We went to our local "big box" farm store the Saturday before Easter, which was the end of the season for said store. They were out of all of the kinds of chickens that can be identified as pullets at birth (bred to have different markings), so we had to take a gamble on the purchase of 5 unsexed Bantams* at a blowout price ($.75 each). We were assured that the local 4H would take any roosters off our hands if we ended up with them, so we just went for it. We brought them home and set them up in a Rubbermaid container in the basement. They were so cute and fluffy and noisy. They lived down in our basement for several weeks while we figured out what they were going to live in outside.
My DH raised chickens one year when he was younger to show at the 4H fair, but after the "chicken showing coach" broke the wing of one of their show chickens, they became dinner instead of going to the show. So all that to say, his parents had a chicken run available for us to use (score!). They brought it down to our house and we spent the evening making a temporary shelter on one end of the run with wood and tarp covers, held on with bungee cords (super classy looking), with a heat lamp for extra warmth. And our chickens moved right in.
By this point we were pretty sure we had at least 1 rooster, he had already started to grow his comb and was already practicing the head bob for his future crow. So we knew we had to eventually find him a home. The other 4 were still potential hens, so we were pretty happy with our 80% success rate. We had also figured out that we had 2 Silver Sebrights, 2 Ameraucannas (later we discovered they were Welsummers) and 1 mystery breed, with feathery feet (we never figured out what she was).
At night, all of the hens slept piled together under the heat lamp for safety, protection and warmth. I would often see the rooster sitting on a crossbar of the floor, on guard duty while the hens slept. One night though, before we got home to turn on the heat lamp, something attacked our hens. I came out to check on them in the morning and there were 2 missing. I thought maybe they were underneath a board on the floor, which was a favorite hiding place, but they weren't there. I finally noticed 2 small piles of feathers in the yard near the run (mystery breed and Silver Sebright). Whatever it was that got them, was crafty and dexterous (probably a raccoon), because it had moved a barrier, lifted a corner of chicken wire that was not secured well, and snatched them out.
So that left us with 3 chickens, 2 hens and the rooster. Of course, we still had the rooster. We figured out pretty quickly that we needed to leave the heat lamp on at night to protect the girls (and boy) from predators until we had more secure housing for them. We had another attack on a night when we didn't get home before dark and one of our remaining hens lost a wing. So now we have 1.75 hens and the rooster. We have the lamp on a Christmas light timer now, it goes on automatically at dusk.
Our temporary shelter had it's flaws, but it worked for a couple of months. Then, while EG (our daughter) and I were visiting friends in Arizona, my DH started building the more permanent chicken coop structure and roofing it with left over shingles from our house roof. We spent our Independence Day weekend completing the coop project by installing doors on either end, a roosting bar, nesting boxes and the chicken ladder/ramp. We covered the floor in self stick tiles left over from our bathroom floor (left by the previous owners) for easier cleanout. The girls love it, they feel so much safer in there and love to run up and down the ramp.
We did end up finding a new home for the rooster right around the time we finished the coop. It was at that same time, that he found his voice and started to crow. We didn't get a response from anyone with 4H interested in him, so we sent him to the in-laws house for a temporary refuge. Just this weekend, he found a new home in Northern Michigan with 4 standard sized hens. However, once we got rid of the rooster, our larger, more dominant hen started to crow. After researching this, I have found that that can actually happen, she's not as loud as a rooster, but she crows just the same.
