Flock Starter
Before chicken math takes over, build your flock with purpose in mind.
BY ASHLEIGH KRISPENSE
During snowy winter days, while the bitter wind cuts through even the warmest of jackets, dreams of fluffy young chicks and weed-free gardens fill the minds of many a homesteader. As the sun begins to hang in the sky a little longer and the days gradually warm up, carefully drawn plans can begin to turn into reality with each trip to the local farm-supply store or order placed to a hatchery.
As a child, I can remember my mother’s excitement over a new batch of poultry coming to our little farm on the hilltop. She would place an order to a hatchery, and a cardboard box would eventually arrive at the local post office. We would drive into town to pick it up, carefully carrying the box full of chicks home until they could be ushered into their new abode. Little bits of fluff would poke through the holes in the box and a chorus of tiny peeps could be heard.
Cold-hardy breeds can be feathered along with small combs and wattles that reduce frostbite chances.
A wood-shaving lined stock tank with fresh feed and water awaited their travel-weary little bodies. With a gentle dip of each beak into the water and a poke into the feeder to show them where nourishment lay, the chicks would begin to run around, stretching their little legs for likely the first time in days.
From Rhode Island Reds and Golden and Silver-Laced Wyandotte chickens to Brown African geese, Bourbon Red turkeys and Rouen ducks, quite an assortment of poultry graced our hilltop over the years.
Adult Size
Another factor for consideration is the size of your bird. While this will be somewhat determined already by whether you choose a traditional layer or fryer, some people enjoy the options that the world of bantam chickens has to offer. Chicken-keepers with small backyards or brooders can enjoy small breeds such as Silkies, Cochins or Brahma bantams.
Eventually, I married and moved to my own little home, a little tan-and-white cottage complete with a matching brooder house in the backyard. Our first batch of chicks arrived from a family-owned hatchery in Lebanon, Missouri. My dad and I constructed a shelter for them inside the brooder house to keep them confined to a smaller, warmer area.