Chicken Fever Part 2: Finding the Cure

I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want:  I want chickens.  Or at least that’s what I was thinking a year ago when my husband, Mr. Practical, said yes to chickens.  

If you live with other humans, you really should check in with them before adding animals to the dynamic.  I’ll deal with "chicken math" in another post, but just know that when desiring chickens sometimes 25 doesn’t seem like an unreasonable number.  Make sure you clear it with other humans in your home before you go too far down that road.  You don’t want chickens of resentment.

Having my head in the clouds, I wanted the rarest, the most finicky, the most exclusive (read, expensive) chickens I could find.  Other than that, these were my criteria for our future flock:

• Cold hardiness.  Although this past winter has proved me a liar, central BC can get cold, sometimes down to -40 in winter.  These chickens had to be tough.

• Foraging ability.  I wanted my chickens to hunt for grubs in the garden, chase after grasshoppers, be brave and explore the world.

• Beauty.  Yes, I’m that shallow.  I wanted pretty chickens.  Spotty and speckly would be best.

• Able to handle confinement.  They would have to spend winter cooped up when the snow came.

•  Egg colour.  Can’t a girl have nice things?

• Oh yeah, and egg production.  They didn’t have to be rock star egg layers, but they had to lay a respectable amount.

Is that all too much to ask?  After much study I settled on two breeds I thought I must have:  Silver Laced Wyandottes  

http://www.backyardchickens.com/products/wyandotte

and Speckled Sussex.  

http://www.backyardchickens.com/products/speckled-sussex

 Both breeds I fell in love with because of their good looks and gregarious, adaptable natures.  Let the great experiment begin!

After weeks of research in books and online I realized that shipping hatching eggs from the other side of the country was too impractical even for me.  I looked closer to home and found two great local breeders, Ravenwood Acres in Vanderhoof and Snowvale Heritage Chickens near Williams Lake.  Unfortunately, neither bred Speckled Sussex, but I became so distracted by their other breeds that I got carried away and ordered a mishmash.  Both breeders were well informed and able to answer all my questions. 

"Which came first?  The chicken or the egg?"

 Thanks to Shelley at Ravenwood and Danielle at Snowvale for their patience while I peppered them with questions both before and after picking up my biddies.  They know their stuff and are doing great work keeping many beautiful breeds going.

I’ll share more in an upcoming post about preparing for the arrival of these bundles of joy and poop and cheeping.  Cheeping, but not cheap.