You read that headline right -we have the chickens! OK, I’m a week late in posting this, but here’s the deal. When we went to Ace Hardware last weekend, we did not plan on purchasing any chickens. Actually, we stopped in for gardening supplies. But, the guy there was so helpful and convincing -we just couldn’t help it!
Today this leaves us with 6 beautiful little pullets. However, that’s not where we started.
Would Four Have Been Enough?
So, our journey with these pullets started out relatively smoothly, but we did end up losing one in the first few days. Accordingly to the guy who convinced us we were ready to get these chicks, it’s pretty common in the first couple weeks to lose a pullet, so we’re hoping we can keep our current flock thriving. Despite this, our first four pullets included 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Ameraucanas. Unfortunately, one of those Ameraucanas did not make it.
With that said, when we did discover one hadn’t made it, we decided to double down and buy three more. Unfortunately, they did not have any more Ameraucanas, so we just got 3 more Rhode Island Reds. This leaves us with a total of 6 pullets now, which you can see here.
How To Raise Backyard Chickens?
The truth is, we are far from knowledgeable about chickens right now. But, according to what we have read and the person who convinced us to get started, we’re super excited to begin this journey. When we first brought our new chickens home, we started by placing down the bedding and putting them in a rubbermaid storage container.
Obviously, this wasn’t going to work for long. While our garage offered a convenient way to hang a head lamp over the pullets, we decided we’d need something a bit larger and more practical. So, we went ahead and used some of the cardboard we had lying around to create a cardboard brooder.
No, I wouldn’t recommend anyone else get pullets without first having a brooder ready, but it seems to be working out for us so far. But, what else did we need to get?
The Basic Supplies for Your Pullets
The first thing you’ll need is a chicken brooder of some sort. Right now, I don’t feel qualified to teach you how to build this. But, for us it was as simple as using some cardboard and putting down the pine shavings for their bedding. You can likely buy brooders online as well, but when we do this again in the future, we plan to build a proper wooden one. So, we’ll update this when that happens and link you to an post about how we did that.
After they have a brooder, the next thing you’ll need is to get some chick starter grower feed. Our understanding is that they make different kinds of feed, so make sure to get the starter grower to ensure they get just the right nutrition.
Next, you’ll want a chick feeder and water. Getting a combo kit like this one on Amazon is a better deal than we got buying them both at Ace. So, I’d recommend starting there.
So far, this provides food, water, and shelter. But, there is one other important ingredient these little birds need: heat. Especially at a young age, keeping a consistent temperature is super important for their survival. This means picking up a a thermometer if you don’t have one to put in their brooder. From there, you’ll also need a heat lamp to hang (make sure to be safe with this) and a heat bulb to put in there.
Moving Towards Backyard Chickens
For us, this is a start of an exciting journey where we’ll get to learn more about chickens and one day start getting our own fresh eggs right here on the homestead. If you’re looking to do the same, we hope you’ll follow us on our journey and check back in on our progress. And of course, if you find this years later and want some help getting started, feel free to contact us on any of our social channels and we’ll be happy to offer advice.
Until next time, stay blessed and healthy. We’ll see you around the homestead.