Filed under: The Experiment
Hello and welcome! This is the virtual home of my backyard chicken raising experiment.
Three months ago I decided it would be a good idea to raise three chickens in my tiny, suburban backyard. Three weeks ago I picked up my chicks: 2 Rhode Island Reds and 1 New Hampshire Red.
All three are meant to be laying hens. That is, if I can keep them alive until they’re mature enough to lay (about five months old). I have a large dog who is absolutely in love with the chickens, a cat whose interest is not friendly, and about a dozen other neighbor animals, raccoons, squirrels, and beyond that, things like the weather–and not knowing what the hell I’m doing.
I’m calling this an experiment because in science a failed experiment is just a different kind of success. The point is to keep all 3 chickens alive and happy, eat their eggs, fertilize my garden, learn something about birds, and train my dog not to eat them. If the above doesn’t happen, I’m still bound to have learned something along the way. I’ll count that as a success too.
I plan to post pics and escapades of my experiment as I go along. Enjoy.
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[...] possibly be raising the chickens correctly. Even though I read all the books in preparation, most science experiments have a good chance of failure, especially the first time around, and I had … I guess I underestimated how easy it really is to raise chickens for eggs, even for a newbie like [...]
Pingback by We Laid Our First Egg! « The Bad Egg January 9, 2009 @ 12:29 pmSo it issafe for them to fert the garden? Why did I hear that is no good?
Comment by Jess March 31, 2009 @ 3:59 pmIt is safe — but not directly on the garden. The poop needs to be composted and mixed in well with stuff like leaves, grass, etc., in order to keep the nitrogen in the poo from burning the garden.
Comment by thebadegg March 31, 2009 @ 4:26 pm