The Cadillac Coop

I have been dreaming about raising my own chickens for quite sometime now. I have a few friends in the valley that have their own chickens that lay the best, yummiest eggs ever and I wanted me some. I buy organic, cage-free eggs at the store so I figured why spend the extra money when I can do it myself. So, with the help of my dad and Brett my dream to have my own chickens has now come true. As I mentioned in a previous post, my dad came and stayed with us for awhile during the kids' October break. It was a very productive break indeed. My dad is quite the perfectionist and I know that whatever he creates will be the best to his ability. Because of that I now have, what Brett refers to as the "Cadillac Chicken Coop". It is seriously awesome and it was completed the day my chicks arrived. All last week I had been anxiously awaiting a phone call from the post-office to let me know my chicks were ready for pick-up. It was Friday morning as I was heading to the gym that I finally got the call. After a nice, sweaty workout (extra-excitement=an extra awesome workout) I rushed to the post-office. As I walked in I instantly heard a lot of chirping going on. I rang the bell to the side door and was handed a small, but loud box. I ordered my chicks from Murray McMurray's Hatchery where they send you a minimum of 25 chicks plus one exotic one. It must have been my lucky day because I ended up with 26 chicks and one red-headed exotic, who is now named Spidey (short for Spider Man). As soon as I got home, Raylee and I excitedly opened the box to the cutest chicks you ever did see. I have been doing so much research on chickens, especially baby chick care and I am proud to say that it has now been 8 days since they arrived and they are all healthy, strong and growing like a weed. I was told to expect to lose about 10% of my chickens, but I am bound and determined to keep them all well and alive! We have a heat lamp and space heater in the coop to keep the chicks toasty warm. The first week you want to keep the temp around 90-95* and every week after that you lower it about 5* until you reach a cool 70* where they will be comfortable and happy. I have been feeding them organic chick feed and putting a 1/4tsp of chick starter in their water each day. So far things are going really well and the kids just love them, especially Raylee. She calls all the blonde chicks Princesses. Bradock isn't quite so brave when it comes to holding them...he's more of an observer. Our goal is to have some nice egg layers by spring time...I seriously can't wait!!!