Our journey into chickenhood began long ago when our son Mel’s Kindergarten class hatched eggs for a class project. When his teacher asked if any families wanted some of the chickens, we quickly raised our hands. We took 5 hens that time without knowing what to expect. Our first dip into raising chickens lasted less than a year due to an unexpected move. We cherished every minute of it and longed to do it all again.
It’s been several years since we had our first little brood. We’ve changed states twice and lived in everything from an apartment, to a townhouse, and finally a house once again. Each location has brought up the family discussion of raising hens again. I joined local, online backyard barnyard groups and kept researching backyard hen raising. I spent time learning as much as I could in preparation. We finally moved into a house where we thought we were ready and able to have hens once more. Then we were hit with another unexpected move. That one took us to one of the only neighborhoods in our town we weren’t allowed to have chickens. You see, our county has an ordinance that allows every home to raise 5 hens. There are some local restrictions that can override that ordinance. This particular neighborhood restricted all residents from raising any hens. So once again, we had to wait.
Chicken Mania
Finally, in January of this year, we were able to relocate to a great house, in a wonderful neighborhood, that is zoned for hens. We were already calling the local feed stores inquiring about chicks when the quarantine happened. Suddenly, EVERYONE wanted chickens! We were finally ready and able to have hens again but couldn’t find a chick in three counties! Chicken Mania had hit Southern California!
At one point, our feed store told me they were fielding 60 – 80 calls per day from people looking for chicks. They weren’t even taking names for a waiting list because they didn’t know if they’d even be able to fill the orders.
Hatcheries & Farms
I began asking in one of my local chicken groups for recommendations on where to get chicks when I was directed to two farms, Meyer Hatchery & Dare 2 Dream Farms. I spent the next 3 weeks researching both farms.
Meyer Hatchery is long standing family owned hatchery on the east coast with over 160 breeds of poultry! I gleaned a lot of particularly useful information from them. Their beautiful, color, poultry catalog is the encyclopedia of poultry breeds. I’ve spent many hours going through each page online learning about the different breeds and sizing up which breeds would be best for us. I also created my hen wish list from there. They can ship chicks and hens to you in the United States and its territories (details and pricing is available on their website). They offer vaccines at a reasonable price and have some great resources available both online and through partner hatcheries.
Dare 2 Dream Farms is an organic, family owned farm here in Southern California that was started in 2009. They are living our dream! With their chicken hatchery and organic produce, they really have a great variety to offer. We chose to order our chicks from this local farm and loved that their prices include Marek’s vaccination, a sex guarantee, and a healthy chick guarantee. They hand delivered our brood to our door with a smile for a delivery fee of $47.
Chicken Diary
Since then, I’ve had several friends call or message me for advice on buying & raising chickens. I’d been keeping notes on our journey in a digital diary for myself and realized I had a lot of information that may help others who are stepping into the fun and rewarding life of raising chickens for themselves. This has spurred my new blog category Backyard Barnyard. I will be sharing the fruits of my research into backyard chicken raising, offering tips, and giving you all the insights of building or buying a chicken coop!
Follow along as we journey through Chickenhood!
I hope you have has much fun reading about our little urban farming experience as we are living it!
Welcome to the Diary of a Chicken Mama!
