Meet Our Chickens – The Original Herd
Meet our chickens. Find out about how we got started and our original herd. Learn their names and why we love them.
I originally wanted chickens to raise for eggs. After they were here we learned that they are so much more than egg layers. Our chickens are our babies, and so much fun to watch. They eat bugs, lizards, and also give us more eggs than we know what to do with. We have even had two babies born recently.
Starting Out
When we decided to get some chickens I did my research and I ordered some chicks from Myers Hatchery. Yes, you can mail order chicks. No, I do not recommend it. Out of the original box that arrived every chicken was dead or died within 24 hours except 1.
That one lone chick is Freckles. She is a Golden Laced Wyandotte, and one of my favorites out of my herd. She is the ORIGINAL cuddle chicken.
After that happened we were devastated, and didn’t want only one chick. My husband made a trip to Rural King for a few more chicks and came home with 15. ~eye roll~ I blame him for my abundance of chickens. We did loose one out of the Rural King 15 but that is much better than our mail order incident.
Breeds
Right now we have
- 4 Rhode Island Reds (smaller but great egg layers – also very loud)
- 5 Americaunas ( So sweet and cuddly, they also lay blue and green eggs)
- 5 Blue Cochins (They are so fluffy, one is the rooster.)
- 1 Golden Laced Wyandotte (my O.G. baby Freckles.)
Names
All of my chickens have names. I told you all about Freckles (named so because she pecked our freckles when she was a chick). The thing is, I don’t know if you have ever tried to tell Rhode Island Reds apart. It is nearly impossible. In that department we have…
- Penny
- Penney
- Penni
- Pennee
We joke and say one more and we would have a nickel.
The Americaunas we have
- Rosie
- Amelia
- Emma
- Mando (lori) hen
- Sierra
Finally the grey ladies or my Blue Cochins
- Elwood (Our Rooster – Blue’s Brothers Reference)
- Harriet (Was Harry Potter until we learned she was a girl)
- Lady Kluck (Robin Hood Reference)
- Madam Mim (Sword & the Stone)
- Poppins ( Just like Mary – Practically Perfect in Every Way)
Cuddle Chickens
If you have ever had chickens there are two ways to raise them…maybe more.
- Option A: You can get them, put them in a coop and let them be chickens.
- Option B: You can love and snuggle and hold them from the time they are born.
We went with option B. The result is some of the sweetest cuddle chickens you have ever seen. If I sit in the hammock or on the bench it is only a matter of time before I have a lap chicken or 5. You will also find them hanging out by the door wanting in the house, or hopping on your should while you take a walk. They just love us and we love them too!
Eggs
The added bonus to having so many hens is eggs. We have a TON of eggs. I gather about a dozen a day at this point. I even bought some egg cartons to make it easier to give them to friends, family, the fridge repair man….could you use some eggs? Seriously though, after making every recipe that calls for eggs and then some we are blessing others with our bounty.
