I bought my flock home on July 25, 2015. Seven chickens total, I acquired my flock (for the low price of $50 for 7 chickens) from a lady I had met at an Elk Foundation dinner. We had struck up a conversation and the topic of chickens surfaced, as it always does among chicken people, and months later (after the coop was constructed - see future post!) I was making the hour drive to her house with a car full of boxes to pick up my chickens!
Six hens was the deal, and I expected Ameraucanas, which she only had two mixes of, but I left with a bonus pullet - a little production red. Two of the chickens were at least three years old and the rest had been born 2-3 months ago. I did not mind the age difference. The chickens all knew each other and some were bonded to each other so it all worked out. I was SO excited - I was finally a chicken keeper! Dream fulfilled! WooHoo!
Setting the Routine
The day-to-day care was pretty breezy since I had spent an entire year researching and a couple months building the coop and run (this was not a priority for my husband). The coop has wonderful access doors and keeping it clean was great as I used a few inches of sand over linoleum flooring as the base. No odor, easy to remove waste, a great setup - still use it now, a year later.
When I first brought them home, it was pretty dark outside and about 9:30pm, so there was just enough light for me to see what I was doing without a flashlight. One by one I took the three or four boxes from the car, through the yard, down the hill to the coop and set each gently on the ground. When all the boxes were together, I opened the big coop door (I LOVE the access doors to the coop - they are huge), and then slowly and as quietly as possible, lifted the travel-weary chickens from the box to the roost. One by one I held them up until their feet gripped the roost securely and I knew that they would not fall. Because I was moving, the whole moving in operation, from boxes in the car to seven chickens roosting, took about ten minutes. I locked the door and to bed I went, SO excited to see them in the morning!
I kept the flock in the coop (door locked, no run access) for seven days. The purpose of this is so that they know where home is and there is no confusion about where they live. My coop is extremely well-ventilated, so they were as cool as could be in the July heat. Water and food were in the coop, too, 24/7 so they were very content together.
The day that I decided to let them out into the run was a great one! My coop has a bottom drop door with a ladder to accommodate the large (south-southeast-facing) window that I found on Freecycle.org. One by one they made their way carefully down the ladder. The whole process took about ten minutes as they were afraid to leave the coop. From that very first evening out, the entire flock went in the coop at dusk on their own and they have ever since.
From Day 1 I have loved being a chicken keeper. Through loss and cold weather, I still enjoy my flock and hope that chickens will stay a part of my life for many years to come.
