It's Chicken Season Over At Mike's Place

On April 10th, 2014, I took the plunge into the world of raising chickens.  

My chicks - I now have 6

Ok actually, I made the decision many, many months before that, but it was the date mentioned above, when the baby chicks arrived at my house.

Let me clearly state in this article with the absolute, 100% verifiable and indisputable fact, I am new to raising chickens and have 0% experience.  So if I write something that I am doing wrong or something that can be done better, by all means let me know in the comments.  I need all of the help I can get.

The chicks getting a drink of water and others eating

Sure, I have read plenty of books, and watched loads of great chicken videos on YouTube, but until you jump into something and actually have to do it, it's simply not the same.  I am sure you can attest to that with something in your own life.

I am excited, but at the same time a bit nervous.  I grow vegetables, fruits and herbs and have been for more than 30 years.  It has become second nature to me to garden.  Raising chickens on the other hand is a whole new life experience.  But, I did get reminded in a recent podcast I conducted with author Cindy Rajhel, that sometimes you simply need to get out of your comfort zone.  

My son getting acquainted with our new chickens

Keeping chickens to me is a great, "out of the comfort zone" experience.  But I am not tackling that experience empty handed, or without some experienced people in my corner.

I follow a great page on Facebook called Fresh Eggs Daily.  The page is run by experienced chicken keeper, Lisa Steele, who authored the book Fresh Eggs Daily: Raising Happy Healthy Chickens.  I also had the opportunity to interview her in episode #160 of the podcast, where I got to ask her all kinds of great questions on keeping chickens.

The chicks are staying warm under the EcoGlow20

I have found that every time I have had a question, I post it on the Fresh Eggs Daily page, and that question is answered fairly quickly.  There are a number of great pages, blogs and websites out there for learning about raising chickens, too many to put in a single blog post, so feel free to share your favorite in the comments below.  I definitely want to check them out.

The chicks making a mad dash for the EcoGlow

All of the pictures that you see are of my little chicks and how I currently have them residing in my house until they are big enough to move outside to their coop that I built for them.

I am pretty excited, because now, not only do I get to share with you great photos from the garden, I get to share the growing progress of my chickens.  Can't Wait!

P.S. A big shout out to Annie Haven, whose email I was filling up with pictures from Tractor Supply as I was walking down their aisles, making sure I was buying the right items (some items shown in the pictures).  It was like having chicken tech support in real time :)

They won't be this size forever, so I am enjoying it!