Having my own chickens is really the dream that started me on my homesteading journey. Some of my earliest childhood memories involve helping Farmer Ron collect chicken eggs from the farm my mom dropped us off at every morning to babysit us before and after school. As I got a few years older and started school myself I was independent enough to collect the eggs all on my own and I took so much pride in the responsibility of that chore. I didn’t know it at my young age, but I would chase that feeling into my career well into my teen and young adult years. In truth, my dream to “one day take over the farm” never actually died, but instead the influence of city life, peers, and societal pressure pushed that dream down in my mind. It never disappeared, just set aside for the time.

Flash forward to my young twenties as I began discovering who I truly was at my core and that love of chickens and the farm continued to push its way to the forefront. Add a few more years and a new supportive partner (who eventually became a spouse) and I allowed myself to begin dreaming that dream again, right in time for Covid 2020 to hit. But as the world shut down and online reach was higher than ever the homesteading community on YouTube was a critical discovery in my life trajectory. To see so many other people’s stories, of not growing up on a farm or inheriting one, choosing to live this lifestyle and scrapping the money together for small properties that grew into larger ones filled me with so much hope that if it was possible for them it could be possible for me to. Many of my favorite creators preach the ability to begin living the lifestyle no matter where you are in life - and so with my tiny basement suite in the second largest city in my province, I started this journey by telling my partner I wanted to live on an acreage where I could have chickens in the future, I planted my first container garden on the back patio, and bought my first from-scratch cookbook.

From that moment on I began preparing for the day I could finally get chickens. I bought and read books, consumed online information in any format I could, and began slowly accumulating supplies when I had a little extra left over in the budget - a feeder here, a role of chicken wire there, etc. We started saving for a future down payment which we both agreed would be at minimum and acreage and only a couple of years later we got the opportunity to move here, where I was ecstatic to learn I would be able to own and keep chickens right in town.

If you’ve been following along on the YouTube Channel you know the rest of the story from incubating eggs to building the coop to watching all the little chicks grow up. And I am so excited to share this gorgeous group of ladies with you all! (p.s. yes, my name theme was chicken wing flavours and yes they likely aren’t spelled correctly but it adds ~Character~)

Buffalo

Breed: Barred Rock x Ameraucana

Egg Colour: Olive

Description: White head with brown body, bearded, greenish legs

Personality: Buffalo is by far my boldest lady and also the most likely to jump up on a shoulder or onto my lap. She is usually the first to investigate something new and the first to come up to the fence to eat dandelion greens. Buffalo is also the Taylor Swift of the hens as she is by far the most vocal!

Terryaki

Breed: Black Copper Maran

Egg Colour: Dark/chocolate brown (First egg laid: November 19th, 2023)

Description: All black and some iridescence, some brown coming in on neck, no beard, black legs with feathered feet.

Personality: Terryaki is the middle of the pack in terms of boldness. A bit shy at first but after a little will come check things out and does take treats from the hand. Warming up to interactions each day it seems!

Ginger

Breed: Barred Rock x Ameraucana

Egg Colour: Light Greeny-Blue

Description: Brown all over with small beard, no dark black patches, green legs.

Personality: Ginger is the smallest of all the hens and also fairly timid. She rarely comes over to the fence to take a look at treats and will be one of the last ones out of the coop or to investigate something new. While she may be timid her feathers have so many details and she is a really beautiful hen.

Nugget

Breed: Ameraucana

Egg Colour: Light Blue

Description: Mix of white, tan, and black. Yellowish green legs, white head and beard.

Personality: Nugget is not afraid of letting the other hens know where she stands in the pecking order.. she is scared of almost everything else. That being said she does get rare bursts of courage to come check out something new if it involves food. Nugget is almost always the last lady to come out of the coop and really runs on her own schedule.

Chipotle

Breed: Barred Rock x Ameraucana

Egg Colour: Light Greeny-Blue

Description: Brown all over with black patch on neck, dark green legs, small beard.

Personality: Chipotle is certainly the most camera-shy of all the ladies! She did not want to be anywhere near me or the camera and she is certainly as timid at Nugget is. She does calm down after you’ve been sitting still for a while and i’m hoing with time she won’t be quite so shy!