Assorted Pullets?

OK - Almost had a heart attack today.  Called Tractor Supply and they told me the chicks were not sexed.  Are you kidding me!!!  They have to be - so I went back to MyPetChicken.com to price how much it would cost to have the chicks mailed.  And then decided to call the other Tractor Supply Store and the heavens opened up and shown mercy on me because the Tractor Supply chick that answered the phone knew chicken vocabulary.  They do not have the chickens sorted by type - they have "assorted pullets".  THANK GOD!
So now I'm looking at pictures of baby chickens, so I can try to tell them apart when I go pick them out.  Not quite ready yet, but I have to get there soon... real soon... like tomorrow soon... then worry about getting the coop up and running.
I'm thinking we are going chick shopping for Easter.  Thanks EASTER BUNNY!

Who am I kidding they all look alike!

A Little After Before

Over the weekend we (meaning my neighbor Niko and his friend and my son Tyler and his friend's) cleared out the backyard. I'm so proud of them. It is starting to look amazing in my little yard. All of the debris has been cleared away, the trees have been cut back, the railroad ties have been moved over to the garden spot and I have the coop area all mapped out. I even planted grass seeds over the weekend.

Here is a picture of the yard, while Nikko was clearing away the rocks and trimming the trees on the fence line.

Don't mind all of the crap in my neighbors yard, hopefully they will be so inspired they will get back there and pick up their trash.
I'm just glad that my chickens have a nice clean space to grow and lay beautiful eggs.

TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY
Over the weekend, I also made the trip to Tractor Supply.  That has become TARGET for chicken supplies.  I love shopping at TARGET, now I love shopping at Tractor Supply.  Had never actually been inside a TSC (for short).  They do not have their chicks yet, but they have everything else.  The chick feed, grit, oyster shells, galvanized buckets, feeders and waterers.  All the supplies needed to keep the chickens growing.  Met Joey at the store on "L" St. Saturday.  Hoping his starter flock takes off.  it was nice meeting and talking to someone just starting out.  I'll have to keep in contact with him.

Today I'm filling out the permit application for having poultry within the city limits.  Have to make everything legal.  The application was hard to find, so here's a link: Omaha - Douglas County Animal permit application

Moving Forward

After a very emotional week (my beloved dog Coco was fatally injured when hit by a car) we are moving forward with getting the chicken coop built. Each time I let someone in on the plan to raise chicken I get the same questionn "You can have chicken in Omaha". You would think we lived in New York city or something. It's Omaha people, I'm sure if I drove 25 minutes in any direction from my house I would run into rural America at its best and worst. So the answer to the question is YES - after the chicken coop site is inspected by Douglas County Health Dept. So today, the site is being cleared. With my neighbor's son and his friend supplying all the labor and me supplying the finances, the area for the coop is clean.
Well almost.

Coop - {design}

For those that know me - I can be pretty picky about the way things look; they have to look good and have some pizazz - things have to have a little glamour. So - I've been on many web-sites viewing homemade chicken coops to get ideas and I think I've finally come up with a chicken coop design I can modify and live with.

It has a raised coop and nesting area allowing the run to go underneath for more room. I'm hopeing to enlisting the help of a friend's relative (mainly Jyl's dad) to help with putting together a material lists. I have an idea of what I need, but, professional help would make things a lot easier. And I'm all about the easy. I'm getting really excited especially since the snow has melted in the backyard.

GLITCH! - The raised bed I was going to originally use to outline the run is in the wrong spot, so I'm going to have to dig it up and move the railroad ties to another spot in the yard - but I'm keeping things in perspective - it's going to take some work to get things the way I want them work and time.

On the chicken front - Great News!!! I no longer have to order the chicks on-line. I'm picking them up at Tractor Supply. Evidently, they sale them every year for a couple of weeks - and they're sexed so I don't have to worry about getting any roosters. I'm going to the one off Irvington Rd. Talked to a lady there for a while and I think that's where I'll get most of the supplies. Exciting times ahead.

Will add pictures soon...

Picking the Chicken

Received my Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog in the mail yesterday... I'm so liking my little project! So much planning and doing - it's like shopping everyday!

So going through the catalog - I've made up my mind on the chickens I'm getting.

I know I wanted egg layers - I really don't plan on eating the chickens.

I know I want chickens that are rather friendly - don't really like birds, so the idea of a "flighty" bird does not appeal to me.

I know I want color variations in the eggs - brown, white, blue, green which means I need at least two Easter Eggers (Americanas). So while going through the McMurray catalog, I realized they are rather small - about 4 pounds which means the Rhode Island Reds are at minimum 2 1/2 pounds heavier - not sure I want that kind of pecking order. And yes! there is a picking order in the hen house. So the RIRs are out.

Found another type breed specifically for egg laying Red Star and Black Star, about 4 pounds each great match for the Easter eggers.

Then I found Pearl White Leghorns - about 4 pounds. They lay white eggs great for Trinity because the chicks look like the Easter chicks (all fluffy and yellow). So now I'm set on the chickens.

2 Easter Eggers
2 Red Stars
2 Leghorns

My Pet chicken has all three, so next step: planning the chicken coop while waiting for the snow to melt.

Is that really practical?

Like I said "If raising chickens was practical, everyone would have some in their backyard". So no - practicality has nothing to do with it.

OK some are calling it a mid-life crisis - and others don't know quite what to think, but I'm so excited about getting my chicks. 2 Rhode island Reds and 2 "Easter eggers". It's a lot more planning than I thought but I think it's going to be a good thing. Brooding? - like I've ever heard of that before... coops and runs and predators and rodents. Almost stopped at the rodent part - evidently rats like chicken food... thank God I love cats. So as i go through building the coop - planting the garden - getting the chicks I'm going to update everyone. This should be really fun!