Our three little henlettes (we hope they’re hens anyway…)
Priscilla (2.5 weeks), Shelly (1.5 weeks) and Sylvie (1.5 weeks)
Priscilla is a Plymouth Barred Rock. She’s named after Priscilla Mullins Alden who came to Plymouth on the Mayflower (my 9th ggrandmother).
Shelly is a Buff Orpington. Joseph named her. I have no idea why he picked Shelly. Maybe it’s a girl in his class that he has a crush on.
Sylvie is a Silver Wyandotte. I don’t think I need to explain her name. She’s gonna be a beaut. Look at that face. She’s the whole reason I bought when I did. I was going to hold out for a Rhode Island Red instead of the Buff, but I really wanted a Silver Wyandotte, so….
About a month ago I saw this segment on Central Texas Gardener:
I thought, “hmmmm…” so I started researching. Backyard chickens are taking the nation by storm. How can you lose? Fresh eggs and the best manure your garden can ask for! In this day of green and sustainable living, cities across the country are changing their laws to allow people to have a few hens in urban neighborhoods.
I looked up the fowl ordinance for Harker Heights. The rule is you have to be 250 feet from your neighbors house, but you can ask for an exception for 75 feet and over. So that’s what I did. We’re lucky in that we’re on a 1/2 acre lot. I forwarded the link for the video and the ordinances for several surrounding cities (most are 8 hens/ 50ft) to our City Manager, Mayor and City Council Members. I got permission to have three hens!
Dan was harder to convince than the city. lol. He came around. He always does. He had to admit they’re pretty entertaining. Throw a feather in with them and they’re hilarious.
Right now they are in the laundry room in a mega huge Rubbermaid bin. We need to get crackin’ on the hen house and coop. In about six months we’ll have fresh eggs for breakfast and more manure than my compost pile will hold.
Ha! Look at You!!! How fun and exciting! Does Dan know what he’s in for? The lady in the video started with three and now she has…well, I won’t say in case Dan’s reading LOL! I can just see my neighborhood Yay-hoos if I asked to have chickens. We can’t even have a freakin’ clothesline. (Which I’m hoping that national legislation will pass and they won’t be able to stop me!)
Do you know about chicken tractors? If not, look them up. They’re little movable chicken houses that you can shift around the yard. Gives the chickens a chance at new spots to peck around and fertilizes your yard. Don’t know about ordinances on that sort of thing, but my sister loves them.
Hehehe – I had a pet hen growing up. It was lots of fun. I can’t wait to see more pictures of your growing girls.
How fun! We’ve had chickens in the backyard before and unless you have a rooster, the neighbors will hardly know they’re there. Fresh eggs are the best!
How cute! And fresh eggs? Bonus!!
We had them before they were cool. The stupid roosters beat up the hens.
Welcome to the club! In addition to the eggs and fertilizer, you will be amazed at how entertaining chickens can be. I’m attaching a link for ideas for coops. My experience with four chickens over the last 18 months is this – buy/build a coop that is easy to clean – that ‘fertilizer’ is dispensed at will! I recommend a coop with a nest boxes that are accessable from outside. Also, since once inside their house, they do most of their pooping while roosting, putting something under the roost that is easily cleaned/removed and cleaned – it will save you work. I’ve seen a shelf under the roost lined with metal, or a tray underneath. Make their yard as big as you can and cover it. The chickens will need protection from birds of prey and need shade in the summer – we allow ours to free-range the yard all day (Australian Shepherd for protection), but the trade off is having to clean the patio every day! In retrospect I would have made roaming the yard a treat, not an expectation! Our summers are very hot – we freeze small water bottles full of water and use them to keep the thier water cool – chickens will usually not drink warm water. There are a lot of good books out there and your local feed store is also a good resource. Have fun!
Oops – forgot the link!
http://myamishgoods.com/product.php?catid=1&subcatid=1
Ooooh! Lucky you! The girls are gorgeous. I’m partial to Sylvie too.
You’re going to love them! Chickens are the best entertainment going. I once saw them described as ‘goldfish for your yard,’ and it’s true!
How fabulous! I love chickens! I love seeing them, listening to their clucking and I especially love a warm fresh egg in my palm. And better yet, in my frying pan!
Great post!
WendyBee
What a coincidence, just this morning I was on my blog roll and read about these two chicks who were introduced by Yarnhog, a Delaware and also a Silver Wyandotte. Wish I had a backyard, I would definitely join the fowl crowd.
They're a lot of fun. They are like little hens now. About half grown.
oh. no.
i bought chickens.
my g.f. and i thought it was a grand idea. we had our little parcel of land we had planted, and we had our little coop… and, her sister’s stupid little dog bit their heads off.
we now buy our eggs from one of our other g.f’s, and have a new motto.
it states, simply:
“we don’t know a damn thing about chickens”
it’s all encompassing.
you can borrow it if you wish.