In the Beginning.....

I figured it would be a good time to start writing something about how I first started with this "chicken business".
About ten years ago, our neighbor had about 5 or 6 chickens that would cross the road and come into our yard a scrape around. There was one white rooster (who we named George) and a few white hens that would follow him wherever he went. We got quite attached to the brood and would feed them from the back deck with old bread and whatever leftovers we could find. My late mother-in-law, who was living with us at the time, would also like it when they came daily for a visit.

Well, one day we mentioned it to my sister and her husband that we thought it would be "cool" to have chickens. We knew nothing about raising chickens and had no experience, other than the daily visits.

Around Easter, my sister and her husband showed up with a box of 12 baby chickens. We had no idea what to do. Over the next couple of months, we lost 10 out of the 12 chickens to a variety of things. Each evening, we would bring the chickens inside and keep them in a high sided box in the dining room until morning. Each day, we would put them outside in a make-shift chicken run made from chicken wire and furring strips. No heat lights, just water and food. Pretty dopey now that I look back on it. No wonder we lost so many.

We were left with 2 roosters. A small Bantam rooster named Kiev and a large Rooster we called "Colonel".


My brother-in-law and me built a "chicken tractor", a kind of a chicken coup with wheels, that allowed you to move it around your yard so the birds would get fresh grazing. Using old wheels, chicken wire and lumber, we built a pretty stable enclosure, still in use today (although we no longer move it around). It worked out well. The visiting rooster clan would come by and keep the two lonely roosters company. Eventually, one by one, the visiting white hens were disappearing, either by getting hit by cars crossing the street or by predators. Only George the rooster was left and finally, one morning we found his remains in our yard, an apparent hawk attack. Too bad. Nice bird.

So our roosters needed company. My wife found a "chicken lady" through the local Agway store, who she would ask advice about raising birds. She provided many helpful hints to raising the birds. We bought a couple of Bantam hens from her to keep the Roosters "company". Yeah right, "company". From there, the chicken excursion began.