We have chickens. Really?

This month I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get chickens. I am enamoured by the thought of fresh eggs as well as collecting poop for my garden and compost experiment.  Hens are allowed in the Phoenix metropolitan area- roosters are not. So I drove down to the feed store and picked up 3 chickens. 3 seemed like a good number. I don't know anything about raising chickens but with YouTube, Pinterest and Google on my side I figured I had plenty of help. I brought the girls home on Feb 4th, 2013 and put them in the baby's nursery. The baby is 5 months old and still sleeping in our room so the nursery was not being used.

 The girls--1 week old.  Red (Rhode Island Red), Nuggets (Barred Rock -black one), and Lucy (White Leghorn)

Chicken nursery.
As a newbie chicken momma I did not realize how fast these little eating machines would grow. They outgrew the blue tote within a week. I went to Spencer's appliance store and got a freezer box for their new home. I added a dowel rod for a roost and deer netting over the top and they were much happier. Still in the baby's room but more space for them to run around. They are starting to get more active and curious and their personalities are certainly starting to emerge. They will soon move outside to their permanent coop.