn't see this coming when he suggested the idea of keeping chickens. Silly man. But he gave me his word, and I was too far gone to entertain the idea of negating our deal. So I get a few more eye-rolls, raised eyebrows and harrumphs than before. Like that's gonna stop me!

I researched chicken coops 'til my eyes bled. A-frames, short, tall, run lengths, predator proofing, nesting boxes, wires, rocks, lumber, etc, etc, etc. I became familiar with the different breeds of chickens. I hit up other chicken keepers in my FB groups to find out what worked for them. I learned that I did NOT, at this time, have what it would take to raise babies. I found a guy who will raise them for me until they're ready to live in a coop outdoors. I learned new terms: broody, comb, vent among other words that had entirely different meanings to me prior to this journey. 

And here we are today. I have selected a coop... Bryan and I will build one. He's incredibly excited about the 43 pages of plans to follow. 😆 I selected my chickens. Initially, I narrowed my selection to about 4 breeds then finally settled on Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks for their overall temperament and egg laying reliability. 

If interested, these are the plans I settled on. I got them from Etsy, and they have great ratings! https://www.etsy.com/listing/181650783/the-garden-coop-walk-in-chicken-coop?transaction_id=2292944815&campaign_label=proteus_transaction_buyer_notification_q4_treatment_v2&utm_source=transactional&utm_campaign=proteus_transaction_buyer_notification_q4_treatment_v2_010170_669962139734_0_0&utm_medium=email&utm_content=&email_sent=1611867321&euid=0dy-URMV0bdFdwaW3OEWpuICoeup&eaid=63989752174&x_eaid=6ef4ca29bc

I have included a small video of the RIR chicks! They're so tiny, but they will grow so fast! I plan on taking the kiddos out to his farm one day soon so that we can meet the chicks while they're still small!