Nothing says the coming of spring like a clutch of fluff-ball chicks huddled together. So innocent and new that they can imprint on any gentle human who feeds, cuddles or dresses them up in cut-up socks. Some traditionally put these harbingers of new life in an Easter basket, but the best choice is to get your chicks as early as possible in the spring so that they are laying eggs by late summer.

The Rockin E Country Store in Wood Cross has their sign up in front: Chicks are here! The chick season is in full swing and will continue until early May. Do you want the little red hen (Rhode Island Reds) or a black Heihei (meaning chicken in Maori)? You can choose the ever-reliable Barred Plymouth Rock that lays a whopping 280 eggs a year or go with the Easter Egger (Americauna) that may lay blue or green colored eggs. The variety available is incredible. Within four months of purchasing a peep of chicks, they will become a brood of hens laying typically three-five eggs per week. Unless you provide more light and heat inside the coop, the hens will usually take a break from laying in the low-light winter months. Hens lay eggs prolifically for a few years and then slow down or even stop in later years. Getting a few one spring and a few more a couple of years later will optimize egg laying. Eggs become larger as the hens mature – much larger than grocery store eggs. Chickens need other chickens, so buy at least three chicks to start. Both NSL and Woods Cross allow a small flock of hens with no rooster, and you may visit the city office for more information and to purchase a permit. Buying chicks at the Country Store comes with a guarantee that the chicks are female – much superior to hatching eggs in an incubator where roughly half of the chicks will grow up to be early-morning-crowing roosters with territorial-protective instincts which make them less-than-desirable pets. Sexing chicks is not an exact science, so it is possible to end up with a rooster from the store that you can return when you realize it looks and sounds different than the hens. To avoid this possibility, look for chicks that are huddled submissively together and avoid the chick on its own patrolling the outskirts of the pen. To be absolutely sure your chick will grow into a hen, choose a sex-link breed where the color of the chick indicates sex. Be sure to come home with a bag of chick starter feed which is ideal for the rapidly growing needs of your flock.

All you need for the first several weeks of a chick’s life is a heat source (a desk lamp with a less-efficient lightbulb) and box filled with dirt, leaves, wood chips or paper. Garden dirt is preferred, because if occasionally moistened, the micro-organisms in the dirt process waste and keep the smell down. The chicks also love to scratch around in loose material to peck for their dinner. Chickens will eat almost anything, and it can be fun to provide a lettuce leaf, a piece of popcorn or another treat for your peep to enjoy. As your flock ages they prefer leftovers to their own feed: potato peels, jack-o-lanterns after Halloween, or those dishes that have just been in the fridge too long. Bushels of falls leaves placed in the run in the fall leads to layers of incredibly fertile soil in the spring. 

After about six weeks, the chicks can begin to explore outside to harden them a bit. Shortly after this, a coop with a run will be required. A coop has a perch and a nesting box and ideally will be small enough to trap chicken heat as they roost at night and in the winter. The run is a larger outdoor area with a fence that protects the flock from predators and protects your yard from the flock. Chickens scratch, dig nests and eat bugs and plants which may not be appreciated, for example, in a newly planted bed of edible pansies. With a secure run and easy-to-clean coop, a flock of chicken have personality enough to entertain most any backyard enthusiast. With the rising cost of groceries, a pet that provides food should be considered. Home produced eggs have brighter colored yolks signifying 20 times more healthful omega 3s as well as other nutritional advantages over mass-produced eggs. Since chickens adore grass clipping, backyard eggs could possibly be considered grass fed. λ