Day 70 - Officially Chicken People
As we contemplated how to best utilize our new barn space, we knew there was already a history of animals living there. Equipped with a dozen horse stalls, the previous owner mentioned that there had been many animals living out of the barn throughout its existence. Guard becoming chicken people might be the best way to start our animal adventures on the farm. While the idea of having multiple farm animals intrigued us and will be something we probably end up doing, we decided to start small.
Literally.
We did some research and figured becoming chicken people might be the best way to as we embarked on our animal journey. We checked out multiple books from the library, visited various websites, and even joined a few social media pages dedicated to the care and upkeep of these dinosaur cousins. I never knew there were so many chicken resources. It was a blessing and a curse. Searching for information became convoluted and confusing as information seemed to contradict depending on the different situations, settings, barn styles, climates, breeds, and everything else under the sun. We ended up taking tidbits from an array of sources but relied on people who were already in the chicken world when making our final decisions.
Once those decisions were made, we gathered up some materials and prepared for our new feathered friends. My wife took the lead in researching the best chickens to start with based on their needs and egg laying abilities. Personally, I never knew the chicken world was as diverse as it is. We ended up deciding on acquiring two chicks each from five different breeds for a total of ten birds. There was a 10-15% chance they were incorrectly gendered, but with hopes of using eggs, we wanted girls. We were specifically not to name them in case we got attached. Of course, the chicks arrived before their expected date and my kids had them named before I got home from school. In no particular order. . .
Embry Jr. (EJ)
Oakley Jr. (OJ)
Arden Jr. (AJ)
Goldy
Popcorn
Pumpkin
Pippy
Sniggles
Rhia
Blue
There was no turning back. The girls (hopefully) had arrived. Time to get to work.
