We just bought our place in the country. Even though its just over a little over an acre we decided to name our homestead :) So, Little Red Hen Farm is born. We named it that for 2 reasons. One being Im a redhead lol And 2nd cause we are raising Rhode Island Red chickens.
We are finally living how we wanted to. We never thought that just over an acre would satisfy us, boy were we wrong! We have so much room, we love it dearly.
Just had to share :)
~Michele~

Hey that is great!! Even though we live in the Country we are not aloud to have any livestock at all!! We live in a Subdivsion in the Country However I do believe that we can have Gardens though!! :)

Congatulations, Michele!

I`m really happy for you...

It`s my dream to live in the country place with acres of land with a small farm...

...maybe one day, when the kids are older...

We're gonna have a few chickens, and maybe even a turkey or two. :)

I asked at the feed store, and they said it wasn't legal. BUT you're ok as long as nobody reports you, and the neighborhood I'm moving to seems pretty quiet. They said I'd have 60 days to find other homes for the birds, so I'm gonna take the chance.

I'll just not have any loud crowing rooster to annoy the neighbors.

Does anyone know if you have to have a rooster if you want hens for laying eating eggs only?

Gina,
Chicken lay eggs just fine without a Rooster. The difference is if you want fertilized eggs or not. I do not cause I dont want more chickens and plus I dont like what the eggs look like fertilized. They have a black speck in the yolk or sometimes even a small bloodly mass ( the embroy-sp??). I figured if I neede dmore chickens I would buy more lol The chicks only cost me $1.50 each anyhow. Most chickens dont start laying eggs until they are 5 months old. Hope that helps :)
~Michele~

Sure does, Michele, thanks. :)

I so hope I don't have anal, whiney new neighbors.

I didnt even know you guys were moving! How big is the new place?
~Michele~

It's a 3 br (woohoo!), 1.5 baths house with central a/h (WOOHOO), a fenced yard, dishwasher, spankin' new fridge, etc. In a slightly better neighborhood, too. :)

We're gonna rent until we save up a down payment (about $1-2,000), then we're gonna buy it, and the owner (who is also our current landlord) is gonna sell it to us and finance us. :)

~*Happy Dance*~

But OH how I HATE moving, lol. But thankfully this should be the last time for at least 5 years, PLEASE God! :)

Congrats Michele .
We will be moving to 2 acres in a month or so I I am thrilled over that little bity piece of land too.
We are in a Mobile Home Park and our neighbor has had 4 chickens since easter and I just found out the other day I NEVR hear them. Kim

Kim,
The Roosters are the noisy ones,lol I cant wait to add mine to our family. We just got 2 dogs last week. One lab/shepard mix female and one blue heeler/dalmation mix female. Hope they are gonna be good watch dogs for our little farm :)
And congrats on your move!
~Michele~

I live in a subdivision in the country 6 miles from town and love it, lived here for 17 years, I had a hard time adjusting to the quiet...I raised chickens and turkeys both, had a blast with them. If you have just a few chickens that can wander about your yard you really wont have much of a bug problem any more. Thinking of getting more just for the bugs LOL. Our area is agricultrual and I could have horses, or cows as well but the half acre I have isnt really big enough, sometimes I wish we had more land until I have to help push the mower then my land is big enough

Congrats on your new place Michele.....I really like the name ;). I wouldn't care if MY neighbors had chickens Gina, as long as they didn't crow at 5 A.M. . Maybe your neighbors won't either. Gosh if they would take care of the bugs I would almost get a couple for my backyard.....!

