Countdown to Chickens!!!

The plan is to start keeping chickens here on our lovely little patch of land. It is the first step towards our attempt at homesteading. We are hoping to eventually move from laying chickens to meat chickens...having a very large and varied veggie garden...some berry bushes....keeping bees....any maybe a pig....and maybe a couple of mini-goats...and if we can buy the piece of land behind our house...a cow...and maybe a llama...and a pony for the kids...

But anyway - chickens first. And first before the first chickens...we need a coop! Some friends of mine did get the chicks first and then built a coop for when the chicks were ready to move in but, I gotta do the prep first - that's just me :)

I read the following book on chickens:
http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Chickens-Jeremy-Hobson/dp/0715336258/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

It was okay - had great pictures of the breeds but...on one page it said to wash the eggs. It basically intimated that eggs are laid in places surrounded by bacteria and that as the egg cools it sucks the bacteria into itself so the egg should be washed. But, I'd always thought that washing an egg was bad, by washing the protective coating that actually keeps bacteria out is removed. Which, oddly enough, the book points out later on. So, I am a bit unconfident of the book's contents. It also suggests using a lot of chemicals like flea powerders and virucides that I don't want anywhere near my chickens, children and eggs. And it was very restrictive on the types of scraps it recommended when I thought that chickens benefited from a very wide and varied scrap supplement to their daily diet. More research is clearly needed (I love research!)

I have two other chicken books on the way:
http://www.amazon.com/Building-Chicken-Coops-Bulletin-224/dp/1580172733/ref=pd_ybh_7?pf_rd_p=280800601&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_i=ybh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=09VTPR5ADT4B1AYS3256

http://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guide-Raising-Chickens-3rd/dp/1603424695/ref=pd_ybh_8?pf_rd_p=280800601&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_i=ybh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=09VTPR5ADT4B1AYS3256

Hopefully the information in those books will be a bit more reliable...

***By the way, I do know most info is online but there is just something so nice about having it in book form...I am starting to collect homestead type books and am looking forward to having a lovely country crafty bookshelf with all my beautful agri-books :)***

But anyway, I digress...the first step is the chicken coop...so many styles to choose from! Right now, I like a coop that is up high with a small chicken run underneath and easy access to allow the chickens out to the yard. External nesting boxes easily accessed from the outside of the coop. And some type of very simple trap door or tray method of cleaning the bottom of the coop daily.

Another small bit of prep work we have to do is fence in the rest of the kids play area. It is all sand and I do not want the chickens wandering in there and pooping all over where the kids play. I know they'll poop on the lawn too but, that just seems different...

So, once that is all done - we get to pick and buy the chickens!!! I found one place that looked good on craig's list and the woman replied back right away but I have not heard back from her since when I asked a follow up question about visiting the farm...

Anyway, we are considering:

Australorps
Barnvelders
Orpingtons (hopefully black)
RI Reds

If you have an opinion or any other ideas - let me know! Another draw back of this book is that it actually inspired me to try to find a pure breed instead of a hybrid but, it doesn't tell me which of the breeds it lists are which. I think all of the above are hybrids...But, for now, we'll go with a hybrid since they lay more eggs and we eat a lot of eggs. If we have room for more chickens later, I'll try harder to find a pure breed.

So, that's it for now....I'm so excited to get our chickens that I just had to post about it. I'll keep updating as things happen.