What’s up, fam? It’s been a while… A lot of my friends have noticed my inactivity on my personal pages over the past 10 weeks or so and as a result I have been receiving a lot of “are you okay?” texts. Truth is, I am better than okay though my lack of posting may seem contrary; I honestly have been too busy. Wanna know what I’ve been up to?
I have taken up many hobbies over the last few months in a desperate attempt to make a slow-paced lifestyle from a rat-race world. I have begun a minimalist journey (still a work-in progress) enjoying foraging and making jelly and tinctures from my bounty, and I recently added 15 mouths to feed… or should I say beaks? Yep, I have officially become a chicken mom and I am proud of it.
In true Erin fashion, I can’t do anything the “traditional” way. Ya know, buy some peeps, grab a pre-fabricated coop, and become a chicken mom… Nope, I had to hatch my own chickens, build a massive coop, and adopt more chickens on top of the ones I hatched. Yes my friends, I have gone chicken crazy and I am obsessed with everyone of my girls (and boys). So, entertain me will you? Allow me to put all of my chicken thoughts, and excitement, in one place!
The Hatch
I was completely unaware of what I was doing but thankfully the gentleman who sold me the eggs and a lot of Pinterest research I figured out everything that I needed for a successful hatch. After reading up on different incubators I decided on getting this one. Some of the top reasons being is the amount of eggs it holds, humidity/temp control, candling light, and the fact that it self turns the eggs (otherwise you would have to rotate the eggs by hand 3-5 times a day).
I started with 24 eggs, 2 had minor cracks so I chose not to incubate those, and at the end of the 21 days I had 8 peeps; an excellent first hatch! To be honest it was one of the coolest experiences ever; being able to watch an embryo turn into a baby chick was awesome!
I had three types of eggs – Splash Americaunas, Lavender Orpingtons, and Black Copper Marans. Unfortunately, no Marans hatched. Upon further research I learned they have a very low hatching rate due to their thick shell so I was super bummed but the others that I did end up hatching were and continue to be happy and healthy.
Did you know a baby chick can stay in the incubator for as long at 24 hours post hatch without food or water? You actually aren’t supposed to remove your chicks until they are completely dry and their little chirps are what encourage the other chicks to hatch. Once you have a few in the incubator making noise you will see an influx of eggs hatching! You can actually see in the one photo a little “pip” hole. That’s where the chicks use their beaks to break open their shell then they move around it like a can opener and it breaks open! Nature is soooooo cool!
The Brooder
After my babies hatched I needed a place to put them, so I needed to create a brooder bed. A popular choice most people will use is a plastic tote & heat lamp, but again Erin doesn’t do anything traditionally so I decided to dig deeper and see what other options were out there. I had seen some pretty creative ideas but my favorite was using a small puppy playpen like this one. The reasons why I decided to go this route was because it was easy to store when finished, it had a mesh top to keep the chickens from escaping as they got bigger, and very easy to clean (I took my pressure washer to it after we were done). I just lined the bottom with puppy pads and topped with medium sized pine chips! It was so easy to clean every day or two and it never smelled! Obviously, I needed a heat source so I found this adjustable one. It mimics a hen and you can adjust the size as your chicks get bigger. It was also so easy to keep clean, safe for my chickens, and wasn’t a fire hazard! Everything was an initial investment but I will be able to use these items for years to come so it was worth it to me. So how did I feed them? I got the basic pieces from the local farm store that looked just like these (without the cute sayings, though.)
The Coop & Run
A lot of people choose to free range their chickens and I think that is totally awesome but lately we have been having a coyote and fox problem in our area (and a few sketch owls) so I thought it was best to have a coop with an attached run. My goal for next year is to make them a mobile run but until then this will work for now.
I wanted a coop that will eventually host 25-30 chickens. My goal is to allow the current ones to have their space and when they are done laying have a new set of girls lay. This way the OGs can enjoy retirement in their home. They are ours for their entire life and in exchange for loving them we are gifted eggs.
I sent my husband plan after plan, details, and blog posts. I did tons of research and wanted specific features based on that. One thing we invested in was Hardware Cloth, expensive, but worth it. We have already invested a lot of time and money into these chickens and I want to protect them the best that I can. So around the bottom of the coop and run we installed the hardware cloth and about 3 foot up and over the top we used chicken wire!
We were able to recycle a lot of materials but we also purchased a lot in materials as well. I would suggest investing the right way initially. I have a few friends who lost their hens to raccoons, owls, and other predators.
Of course you know that I absolutely had to decorate my coop, if it’s going to be in my yard it needs to look like it belongs. I painted the door and window trim Bubble Shell by Behr, added a pretty little wreath to the door, planted a couple Hosta plants, and finished it off with a garden flag. It is absolutely perfect!
I was initially using the feeders that I had in the brooder in the coop but they were constantly being tipped over so I found these and liked them so much I got a second set! Honestly, even if you are a veteran chicken mom I would recommend these. they are super functional and my chickies love them!
The Flock
I have told you all about my journey but now I need to introduce you to my flock. If you have ever heard of Chicken Math it is, in fact, a real thing. I started off with 8 precious babies, purchased 4 more from a friend because they were a breed I wanted in the worst way (Silkies), and then helped a friend out and adopted 3 of her hens (without my husbands knowledge, oops hehe).
Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to my chickens.
My family and I had fun coming up with the names. Creative ones like Yolkohantas for my Barred Rock or Lindsay LoHen my bright New Hampshire Red. We also have GretcHen Weiners a black Sex Link and Henrietta my tiny black Silkie. RyHen turned out to be “Ryan” (rooster) and Cluck Norris turned out to be female. Their names stayed the same though because…. well, diversity haha. General Tso is in fact a rooster but he is like the hens and lets RyHen do all the work. We also have Andrew…Andrea (it really goes back and forth, this one is a mystery still haha) McClucken ((s)he’s a tad aggressive so we may need to re-home) and Layla, both Splash Americaunas. A few other not so clever names like Trouble and Pretty Bird have also branded my girls.
My favorite is Reba… because she is a survivor! No, literally, she ended up with Wry Neck and I had to nurse her back to health! That’s her in the selfie above.
How are the kids with the chickens? They love them! They continuously ask to go to the “kitchen coop” as Ava calls it! and KaiKai runs around yelling “hi, birds!”
It has been a wonderful experience and honestly such a blessing.
If you’re interested in learning more about how I am transitioning my life, slowing down, and fulfilling my dream as a homesteader let me know! I know this is a little different than the norm but we always promised to keep it real…
xo,
Er
I love everything about this new journey you are on. I adore the fact that you are teaching the little ones so much, yet they are having fun. Job well done Mommy!