christmas 2011 my dad told me i could design my own coop and pick out my own chicks. i was excited so i started learning how to take care of chickens and learning about the different breeds. i definetly liked the ornamental breeds but my mom made me get egg layers too. the day spring break started we went to coastal farm and got a RIR hen and named her rose, a "polish" hen (she ended up being a mottled houdan) that we named flo, and a blue wheaton ameraucana and named her angel. we set up a brooder in the garage and exactly a week later we were getting a better heat lamp when i just had to get more. we got a buff columbian cochin "pullet" and another ameraucana "pullet". it was actually a mistake because they both ended up being roosters, i loved them but we couldn't keep them, but we could at least keep them till they were six months old. my dog ended up killing my favorite hen, angel. i wanted nothing to do with him after that but i got over it. the ameracana rooster we ended up trading with a friend for a buff orpington that we name goldie, she was alone for about a week so i had to get her a freind, so i bought a sultan hen off of craigslist that i named fetima (after ahab the arab's girlfriend in the song "ahab the arab"). my dad built the coop and he ended up putting the nest boxes on the ground but they adapted to them. i get about three to four eggs a day. we still have flo, rose, goldie and fetima this spring and i got two more chicks, a BR named martha, a SLW named lacey. a week later we got two ameraucanas (one blue wheaton and the other bluish) that i named salt and pepper. i also plan on getting a silkie but i have to wait a while so than i can try to get a hen. pretty early in the process i got introduced to BYC and i love it, i finally joined about a month ago.