An April Adventure Begins - cluck cluck cluck!

   On April 2nd, my husband Glen, daughter Kathren and son Orry ventured to Tractor Supply to check out the local small critter swap. They had local farmers out to swap, sell and inform with people.  It was alot of fun, we checked out a bunch of goats, lambs, Kathren went to all the puppies begging for one, we saw ducks and bunnies! It was great. 
   I had been bugging Glen for over a year about getting some backyard chickens, for egg and if need be meat production.  He kept brushing me off, "another one of my endevours"! I bought books and researched city codes on chicken keeping.
   Of course as our luck would have it,the event at Tractor Supply was all out of chicks and chickens (except for one rooster- yea that is not going to happen). We did however get to talking to alot of the local farmers who raise chickens, which drew Glen in right away. Inside Tractor Supply they had Cornish Cross chicks, which I wasn't crazy about because have been selectively bred to grow quickly and over muscular, by which in 6 months if you don't slaughter them, their body weight will break their own legs and collaps on their lungs and heart. I find that cruel existence! So those were out!
   We decided to check out our local feed store, Wards, and check out their chicks.  They had Black Austrolps, Buff Orpingtons, Road Island Reds, White Leghorns.  The guys over there were extreemly helpful and recomended that maybe we start off with mature birds.  Glen kept harping on how he wanted eggs ASAP (part of his new diet). They recommended the board, where there was an advertisement for laying hens to be re-homed. 
   We gave them a call and headed out there.  When we got there, we checked out one coop that had 8 Campine  hens, they were very pretty, but flighty and seemed to be looking for any opportunity to escape as we peered through the chicken wire.  They were extreemly active and didn't seem to stop for one second. Beautiful but way to active for us and our kids!
   We climbed up a slight incline to another coop at the top, and there were some plump Orpington in a beautiful buff color. They too were a bit flighty but nothing like the other guys. There were 10 Orpingtons, 1 Leghorn and 2 Dominique hens. One of the Dominique had just finished laying an egg. They were pretty birds, and from what I had researched befor, the Orpington was a great dual bird, good egg production and heavy enough to eat, cold hard and heat tolerant.  They are supposed to be friendly birds and easy to handle. I was really attracted to them, for those reasons, but also the two Dominiques were just beautiful. While the Leghorn was running around plucking the feathers off of this one extreemly large Orpington hen and picking on the others.  We told the man that we'd have to set something up, and we'd get back to him, but expressed our intrest in the Orpingtons.
   We went home, and Glen was convinced backyard chickens was a great idea. We went to Lowes and bought a sturdy dog kennel and some other supplies and began working on it right away. We cleaned out our back patio area, and sanitized it. We put up the kennel in a matter of seconds, and furnished the inside with 4 homemade nestboxes, stainless steel feeder and water, with a ton of fresh bedding, and chicken blocks (treat/vitamen block). We were ready!

   We called the man back and headed out to pick up our ladies. We told him we cold only take 8, he had wanted us to take all 11, but I only wanted 5 initially and the White Leghorn was a bit of a bully! We settled on the 8, six Opingtons and the two Dominiques. As they rangled them up, I saw the extreemly large one that was getting plucked on, and I really didn't want her, her feet were scaley and she was missing alot of feathers, but in the heat of the moment, I didn't get the words out fast enough before they threw her in one of our dog crates. Oh well, I figured. I had my eye on this cute clean little blonde one, and she was the last one they picked for us, and I was happy to see her in the bunch.  They fit all 8 of them in Turexs' crate! He'd love that! They just lay there, not moving or making noise, I thought maybe some had died, w'd have to see when we got home.
   When we got the ladies home, we set up a perch in the corner, and let them out! They were cautiouse and curiouse. Glen shook them out of the Crate and they went scattering everywhere! Kathren and I didn't give the girls a break and took turns holding and petting each one, which we found they were quite calm, being dusk and all. Glen called his folks over and we all sat around and chatted abit and watched the chickens adjust. All had gone pretty smooth, and we were pleased.