Our First Year with Chickens, A Reflection

Surprise! We broke into your compost pile!

A year ago this week, I put in an order for some peepy cheepers. Baby chicks! We knew that we would begin a flock as soon as we bought a home and had our own yard. Buffalo had just passed chicken legislation, and we knew we were going to take advantage. It's hard to believe the nine ladies we have now have been with us for over a year.

The decision to begin urban chicken keeping was a simple one: we cared where our food came from. The best way to make sure we ate the highest quality of eggs from the happiest chickens possible was to raise hens ourselves. We enjoy any challenge that makes us more self-sufficient and we have learned so much.

The box the gals arrived in. 

The adventure began in choosing. I had my heart set on a few breeds that were especially cold hearty and were generally happy. When I went to order my girlies, they were sold out for weeks at every hatchery I checked. I decided to go with a mix of brown layers from McMurray Hatchery. We were splitting with several friends, so we wound up with an order of 26 brown egg-laying chicks. They arrived a few weeks later in the smallest box you can squeeze 26 live beings in. I was shocked at how small the babies were.

The ladies under the heat lamp.

No sooner than I had lifted the top of the box did I have 26 peepers running like nuts and eating the snacks I had prepared to welcome them home. Then suddenly, they were done and happily napping under the heat lamp.

The chicks were endlessly adorable, eternally entertaining. Then, a few weeks in, one of the girls fell over and couldnt seem to get back up. Like worried parents, we frantically searched the internet for answers.

It turned out that she had spraddle leg- a condition that happens when the chickens body quickly grows, and outweighs what the legs have become strong enough to carry. Soon, another two began showing symptoms. In many farm settings, these chicks would be allowed to die, but we found that with a simple splint the chicks could be given time to heal. Using a small piece of medical tape, we linked the legs together at a healthy distance. They needed to be propped up between food and water until their legs healed. Several times a day, I had to leave work to come home and prop them up again, as the poor ladies would tip over and be on their sides until propped again.

Amazingly, from the morning we found they had first tipped, it only took three days to recover most walking ability. They proved surprisingly resilient.

The first egg we found.

The chicks lived indoors until the Buffalo weather was consistently spring-like, about 8 weeks. We would take them, via towel covered hamper, outside to play in the grass while they were feathered but the weather wasn't guaranteed. My favorite chicken memory is when Jezebel, one of our Buff Orpingtons, first came outside. Instinctively, this chicken scratched, found a worm, and then acted absolutely terrified and dumb founded as to what it was or what to do with it. Eventually, very carefully, she put it back down. It was as if she were saying, "Woa... I don't know what that was all about." Pretty freaking hilarious. Maybe you had to be there?

The day it was obvious that they needed to be outdoors permanently, they had squeezed through the crack in the door and come half way down the stairs before I could get to them. 9 chickens. Loose. In my house. Immediately, we built a temporary summer coop in the form of a chicken tractor.

They preferred to roost on top of the chicken tractor at night.

Their first egg came a month or two later.  I was so relieved to get it, it was an obvious sign that we were doing OK at chicken rearing. First eggs are tiny, pointy and odd. Sometimes they'd have no shell, sometimes two yolks. It was always an adventure. Our chickens began their laying by hiding their eggs all over the back yard. It made the concept of the Easter egg hunt make so much more sense.

Eventually, with new egg boxes built, in their sturdy new coop, we had eggs in one consistent spot. Our coop was built out of waste materials- pallets and straw left over from a local festival. The nesting boxes are an old sweater organizer from Ikea turned on its side and stuffed with straw. The outside is shed material and it is the only part of the coop we purchased. It is an effective coop for free range chickens, but I wish it were prettier. This year I think I will use a painted trim around the door. We have plans for a live roof on top. Wild flowers on top of a chicken coop! Can life get better?

This winter egg production slowed slightly but did not stop until we had to switch to conventional feed after the solstice when our local feed store was out of organic. The ladies did not appreciate this switch! Egg production stopped almost immediately and resumed as soon as we replaced the organic feed. They are back in full swing, as you can see.

Their eggs are beautiful now. Large and fresh tasting, their yolks are a bright orange and taste and feel healthier than even the freshest egg I may have had before. We use them for everything that you might think and then some. Bartering with eggs has helped us through tough finances!

Raising chicks has been an amazing experience. I never thought I could be so attached to them. Each lady has a name and they are all very good at being handled. When I open the kitchen window they know what it means: SCRAPS!!! There is nothing funnier than nine chickens dashing across the yard to meet you at the window.

I'm attached! I'll admit it. I'm not sure what we'll do when the girls slow their laying, but for now, I am happy to be the momma of 9 backyard hens.