Learning how to care for chickens...where do you start?

As soon as I figured out our new home had a "chicken house", I began talking with my friend, Val, about her new flock. She told me that it was very easy to care for them and gave me updates on how things were going (she had started with chicks).  I asked her questions every day...How do you know what to feed them? What kind of home do they live in? What kind of feeder and waterer do you use? Aren't you afraid they'll run away? She saw my interest grow, and on our last day at work together, she gave me a book called "The Joy of Keeping Chickens, the ultimate guide to raising poultry for fun and profit" by Jennifer Magyesi.

I was very excited and couldn't put the book down! It was better reading than a romance novel for me! Now I had to find some chickens....but our house wasn't going to be available for a month or more. What was I going to do? Look for some chickens, of course.  And, when you look....you shall find!  I found the ad for "brahma pullets", which I learned were kind of like preteen chickens....and these had feathered feet! How cute was that?!  It was unknown whether they were male or female, and the seller wanted them all gone. So, I agreed, with the condition that he would keep them until we could get into our home.  "No problem." he told me...so I paid the man, and off we went to get ready to move into our new home.

The month passed, and we still were not in our home. The lady who owned our home had all kinds of troubles, including purchasing a foreclosure with severe plumbing problems. This was delaying her vacating of our home. Meanwhile, we waited. I called the gentleman who was holding my chickens and told him the situation. He was very kind and understanding...and I told him we should be in the house and able to pick them up soon.

The day of Gary and my 5th wedding anniversary, the call came that we would be able to move into our home the next day! As we entered the house, we realized we had more to do before our furniture came than we thought. Wallpaper to remove, rooms to paint, weeds to pull, overgrown plants to cut back, carpet to rip out and put in other flooring, and on and on and on....when will we have the chicken house ready to pick up our new addtions? I wasn't sure but went about buying supplies -- food (pellet or crumble? I was told crumble was better for little chickens so that's what I bought), water dish (metal or plastic, huge or not so huge?), straw (where do I buy that? oh -- look in the paper and drive to a farm to buy it right off the truck!), and clean out that chicken house of the junk that was previously stored there along with the numerous wasp nests and inhabitants! Yuck! I think the inside is ready!

I decided we needed to take a break from working in the house and get the chickens' house painted. I asked my daughter, Al, to help. I told her I needed a big favor...and I knew it was big because she HATES painting.  She agreed and we were ready to get ready for the new babies.  We bought some "oops" paint in several colors and went to work! We painted bright pink on one side, and periwinkle blue on two others. Then we "decorated" with splatter paint in green and blue and finally spray painted peace signs and flowers on all sides. As sometimes happens when people get enthusiastic, we also painted each other quite a bit...but had a blast doing it! Our masterpiece was ready for the new chickens. We would bring them home the next day!