Our 1st Chickens

Last week, we brought home our 1st chickens ever. We bought 10 in all. 3 of them are Buff Orpingtons, 3 are Rhode Island Reds and 4 of them are Bantams. We got them from Tractor Supply during their Chick Days event.

We purchased the chicks as a straight run. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, it means we don’t know the gender of the chickens yet. I’ve heard between 15 and 50% could be roosters. We are hoping for closer to 15%. We have the chickens for their eggs, not the meat, and will most likely give away any rooster(s) to some nearby friends with a farm.

No surprises here, these birds are growing fast. The whole family is really enjoying the transformation the chicks are going through. Within days of getting the chicks to the farm, one of the kids said "I can barely hold them in one hand anymore."

For now, the chicks are in a brooder with a heat lamp that keeps the youngsters at around 90-100° Fahrenheit. I had to turn off the lamp for a quick repair, shortly after we got the chicks home, and they quickly huddled up to one-another and chirped their little hearts out. They sure were happy when I was done with my handy work and headed back over to the heat.