My roommate and I just moved back to the Big Island, Hawaii. The house we rented came with a chicken coop and we like chickens so we have decided to start a chicken farm. We went to the local feed store and purchased 4 chicks, 1 Cornish and 3 Buff Silkies. They are about 10 days old. Chickens are known as peeps from the time you get them as day old chicks until the show sex, sometime before 20 weeks when they become pullets and cockerels. After they mature and start laying eggs the females become known as hens.

We have been reading The Kellerstrass way of raising poultry by Ernest Kellerstrass from 1910. Although the book is old but chickens have not changed so it contains lots of good information. I would like to find a copy/ebook of “The Kellerstrass Way of building poultry houses brooder houses incubator cellars coops and appliances.” but it is out of print, I have not been able to find a copy other than one from Australia on Amazon for $418.

I also have been reading Chicken Raising Made Easy by Paul W. Chapman, both of these books recommend getting the best chickens available. That having quality genes is of the highest priority. These guys spent $500 or more on their first chicken, in 1910 dollars. which adjusted for inflation would be over $10,000 today. We may not be able to afford that nice of a chicken but we are looking for a quality breeder that can and will send chicks to Hawaii.