Three Dogs Farm and Timber: Ready for the Chickens

After much research about chicken breeds and local availability, we chose Easter Eggers and Rhode Island Red Pullets to start our chicken adventure. These breeds are both suppose to be egg-cellent egg layers, cold and heat hardy, friendly and will free range or stay in a coop without a problem. We found a local source for the hens...took a large dog carrier and met the man selling the chickens at his roadside place about 13 miles from the house. I was really worried about raising chickens in the beginning. I still have a lot to learn. One of those things was what a striaght-run of chickens is. What Crosses are. And how long does it take for a hen to mature enough to start laying eggs. I still need to learn about illnesses and wound care. But we have had the original chickens for almost 7 months and they are doing well. In other words, I have not let any of them get eaten by the dogs, the hawks or snakes...and none of them have had any illnesses that I am aware of. The blue legged chickens are the Easter Eggers, and the Rhode Island Reds have tannish legs. But, after wanting 6 laying hens...we only got 4 and 2 Roosters. So, when you get chickens, don't get straight-run if you want all hens...there is a good possibility you will get a few roosters in the mix. I am OK with it now, but was upset when we got 2 out of the 6 in the beginning. It is hard to tell until they mature if they are males or females. But the boys are pretty good looking and having the 2 roosters I will eventually be able to have fertile eggs and raise baby chicks of my own.