Lucy and Julie produced two eggs this morning! I couldn't find the "what is making you happy" thread so here is the pic of the source of my joy:

Nice. Hopefully I'll find time in the next couple of weeks to get our coop built.

Do you have a coop or a tractor?

How many chickens?

What kind of chickens? I have young and curious children so I'm looking for kid friendly chicks.

Jenifer,

Congratulations !!!!
Yes, Spring is here.
If those hens keep it up for a week, you'll have enough for you and the boys to have breakfast,

cootduster

I have a coop (no tractor) with a run attached (the Aspen Pet/Petmate Chicken Fort High Capacity Coop with the Chicken Fort Run; you purchase them separately, but can both be seen here: http://www.wayfair.com/Petmate-Chicken- ... M1677.html ) very spacious, very secure; the internal door/ramp locks, as does the nesting box and even the roof and vent; I formerly had the Precision Pet Extreme Hen House with the Precision Pet Extreme Hen House Run (again, both are sold separately but can be seen together here: http://www.wayfair.com/Precision-Pet-Pr ... P1216.html ) and was sorely disappointed in it; the essentially flat roof of the coop in our weather did not fair well and there was no way to lock the internal access door. Still, sold it for $200

I keep only two hens, Lucy and Julie, Red Stars ordered from Murray McMurray Hatchery. I cannot recommend them highly enough. You do have to order a minimum of 15 day-old chicks, sent, no kidding, Priority Mail, but they always include one or two extra chicks, you know what breeds you are getting, and you can get sexed runs--meaning, no roosters. I ended up with 17 chicks, raised them indoors to about four or five weeks, raised them outdoors (no heat) to about 10 weeks, and then sold off the ones I didn't want (i.e., not the Red Stars) on CL for $40-$60 per pullet.

The one or two extras they send won't be sexed, but will be a rare breed, and the one rooster (a Dominique) I ended up with, I sold for $80 to a woman who had a Dominique hen she wanted to breed. Keep in mind that the weirdness of CL is, the rarer (read: more expensive) you list your chicks at, the more inquiries you will receive. For instance, I listed four Buff Orpington pullets at $20 each, zero inquiries. A week later, with the ad phrased exactly the same way, I upped the price per pullet to $40, and had sold all four within two days, plus two Buff Polish at $60 to a guy who just liked how they looked (they have "afros", puffs of feathers atop their heads). More than doubled what I paid Murray McMurray for the chicks.

Lucy and Julie are super sociable and will follow you (or the dogs, they don't care) around the yard seeking attention. Great with the boys, great with the neighbour children--and last year, Lucy and Julie started laying mid-April and kept laying straight through December, apparently not getting the memo that they're supposed to stop laying when it becomes dark and cold.

Red Stars are definitely one of the best laying breeds--I feed them Purina Layena pellets from the Grange in Issaquah, and so their eggs taste just like Costco eggs, but are about 150% or more the size of a Costco egg. So much so that it is impossible to close a "regular" egg container when one is full of their eggs.

I think you could keep four standard sized hens in my coop, but keeping just two gives them lots of space and I like the idea of my girls having space.

Hope this helps. PM me with any questions about breed selection or whatever.

I don't know what kind of chickens our neighbors have, but they're incredibly sociable creatures. They love playing chase with the dog (the chickens and the dog are roughly the same size, and the games of chase regularly alternate between who is the chaser and who is the chasee). When they get bored, they'll stand at the back slider and squawk for attention.

Yah, I wish Norman would hold still so I could get a pic of this, but every time he sees me with the phone he stands up...Lucy and Julie like to roost on his back when he's laying down. The good thing about Great Pyrenees, they take guarding whatever they're supposed to be guarding very seriously, so apparently, if the chickens want to sit on Norman, he's okay with that (Lily is still a little too jumpy, being just two years old, to hold still enough to let Lucy and Julie roost on her).

And yes, if the chickens want attention, they will find ways to get it. Lucy and Julie are very into riding around in the red wagon the neighbour kids have.

Wow, you got this down! Thank you for the information. I will PM you with any further questions. Thank you again.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/ ... ?a=1754238 $240

That is really tiny for even two standard size hens...with chicken coops and runs, you really do get what you pay for, and happy hens produce better eggs, IMHO. You also need to factor in space for a feeder and a waterer, both of which take up square footage.

Plus you have to pay shipping? Seriously? When my first High-Capacity Chicken Fort arrived from Wayfair damaged in transit (UPS), they instantly FedExed (think warehouse to my house in four days) both a new Chicken Fort and new run. Like four days. Didn't ask for proof of damage or anything, didn't ask for the damaged coop (which my brother repaired, attached to the run, and sold for $200) back. Didn't charge shipping on anything--not the first coop and run, not the second coop and run.

Kind of doubt that you would get that kind of service with a coop (and a site that carries such a coop) that rates a whopping 2.8 out of five stars.

I almost want chickens now. Almost.

We have 4 Chickens now (one passed a couple weeks ago). They are awesome. We have them in a 6x8 fiberglass greenhouse as the coop and a 10x10 covered dog run as the run.

We let them outside almost everyday too. They usually stay in the yard, but recently have been getting a little more adventurous. Bitches..


Here is out setup. We have a hole cut between the coop and run so the ladies can go in and out whenever they want. And I made a small door in the storm door on the green house so I can let them out to the yard that way too.

Mmmmmm, fresh eggs. My in-laws used to have chickens, but they became too much work for them. It was great while it lasted.

Spring is definitely here... I took off my winter tires yesterday that saw snow only twice and never to hit the mountains.

Worst winter ever.


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