I got Chicks, man!

For some reason I decided - very recently, I might add - to get a couple of chickens for my backyard.  Nothing really inspired this, and it's not something I have been waiting to do my whole life.  One day I was online looking at the randomness that is the internet and came across an article about raising chickens in an urban setting.  Three days later I'm at the local feed store (which is like a verbal time machine to say) picking out chicks with my girlfriend.  Man how I've always wanted to say that, just in a very different context ... 

My first concern was the noise level.  I don't have a large backyard - in fact it's fairly standard in size, with my neighbors right on top of me.  The last thing I want to do is build a chicken coop, raise these chicks, and have them make all kinds of noise and I'd have to get rid of them.  After some research I decided that since I want them for eggs that I didn't need a rooster, and that pretty much solved my issues with noise.  Hen's generally aren't SUPER noisy, but some breeds are more chatty than others, and most will only make a fuss when they lay an egg.  Can't blame them for that. 

The chicks we picked out are Columbian Wyandottes, which grow up to be very fancy looking birds and are supposed to have a mild temper.  We'll see.  Right now, I have them in my spare room under a heat lamp and kept at a constant 90 degrees.  Each week for 5 weeks I am to take the temp down 5 degrees, and then they are fit to go outside.

I'm pretty stoked about doing this, and I intend to post more pics and jot some notes down along the way, especially when I design and build the coop.  Here are some shots I took tonight.  Excuse the odd lighting - the heat lamp we got is infra-red and it plays havoc with my camera lighting.

The larger of the two sisters

Butts in the air, pecking at the nail patches in the hardwood.

 

Trumpy, checking out her new pals.

My set-up.  Fairly simple.

Trumpy, on the desk, eye-balling the chicks.