My husband has decided he'd like to try his hand at chicken farming. He's been itching to raise some egg-layers for some time now, long enough that the idea made it into last year's Christmas letter in the "things you will most likely see in next year's installment" section. Having grown up on a dairy farm and knowing the responsibility that comes with owning livestock made me wary for a couple reasons:
1) Although I loved many of the experiences associated with farming and working with animals, I had my share of moments where I may have cursed their constant need for attention, every single day, rain or shine.
2) I know nothing about chickens. We never had them, just cows and sometimes pigs. I think this stems from a few traumatic incidents in my mom's past involving one very aggressive rooster. In any case, I felt wholly unprepared to take on this challenge.
Alas, my husband is never one to half-ass anything (pardon the language, but it's true), so if he's said he's going to do something, he's going to do it and do it well.
So, the first step: Chickens, chickens, chickens!!! There are so many types, where to start?
Some might say egg color.
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| http://karias.webs.com/images/image2.jpg |
Others might base the decision on plumage vibrancy.
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| http://www.familiesraisingchickens.com/images/roosterwithbeautifulplumage.jpg |
Still others might try to pick the most, shall we say, interesting.
With so many out there, it could be difficult to choose.
Lucky for us, we have one major requirement to help us narrow the field:
Cold tolerance!
