Holly and her fine feathered (almost) friends

Fancy and Queenie

Pretty much every article on backyard chicken raising begins by stating you must choose which type of chicken to keep---as in dogs, different chicken breeds have various traits that make them more or less useful for their intended purpose whether for meat, eggs, or showing (YES! People keep, raise, and breed chickens for showing--A beauty pageant for chickens?? Wonder what the individual talent component looks like?!)
We had every intention of getting "heirloom" breed chicks but since most hatcheries require a minimum order of 25 chicks, we decided we were too unorganized and too impatient to find additional future chicken keepers to go in on our order with. So we have 4 sex-linked chicks (in which the sex of the chick is evident by it's coloring) and 2 "heirloom" Barred Rocks.  The Barred Rocks at the farm supply store were avaible "straight run" only which means you take what you get....no way of telling which will become roosters and which will be hens. "No way to tell, huh?" we asked the staff at the store. "Well," an older woman more farm-savvy than use said, "they say if you hold a chick upside down by it's feet and it tries to fly up, it's a rooster. If it doesn't try to fly, it's a hen".....So taking our chances we came home with 2 barred rocks that didn't seem to mind hanging upside down when inverted....Hmmm, We'll see. Here they are: Queenie (named for a circle of white on her head that makes her appear as if wearing a crown) and Fancy (named for white outline around her eyes and coloring making her look quite fancy indeed).  We're hoping to beat the odds (50/50 right?) and end up with 2 hens for a total of 6, but we'll see! For more information on heirloom chickens check out this link: http://smallfarm.about.com/od/farmanimals/a/buildyourflock.htm

Chick Picks

We have officially started the "Mather Family Farm" here in Indianapolis!! Went to Tractor Supply Co. to check out what we'd need to get started on this endeavor (we've been contemplating and talking about it for over a year now....) and ended up coming home with half a dozen chicks.

I have to admit it's been 12 days since we "did the deed", and its taken me this long to finally sit down and figure out how to get this blog started....we've had lots of fun so far and lost a few hours of sleep (and leisure time for sure!)... but no fingers or toes yet. We've been told by folks "in the know" that chickens are low maintenance and quite easy to keep. Well, if you decide to follow our journey into "urban farming" you may discover what "those in the know" may have forgotten--or taken for granted.

It's a bit of a daunting task to summarize our adventure so far as it seems like so much has happened since we brought our flock of friends home to roost. I'll be posting excerpts of our journey so far and invite you to share in our adventure--trials and tribulations included!....and feel free to offer any avian advice or antidotes you may think of....Hope you enjoy the blog! Kristin