{"id":113239,"date":"2023-09-27T13:00:11","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T17:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/?p=113239"},"modified":"2023-09-27T08:25:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T12:25:22","slug":"chicken-chat-building-a-flock-from-humble-beginnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/chicken-chat-building-a-flock-from-humble-beginnings\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicken Chat: Building A Flock From Humble Beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">M<\/span>y <span class=\"s2\">journey with chickens began when my husband and I moved out of suburbia and onto 6 tree-filled acres in rural Tennessee, mid-2021. After <\/span><span class=\"s3\">repurposing<\/span><span class=\"s2\"> an old doghouse into a very nice <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/burning-question-whats-the-perfect-chicken-coop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">chicken coop<\/a><\/strong>, we headed to the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/6-things-to-watch-for-during-chick-days\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">local farm-supply store<\/a><\/strong> and came home with six <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/easter-eggers-egger-chicken-ameraucana\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Easter Egger<\/a><\/strong> pullets. My granddaughter carefully named member of the new chicken flock: Brownie, Cherrybit, Elfaba, Graybeard, Littlefoot and Penelope.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">After eight weeks in the garage, we introduced the flock into our beautiful condominium of a chicken coop and anxiously waited for eggs! After carefully guarding and coddling them, we slowly let them free-range.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">On the first day, two mysteriously disappeared, a<\/span><span class=\"s4\">nd we realized we weren\u2019t the best chicken parents. We didn\u2019t let them out for another three weeks until we felt that letting them out for short periods during the day was safer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-113242\" src=\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1245.jpg\" alt=\"chicken flock\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1245-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1245-623x360.jpg 623w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1245-600x250.jpg 600w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1245-433x250.jpg 433w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/zY7BpEMj-IMG_1245-156x90.jpg 156w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1245.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p4\"><b>Rookie Mistakes<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p3\">I still remember our <span class=\"s3\">surprise<\/span> when we got our first eggs in December of that year. We were told they wouldn\u2019t lay eggs in the dead of winter, so imagine our excitement when we discovered our first beautiful blue and brown eggs around Christmas at the age of 26 weeks.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s4\">The following spring, I headed back to the local store and picked up four more pullets. I also couldn\u2019t resist the baby ducklings in a tub nearby. That was certainly a mistake! The two Peking ducks were adorable but quickly grew fat and really didn\u2019t fit into the chicken coop world.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">They were huge and also made a huge mess in the coop. They waddled, honked and really weren\u2019t very nice, although they seemed to think they were part of the chicken family!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Our egg production plummeted, and after two months, I was ready to relocate the ducks to a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1391&amp;context=jmas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nearby farm with a pond<\/a><\/strong>. They immediately took to the water, and I realized they were in a much better place. Afterwards, some normalcy returned to our coop!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Meanwhile, we needed more chickens, and the egg production was not going well. I found someone selling 12-week-old pullets at a nearby farm and came home with seven young hens and a rooster for our chicken flock! Our coop was flourishing.<span class=\"s4\">We were really feeling like irresponsible chicken owners by now, but we were determined to make a happy and safe place for our chickens. We lined the coop with a second layer of wire which we hoped would raccoon-proof the outside. During this time, we also trapped and relocated two raccoons that were stalking the place every night (caught on our trail cam). They would open the food-can lids and pretty much terrorized our chickens at night. I felt like this really contributed to the poor egg production, plus we kept finding shell-less eggs.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">After relocating the food, we set about trying to solve the rubber egg problem. We always provided crushed oyster shell, but our chickens weren\u2019t too interested. This is when we decided to introduce the shells of the few eggs we were getting into their diet. We would dry the shells overnight, pulverize them in a mortar and pestle, and then sprinkle this in their food every day. It seemed to do the trick, as over the next couple of weeks, the shell-less egg phenomenon subsided!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-113243\" src=\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1886.jpg\" alt=\"chicken flock\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1886-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1886-623x360.jpg 623w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1886-600x250.jpg 600w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1886-433x250.jpg 433w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/RIb68LPv-IMG_1886-156x90.jpg 156w, https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1886.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p4\"><b>Time for More<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">We have lost many chickens over the last two years due to encounters with foxes, raccoons, unknown predators and illness, but our chickens are happiest when they can free-range. Hopefully our rooster, dogs and cats will keep them safe and happy enough to keep giving us eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s4\">What a fun and egg-citing adventure keeping chickens has been. We can\u2019t wait to see where this takes us. Having a rooster has gotten us into the business of hatching our own eggs. Out of six incubated, five eggs have hatched. We already have plans underway to enlarge our coop and improve our run for our expanded family of chickens to safely free-range.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">Life with chickens has lots of ups and downs, but overall, we recommend it to anyone who has patience and time. While it has been a learning curve, we know we have so much more to lear<\/span>n!<span class=\"s2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>Alison Davis is a retired medical technologist, moth<\/i><\/span><span class=\"s4\"><i>er<br \/>\nof four and <\/i><\/span><span class=\"s5\"><i>\u201cNana\u201d to three grandchildren. She and her husband recently moved from Nashville, Tennessee, to 6 acres nestled on a ridge in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, where they enjoy tending their garden, orchard, chickens and dogs.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<article class=\"post\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-md-12\">\n<p><em>This article originally appeared in the September\/Ocober 2023 issue of<\/em>\u00a0Chickens\u00a0<em>magazine. Have a great story about your flock? Email the story of your birds in ~750 words to\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:chickens@chickensmagazine.com\">chickens@chickensmagazine.com<\/a>\u00a0(subject line: Chicken Chat). Be sure to include high-resolution images of yourself, your chickens and\/or your coop. The author of each issue\u2019s published essay receives a prize from one of our ad partners. (See print magazine for rules. Sponsor: EG Media Investments LLC)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a move to rural Tennessee, Alison Davis and her husband decided to get six layer hens\u2014and their chicken flock just grew from there to include free-ranging chickens and even ducks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7782,"featured_media":113241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[424,10458,10725,10456],"tags":[10369,10542,11701],"class_list":["post-113239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animals","category-farm-garden","category-flock-talk","category-poultry","tag-chicken-chat","tag-chicken-flock","tag-tennessee"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.0 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chicken Chat: Building A Flock From Humble Beginnings - Hobby Farms<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After moving to rural Tennessee, Alison Davis and her husband got six layer hens\u2014and their chicken flock just grew from there (they even tried ducks!).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/chicken-chat-building-a-flock-from-humble-beginnings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicken Chat: Building A Flock From Humble Beginnings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After moving to rural Tennessee, Alison Davis and her husband got six layer hens\u2014and their chicken flock just grew from there (they even tried ducks!).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/chicken-chat-building-a-flock-from-humble-beginnings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hobby Farms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hobbyfarms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-27T17:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-27T12:25:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1010.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"462\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chicken Chat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hobbyfarms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hobbyfarms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chicken Chat\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/chicken-chat-building-a-flock-from-humble-beginnings\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/chicken-chat-building-a-flock-from-humble-beginnings\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chicken Chat\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/person\/110c72aa25059b69d62670914b38ec22\"},\"headline\":\"Chicken Chat: Building A Flock From Humble Beginnings\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-27T17:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-27T12:25:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/chicken-chat-building-a-flock-from-humble-beginnings\/\"},\"wordCount\":826,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/chicken-chat-building-a-flock-from-humble-beginnings\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/IMG_1010.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Chicken Chat\",\"chicken flock\",\"Tennessee\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Animals\",\"Farm &amp; 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