Yesterday we did a very bad, bad thing; we got chicks. Oh
well!
Raising chicks is not a very complicated matter. However, it
does take a little work to make sure the chicks turn into well socialized hens.
After our last round of chicks that we decided to let a broody hen raise, we
figured it would be best for all involved to raise them ourselves for the first
month and a half before putting them in with the rest of the flock. Not that
there is anything wrong with letting a hen do her motherly duty, but, well,
those two hens she raised are quite wild and timid around us, unlike the rest
of the flock who will all let us pet and hold them. The advantage of having us
raise the chicks and handling them everyday (okay, whenever we go into the
garage to look in on them) is they should, in theory, be easy to handle by us.
So the big question is, what in the hell were we thinking?!
I’ll be honest, we weren’t. We went to the feed store to get chicken food and
left with three new chicks to add to the flock. But aren’t they just so cute?
I so want to keep hens, our current garden isn't suitable, never mind, maybe one day!
ReplyDeleteYou'd be surprised. The best chicken keeping book we've ever read, Keep Chickens! by Barbara Kilarski, is from her experience raising hens on her urban Portland, Oregon 3000 square foot lot (including a 2000 square foot home on it.)
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