Which came first the chicken or the egg

The egg watch is on in full gear. We have been prepared to the chicken to start laying for over a month and still no results. We are aware it could still be another couple of months but each day bring a little more anticipation to the waiting game. Will keep everyone posted on the day the first egg arrives.

Chicks Hit The Town

Once they reached 8 weeks and all of their feathers had come in it was time for them to get a place of their own. The stagecoach chicken tractor that I had built when I first got the chicks was ready for move in day. The first couple of days we left them outside in the stagecoach for a few hours during the day. Once they seemed ready we left them in over night. Everything went off without a hitch. Only problem is they would not sleep in the coop. The next question; How do I get chicks to sleep in their own room?

Chicks in the House

After bringing our new flock home we had to make room for our new family members. I picked up the biggest Rubbermaid container I could find, lined it with pine shavings, set up a feeder and waterer and move our new chicks in. Once they were inside I used an old window screen to cover the container and sat a heat lamp on top, viola instant chicken nursery. The girls spent they next 6 weeks growing up in their nursery until the chicken to available space ratio was no longer in the chickens favor. Time to move on to bigger and better things...

Picking up chicks

Upon completion of our chicken stagecoach it was time to get some chickens to live there. After doing some research on the internet about breeds, laying tendencies, and temperament; I visited a local chicken farm to pick up 6 chickens. I knew I wanted a variety of chickens to be able to experience several types myself. When I got to the farm I found out they had 7 different varieties. Instead of leaving one out I decided to go ahead and get one of each. 6 of the chicks were 2 weeks old while one was 4 weeks old. I loaded them up and headed home to begin our chicken adventure.

IN THE BEGINNING

Our little chicken adventure began almost 6 months ago when as a family we decided to try our hand at raising chickens. After several weeks of research on the internet and contacting other backyard chicken farmers via community forums it was time to get to work. I spent several days sketching out plans and pricing out the supplies required to build the new home for our chickens. I came up with several designs (stationary, mobile, with a run, without a run, etc.). I ended up deciding to try my hand a constructing a mobile "stagecoach" chicken tractor. This would allow us to move our coop around without much effort. I went down to our local hardware stores and bought the parts needed to build our stagecoach. I got to work on a Friday afternoon and by Sunday evening I had a pretty good skeleton built for my stagecoach. After painting the bare wood and covering it with poultry wire and a plastic sheet over the coop our stagecoach was ready to hit the dusty trail.

Welcome to the White House

This blog will chronicle the trials and tribulations at the White House Chicken Farm. Our flock started out at 2 weeks old and are currently 20 weeks. We currently have 7 chickens all of different breeds; Americanus, Barred Rock, Black Ostralorp, Buff Orphington, Golden Sex-Link, Jersey Giant, and a Rhode Island Red. We are hoping for eggs in the near future we will keep you posted.