Meet our chickens! We purchased 20 chicks from Ideal Poultry: 6 Buff Orpingtons, 7 Gold-Laced Wyandottes (2 of which are cockerels), and 7 Silver-Laced Wyandottes. They shipped from Texas the day they hatched and all arrived healthy. Ideal shipped extra chicks with our order in case some perished during their long voyage, but we have had no casualties so far. They are 3 weeks old and are currently living in a brooder inside the house. We constructed the brooder out of scrap plywood and chicken wire (4’W x 6’L x 2’H). The chicks have to remain indoors until they have all their feathers, which is around 6 weeks. Orpingtons and Wyandottes are heavy dual purpose breeds, meaning they can be used for both meat and eggs. They will start producing eggs around 6 months and both breeds lay around 3-4 eggs per week (with 18 hens that works out to about 5 dozen per week). We plan on keeping them primarily as pets with the bonus of getting fresh free-range eggs. Their manure will also add vital nutrients to our compost.