Since getting my first peep of sweet chicks in June 2019, I’ve become a little obsessed with my backyard chickens! Although, I will admit: it’s been a LOT more difficult (physically and emotionally) than I ever could have imagined. On this page I’m sharing practical advice for new backyard chicken keepers, funny and sad chicken stories, plus backyard chicken DIY projects and egg themed crafts!
Here are all of my posts about raising chicks and keeping backyard chickens, if you’d like to just see them all chronologically. But if you’d prefer to skip around, take a look at the galleries below to find all of the links – from building a DIY chicken coop to enjoying beautiful turquoise eggs, I hope you enjoy my chicken stories and chicken DIY ideas!
JUST CLICK ON ANY PHOTO!
PRACTICAL ADVICE & DIY PROJECTS
BABY CHICKS!
CHICKEN STORIES
CHICKEN & EGG CRAFT PROJECTS
EASY EGG RECIPES
Click here to see all of my recipes, from drinks to desserts. Below you’ll find some recipes dedicated to helping backyard chicken keepers use up lots of eggs!
P.S. Have a chicken lover in your life?
Check out my gift guide for backyard chicken keepers right here
Click the link to find my hand picked list of sweet items for backyard chicken keepers. And check out this post to see my round up of beautiful egg holders – another great gift idea for chicken lovers.
My Backyard Chicken Journey – YEAR BY YEAR
Year One: Getting Chicks!
In the first year, I bought a batch of 10 Ameraucana chicks, impulse bought two Silkie chicks, culled a sick chick, re-homed my beautiful roosters once they grew, and then bought additional pullets (one died later and the other was sick, so I re-homed her to a couple who were way more knowledgeable than I about treating ill hens).
Such a Journey, But Look at the Eggs!
So much chicken heartbreak, but in the fall I was rewarded with beautiful aqua eggs!
Year Two – More Changes and Sad Stories
In my second year of keeping chickens, I lost many more chicks and chickens. I guess I was lucky my first year! This time, I lost two chicks in transit and then a few more as they grew. I had two chicks with developmental leg issues (I was able to cure the one). Plus I lost both of my grown silkie chickens from the first batch of chicks, which broke my heart.
Year Three: Trying to Hatch My Own Chicks
In my third year, I ordered olive eggers but my chick order was cancelled by the small hatchery, so I decided not to add to my flock. But then a hen went broody and she managed to hatch 7 out of 8 eggs! They’re Ameraucana and Maran chicks. We were so eggcited – the experience was absolutely fascinating! One of the roosters Mama Hen hatched was so gorgeous, we ended up shipping him 1000 miles (read that wild story here).
Year Four: Still Struggling with Flock Loss
My flock is a smaller mixed flock (Australorps, Ameraucanas, Barnevelder, Marans, One Speckled Sussex and One Barnevelder). We ultimately had to give up our last remaining silkie. We continue to struggle a bit with flock loss – we lost two cream legbars and a wyandotte. After a vet visit for one death, we determined it wasn’t an illness that was preventable – it was heart failure. We just occasionally lose a chicken to organ problems… I am suspicious of the hatchery we used and am keeping an eye on the chickens we hatched ourselves (which all seem healthy for now – knock on wood).
Year Five: Hatching Chicks Again!
After the success of hatching eggs with Mama Hen, when another hen went broody (Morion, the Australorp) we bought some eggs to put under her. She was somehow not the natural Mama Hen was, and she only hatched three chicks – one of whom might have cooked a little too long, and had health problems. But what she lacked in hatching skills, she made up for in sweetness and when I bought some Ameraucana-Silkie chicks, she welcomed them immediately and raised them as her own! Now I have some beautiful olive green eggs in my egg basket! Watch the video below for a summary of hatching eggs with Morion:
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You can read ALL of my posts about chickens chronologically by clicking this link.
Interested in getting chickens? Here are the most important posts:
- How Much Work Are Backyard Chickens?
- How to Set Up a Brooder for Chicks
- How to Build a Modern DIY Coop
- How to Keep Chickens Warm in Extreme Cold Winter
- How Much Calcium to Hens Need?
