When we first looked at the house that would become our current home, the owner and his young daughter were there for the showing.
See, they had 10 chickens - 1 rooster and 9 hens - and they wanted to be sure the person buying the house truly wanted them or whether they would need to rehome them.
Rehoming chickens is not that difficult, however, finding a new home for a rooster can be a challenge, so they were especially concerned about Mr. Peck.
Ironically, though, one of the reasons we were moving was to have a little land and get chickens, so it worked out perfectly. As it turned out, we were in a competitive situation, but one of the things that swayed the sellers to accept our offer was that we included the chickens in conveyances.
Fast forward four and a half years and we still have Mr. Peck, although the original hens have all since passed away. Every year, though, we have added to the flock and now we have 4 roosters, 19 hens and 9 chicks who arrived a couple of weeks ago.
For those of you who don't know, chicks can come in the mail. They're shipped when they are 1 day old in an insulated container. In our case, the post office calls around 6 a.m. the day they arrive to tell us they are there and ready for pick up.
When we get home with them, we open the box and get them settled into a heated brooder box, which we put in our garage until they are old enough to join the other chickens in the coop.
The photo to the left was taken immediately after the chicks were placed in the brooder box - imagine, these were the first steps these little chicks had ever taken. They were a little wobbly for about 5 seconds, then they quickly started exploring their surroundings.
After a couple of weeks, they are now big enough to eat and drink from the troughs on the sides of the brooder box rather than from the feeders we placed in the box. There is a tray under the box for easy clean up, too.
Once they have outgrown the brooder box - probably in about 8 weeks - they will go to a segregated area of the coop, where they will remain separated from the other chickens for a while. This allows them to see each other while the chicks grow large enough to avoid being picked on by the bigger chickens.
Backyard chickens have been growing in popularity over the years and with good reason; they are personable, fun to watch and easy to take care of. The best part is, there is nothing tastier than fresh eggs from free range chickens. There are not too many pets who reward you with food!
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