Confessions of a Chicken Keeper

I have learned a lot about chickens. There is no doubt about that. However, I have much to learn, as I’m sure many beginner chicken keepers do. So here are some confessions (and yes, it’s another list because this is on my mind but I really don’t have the time or energy at the moment to flesh it out more).

• Our chicken coop is not sufficient for Illinois winters.
• Or, at least it isn’t sufficient for roosters.
• My roosters have frostbitten combs and wattles.
• We had a bunch of eggs freeze because only the kids could get to the nesting box (Tim fixed that so that we can now get eggs, too)
• I had a sick hen and I don’t know what was wrong with her.
• She got over it, whatever it was, despite a lack of intervention on my part.
• I can’t really tell the hens apart, except for:
  1. Miss Ducky, an orpington with oranger legs than the others
  2. Lula Mae, the only New Hampshire hen we have left
  3. Chicken Joe, our New Hampshire rooster
• I have too many roosters.
• My 3 Orpington roosters are all named Chuck Norris, even though I could probably tell them apart by now if I tried harder.
• They really don’t have enough roost space.
• They are roosting on the roosts Tim made, but those roosts are hooked up to a ladder and they roost on the ladder, which means they also poop on each other.
• We actually forgot to close them in one night. Tim and I went out to close them in but they weren’t in. So it was actually a miscommunication and neither of us took care of it.
• I didn’t realize we forgot to shut them in until the next morning when the roosters were crowing right near the house quite early in the morning.
• They are all unharmed, amazingly enough.
• They are eating feed from the farm supply store instead of the more natural, healthier feed Scott the Farmer was bringing me.
• I want him to bring me that feed, but he thought I didn’t because I kept buying the feed from the store because I kept running out.
• I haven’t talked to him about this yet, despite the fact that it’s been a month or longer that I’ve been using the feed from the store.
• I am totally getting more chicks next spring so that we have eggs in the winter again.
• Yes, I realize we are totally lucky to have eggs in January.
• Lula Mae is finally moulting.
• She doesn’t look very pretty.
• She’s still my favorite, but please don’t tell the other hens.

Tags: backyard chickensb, backyard poultry, Buff Orpington chickens, coop, fresh eggs in the winter, frostbite and chickens, frotbitten rooster combs, hens, New Hampshire chickens, pullets, roosters, roosting chickens, roosting space, sick hen