I have narrowed it down to 7!

Seven breeds of chickens, that is.

After doing some more research and talking to a lady at a local feed store, I have decided against bantam chickens.  I still would really like to learn more about bantams, but I think that regular sized chickens are best for our family since we are just starting out in the poultry world.  And since we eat a lot of eggs (and by "we" I mean "my husband" lol), the regular sized chicken eggs would be more convenient than the much smaller eggs laid by the bantam variety.  So maybe one day we will try bantams.  Just not at this time.

With that being said, these are my top 7 chicken breed choices!

#7
Double-Laced Barnevelder

#6
Buff Brahma

#5
Buff Orpington

#4
Ameraucana (Or Easter Egger--either one)

#3
Silver-Laced Wyandotte

#2
Blue Splash Maran (Or Black Copper or Silver Cuckoo)

#1
Australorp

Kevin's only request is the Australorp, so I am making sure it is our #1 on the list.  It seems to be very popular and an excellent layer.  Pretty much all of the chickens in my top 7 are at least decent, if not excellent, layers.  The other quality I searched for in my hunt for breed choices is temperament.  I want chickens that are friendly and that make good pets.  I want Carson to enjoy the chickens, as well as future babies number 2 and 3.  And I believe that all of my chicken choices lay colored/tinted eggs.  Not that I would hate to have white eggs or anything, I just didn't want a Leghorn (temperament), and I believe that they are one of the few breeds to lay white eggs.  I love the idea of the blues, greens, light and dark browns.

Also, I think we are getting closer in our coop design decision.  At the moment, we are leaning towards a stationary, well ventilated, coop with the tinted greenhouse style roof.  With hardware cloth instead of chicken wire.  And possibly a little tractor or portable run for them so they can have some freedom around the yard.  We were able to get 3 more books from my library hold list.  We got Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds, Backyard Chicken's Guide to Coops and Tractors (building plans!),  and The Small Scale Poultry Flock.  I haven't had gobs of time this weekend, but I'm interested to dig more into The Small Scale Poultry Flock.  It seems to have a lot of good information.  I keep reading so many conflicting tidbits, though.  Such as composting, cleaning, smell, handling of the eggs.  How are you supposed to know what to do when there are a hundred different ways to do it?  Trial and error, I suppose.  Ok, well I must start getting to bed.  Babysitting tomorrow plus subbing the 6-7pm Zumba class!  And the rain from Issac is lulling me to sleep.  Zzz  Zzz ZZzzz......

My brain thoughts are full of chickens.

I bought this book:
The Chicken Whisperer's Guide To Keeping Chickens

And I am very happy with it.  Then I decided to check out my local library to see what they had to offer in the way of chicken books.  I have 6 on hold, 4 of which are being transferred to my nearest library from other libraries around the county.  I'M SO EXCITED!  The two I have been able to check out so far are as follows:
Back To Basics Complete Guide to Raising Chickens
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens: Care/Feeding/Facilities

I really love the Back to Basics guide.  It's great.  It is easy to read and understand, and has a lot of information in it.  One thing I learned from it off of the top of my head is that avocado skins and pits can be poisonous to chickens, so when giving them table scraps you should just add those items to your compost pile.  Good to know!  I would have killed our chickens.  The book has a lot of information on different breeds, as well.  Which I found really helpful.  Specifics on egg production, broiler chicken choices, colors, size, temperament, weight, etc.  It even helped me realize that if I want more than like, 2 eggs a week (eggaggerating here...ha, get it?!), I want more breed variation in my flock than just silkies.  Now I'm thinking I may want an easter egger, a wyandotte, a silkie, and maybe an australorp or something.  I don't know.  I like the bantam chickens.  We'll have to see.  I may change my mind again.

I'm not loving the Storey's guide as much as I thought I would.  I also just realized though, by looking at amazon.com, that there is a much newer version than the one I am currently reading.  The one that is linked up above is from 1995.  The new one was copyrighted in 2010.  I may have to try to get my hands on the newer one.  It's not that there is a lack of info in it or anything, it's just not as friendly-like as the other 2 books.  And the breed selection chapter is hard for me to really read and get into.  I don't know.  I'm trying to sort out the whole Chicken Tractor thing.  Grass?  Poop?  Good?  Bad?  Indifferent?  I just don't know.

The Chicken Whisperer's guide, as I said above, is great as well.  It's a nice, glossy, colorful book with pretty pictures and set up in an easy to read format.  It could have more information in it, but it's a nice beginners guide.  It also has lots of good breed info.  With pics!  And I love pictures.  I need pictures.

The website of the week for me has been www.mypetchicken.com.  They sell chicks!  One day old--and they can send you female babies!  I love it.  I have been window shopping.  I think they are pretty much sold out for this year though of most of their chickens.  I may have to wait until Feb to get babies.  Which means that we won't have eggs until August 2013!  Wooooaaaaah!  I guess it's good though.  Gives us some time to get a coop together, figure out how much feed and stuff is going to cost.  And gives me time to try to start getting up at 6:30 or so every day so I can have time to collect eggs, feed and water the chicks, etc.  Plus shower and all that jazz.  And we need to build our chicken tractor!  Carson LOVES when we say "Chicken Tractor".  He cracks up.  SO CUTE.  I love him more than the sun and the moon and the earth and all of the oxygen.

My next post will probably be about the other books we have on hold when they come in :)  Oh yeah--and I think chickens are going to be legal in Brevard county, FL soon!  WOO HOO!  Thank you, local farmers and supporters of the chicken movement!

I do things my own way.

As of late, I have been very excited about building a chicken coop in the backyard and having some chickens.  I found this super cute little coop from Bluebetween on backyardchickens.com:

How cute is this?!?!?!

So yeah.  I'm kind of obsessed.  Kevin and I have discussed making a chicken tractor, also.  It would be nice to move it around the yard--you know, kill all of the grass!  Kidding.  I just don't know.  Maybe we'll do both?

I was at Habitat for Humanity Rebuild Center today and found wood!  Carson and I had a great time shopping.  Kevin pointed out that we don't have building plans yet, but psht!  Who needs plans when you have wood?!

Carson showing off the wood shutter door

Gotta love the Volvo wagon!

Oooohhh yeahh...look at all that wood!

Carson sleeping next to the wood.

Seriously--less than $60 for everything in the wagon!  How awesome is that?!  It's super awesome.  No idea what we are going to do with it all, but yeah!  That's part of the fun, right?  Kevin is looking up more coop designs right now :)  yay!

And on another note, how many baby chicks can I fit in this hamster cage, and how long can I (or should I) keep them inside before we put them in the coop?  I'm hoping for 4, but I think that may be a tad optimistic.

Jenga game added for size comparison.  LOL.

$4.50 for the hamster cage.  I figure we can resell it after the chicks outgrow it.  I hope I can use it!  Next post will be....I don't know!  Maybe some more idea photos :D