My sister told me to "just go out and buy some chickens for a buck fifty apiece." Oh how naive. She doesn't know that there is an art and a science to purchasing the right chicken for my city flock?
Some of you seasoned chicken aficionados already know that there are literally hundreds of breeds all with individual characteristics and behaviors ( excepting for the pecking and cooping which seem to be universal).
First you need to figure out what you need/want in your chicken. Then what climate do you live in? Hot and dry, humid and hot, snow in winter? What? Even though it feels like we live in hell in summer; you know, when you have permanent blisters on your delicate hands from the fiery hot steering wheel, it really is pretty tame compared to other parts of the country, and no snow!
Next what do want your chickens to be like? Sweet, curious, elegant and inquisitive, friendly, gentle, quiet, a talker? I already put the kibosh on aggressive, noisy, broody, and flighty a one of us in this house already fits this description).
What color do you want your eggs to be? Blue, white, dark brown, turquoise? Who knew chickens lay eggs in my favorite color, turquoise.
Most important what kind of chickens are good for novice chicken wranglers? We need simple chickens who already know what to do and who will like us immediately! That last thing is probably asking too much. Oh well.
Here are a few breeds that meet our needs: Araucanas ( turquoise eggs), Andalusians ( good in hot weather and elegant and inquisitive, Ameraucana ( blue eggs, sweet and curious) Buckeyes (Brown eggs, sweet and friendly) .Marans ( sweet, docile, friendly and good egg producers), Plymouth Rocks( good brown egg producers, good starter, and friendly), Sussexes ( brown eggs, quiet, and a good starter chicken) and Wyandottes (Good egg producers, docile, friendly, talker and a good starter chicken).
Our next challenge will be to get our dog, Annie used to the girls. She already likes cats so that's a start.
A great book, The Chicken Whisperer tells you how to do that. Isn't that great? It also tells you how to clean chicken butts. After being an RN for 40+ years I think I can handle that...OR teach my husband how to do that delightful task. How often does a chicken butt need to be cleaned? Who does it when they run around on the farm, or up and down the highway like in our town?
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