Getting Started with Backyard Chickens - Part 8

I decided to start a new flock of chickens in the fall of 2016.  Southern States usually has pullets in November so I gave my chickens to some families that wanted them.  They were older birds and I knew they would not lay well over the winter months.  The pullets never came in to the farm supply store and my wife became ill the first week of November so I held off getting a new flock.  On June 2, 2018 I was ready for the new pullets.  Since it is so difficult to integrate birds into an existing flock I decided to get them all at once with a couple extra in case something happened and some were lost.  I found that I could purchase a good selection of chickens from Backyard Chickens at Margaret's Roost 68 Rhyne Road, Clover, South Carolina 29710, (803) 810-6658.

I decided to get one chicken of each breed and they had ten.  The last flock had 2-3 of each breed and I could not tell them apart.  This way I can name them and the grandkids and I can call them by name.  They were seven and nine weeks old but the two weeks did not seem to have mattered.  For starters I began feeding them scratch out of my hands.

I wanted to be able to hold the chicken and have them behave more like pets so each morning I go out before there is too much light and I pick them up one by one from the roost, pet them then gently place them on the ground.  It took some time for them to be OK with it but it worked!  All looking different I can call them by name when I hold them.

The rest of the year I would be the only one handling them.  I would let others feed the chickens out of their hands but not hold them.  Now after a good six months I will let others hold them with my guidance.  This is Abby my niece holding Buffy while I am holding Speckles.

I made this chart so I could identify the chickens by breeds and names.  Another bonus is that the eggs are different colors.  The eggs in the picture below is what I see each time I gather the eggs.  They look different on the outside but the same on the inside.  When they first start laying the eggs are small and sometimes have double yokes.  

The chickens have been laying eggs all winter even with the shorter days.  They will do this the first year but the next winters I will need to extend their days by having a light come on early in the morning to give them a couple extra hours.  I put a strip of Christmas tree lights.  If you can read the paper with the light it is enough for them.