Rita LeBleu
rlebleu@americanpress.com
When John and Sarah Puerta moved into their home, one of their goals was to get ducks for the pond. So, off they drove to a nearby farm and ranch retailer with 12-year-old Landon and 11-year-old Abigail.
“They didn’t have any ducks, and we had some very disappointed kids,” Sarah said.
The store did have plenty of baby chicks to choose from. John chose four Rhode Island Reds because he was told they were good layers.
Landon Puerta selected a black baby chick. Abigail Puerta chose a white one.
“We came home with $250 chicken coop, that we put together in the dark after we got home,” Sarah said.
“We didn’t have any supplies and we knew nothing about those chicks,” John added.
Repeatedly Sarah warned the kids against getting attached.
“She said things happen. They’re probably going to die. A snake could get them, and if it does, I don’t want you to be sad and cry,” Landon said. “We were fine with all that because we figured if they died we could jus go back to the store and get more.”
She cautioned against naming April May, June, July, Drumstick and Snowey.
The chickens have turned out to be such great entertainment and learning experience, it’s not just the kids who are attached.
“Every time he makes a grocery store run he comes back with a pack of cherry tomatoes to feed them,” she said.
“She’s the one that wakes up worried about the chicks,” he said.
“Not every night,” she countered.
“They all have their own personalities,” John said. “June has the lady’s hat and she’s nosey, nosey, the first one to get in your business and a little jealous of the other girls.”
People attached to their backyard chickens aren’t limited to the Puertas. Flocks of backyard chicken lovers have come together to create social media groups that allow them to post questions such as: How do I keep hawks away and do the chicks need food and water at night?
A North Carolina resident on the Backyard Chickens Facebook group site said she could “sit and watch them play and eat and everything else they do for an hour without realizing how much time has passed.” Another group member jokingly said she needed a chicken cam to keep her from getting up and checking the chickens at night.
Posted photos include chicken shots, a chicken quilt and a photo of the inside bottom of a Dutch oven that seems to have the outline of a chicken. The post says, “I see a chicken, do you? There is a photo of a child swimming with a hen in a horse trough, a tub full of mealy worms, chicken snakes, a very large round worm and a chicken coop interior that’s painted better than some houses. Walls are hung with décor. Oh, and several coop owners have put vinyl down on coop floors.
The Puerta chickens produce eggs. They don’t plan to dress out their fowl at any point.
“Hey, they’re family,” John said. “You gotta take care of family.”
The chickens are so entertaining John and Sarah bought an incubator to hatch five chicks.
“They were all roosters,” Landon said. “What are the chances of that?
The roosters were sold to a local livestock auction and the Puertas decided to buy fertilized eggs from ebay, which were shipped through the mail.
Fertile hatching eggs are packed within one day of being layed, layered in Styrofoam and shipped.
“Then June, one of the Rhode Island Reds started acting a little broody,” Sarah said.
Currently, the Puertas are monitoring June’s new babies in a chicken coop created beneath a playhouse/swingset combination and keeping the “seven beautiful baby brahmas” – John’s words — inside the house. (These are the mail-order birdies.)
“She gets up at night to check on them,” John said about his wife.
“That’s you,” she said.
“That’s both of them,” Landon said.
Meghan Howard from Meyers Hatchery said white leghorns and Golden Buffs are also top layers for backyard chicken layers looking for more than good entertainment. Silkies, Cochins, Buff Orpingtons, Easter Eggers and Wyandottes are some of the most docile breeds. Landon’s rooster is a bit fiesty. It’s an Orpington.
A spokesperson for Tractor Supply said genetic research is helping hatcheries provide more docile birds to stores. Baby chicks – and generally that includes ducks — are available for purchase February through April and in the fall from August to October.
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How many families would hang Christmas stockings for their chickens? As it turns out, such fondness for fowl is a growing trend.
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Abigail and Landon Puerta
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