Karla,
The mower thing.... Im having to push mow ours ,ACK! LOL Its a 2 day job for me and Dh. Only cause its so hot that we cant mow in the heat of the day. I mow around 7 am to about 10 am. Then he will start around 7 am the next morning. I tell him we need the goats and need them NOW lol

Ohhhhh I would love to curb our bug problems! We live near orange groves which are infested with what they call "grove bugs". Roughly translated is German cockroachs that fly!!!!!!! We had pest control come out and spray our lawn for them. I can not stand roaches. Ants dont bother me etc. But roaches do. Now they havent gotten into the house, thank god. But they are on the trees and any sort of leaves or wood laying in the grass. Our chickens would be having a buffet for months off of them LOLOL
~Michele~

MicheleMomof3,
Oh boy do I hear you about the push mower, If I do the lawn by my self its a big job, doesn't help that I'm light skinned and burn easy, then get sick with to much sun. It takes me about 5 hrs or so because I need lots of cool down breaks, we also do the yard in the mornings and evenings, I'd have heat stroke otherwise, If my dh and I go non-stop with him doing more than I do of course we can do our yard in anywhere from 3-4 hrs. We do need to save up for a riding mower, its just getting to hard for us anymore, but right now our ds who is 15 helps a lot with mowing. Roaches that fly....how gross...I cant stand those kind of bugs...yeck. I think If you live in an are a that will let you have chickens I'd get me a couple and let them have themselfs a feast...cheaper than spraying thats for sure.....Karla

We are also saving for a riding lawn mower. Im also light skinned (redhead to boot lol) so I burn fairly easy and just like you get sick from it.
We are in t designing/building stages of our chicken coop we had planned on about 20, I might make Dh work a bit faster now LOL
~Michele~

MicheleMomof3
Riding mowers arent cheap thats for sure. good luck on the chicken coop, If you have a fenced yard you can also let just a few out of the coop to run, thats what we did, I'm lucky enough to have a fenced yard, I clipped there wings and they were happy as can be to go get the bugs mostly earwigs here. Only bad part is they will do there business anywhere...LOL I'd like to know how it works out for you with the chickens, I'm not sure I'm done with them myself yet, even though I no longer have a roost or place for them. Of course by they time they got done with my garden didnt have much there......Karla

Was it hard to clip their wings Karla?
~Michele~

No, just make sure you dont clip up to far on them or they can bleed to death, maybe just a half inch or less. Just spread the wings out and cut with the sissors, following along there curve, just the wing feathers. After that they cant fly but watch them because they will grow back out. ...Karla

Great! I just had a similar experience clipping my dogs nails. The younger doggie was ok to do but the older one wont let me. The vet told me to slip her some allergy pills LOL I did and she just laid there and I clipped them without her getting excited. Then she took along nap while I clipped her hair ROFL Now I have to clip Missy, the younger doggie, coat now. The vet said the allergy pills work like a mild sedative and do no harm to them. I was relieved to clip the nails. The older one accidently scratched my Faithy BAD the other day. Looks like someone sliced her with a knife , poor baby :( She cried and cried, broke my heart.
~Michele~

when you say allergy pills, do you mean like benedryl? I have a chow mix who has more hair than anything, right now she's loosing her winter coat, man is she molting bad, thank goodness she stays outside, that would plug up the vac badly, if i ever find another good pair of clippers i'm going to go after her with them but she was abused and abandoned and i'm not to sure how she would take being clipped...Karla

Yup thats what I mean LOL They are mider and not harmful like the sedatives some vets use. Someone told me that was cruel and told me if I wanted to clip their nails to tie their legs together!! Now that to me is cruel, lol Im not tying my dog up. The way I figure it is if she *really* doesnt want me to do it she will still able to get up and away from me. And she doesnt do that. But it just helps calm her.
I use regualr hair clippers on my dogs. Works like a charm :)
Oh and so that everyone who thinks Im a fruit for giving allergy pills to calm them, let me assure you ..... I am a fruit LOL I also give them Pepto pills when they have upset stomachs, works wonderfully :) Let the flaming begin LOL
~Michele~

How cool, the things a person can learn. When I had my cocker, I bought 2sets of clippers, what garbage they were had to borrow the neighbors clippers to clip her hair. Now the chow mix has tons of hair and I do mean tons, I dont thing reg clippers could get thru that, at least not if they were like what I bought and wore out before, I cant bring myself to use the clippers I just used on my son on the dog LOL, I am going to keep my eyes out for some clippers and remember your tip...Thanks so much for it...Karla

Karla,
LOL I have family clippers and then the set for the dogs ! I am with you, I love my dogs but I dont wanna share clippers with them! :)
~Michele~