For years I have been wanting to get some chickens and today I got 6 of them. They are a week old and 3 are Pullets and the other 3 are Straight Run as described by the lady at Tractor Supply. For the next few weeks I will house them in my garage which is temperature controlled and I have a heating light on them. Once the temps are constantly above freezing and into the mid 40s I will bring them into our tool shed and eventually I will build a coop. Looking forward to the new venture. Anyone else into this hobby? Frank
Oh yeah. We've had chickens since '07. At our peak in '10, we had abound 50. We hover around 20 now. Much more manageable. We're getting a dozen eggs a day right now; give or take.
Awww...I'll be there in about a week... I've still got four of my original flock, I added 4 last weekend. I'm hoping to get another 10 babies started... They grow so fast, enjoy them.... PS... theres a good thread that papadave started call Eggs...
They are a lot of fun, I have been in the chicken hobby for about six years. Started with 25 mail order (one day old chicks) and have had a blast raising and watching the girls. I call them "little cultavators" when I let them out of the coop they head straight to the garden for insect control. Which they are very good at, not an insect one makes it past their eyes. They require very little work after they are grown and most have a personality of their own. Good luck with your new girls.
They are great! Like Uncle Joe we used to have 50-70 but since went down to about 20. Man will they keep your place bug free! They would eat anything and there was a very noticeable decline in our bug population. They really loved scorpions for some reason... We let them roam during daylight hours but lost a bunch to predators, so now they are in chicken jail. One tip for in the garden, don't throw them any veggie scraps, they will quickly learn that they are yummy and easier to get than bugs. The other thing is do not show fear to roosters! ever! If he comes at you kick him like a soccer ball... It's even better if after that you do your best rooster crow. He'll crow and you follow him with another crow but louder. Your letting him know that you are the top of the pecking order.
If you're going to let them free range, you'll want to be careful with names for the kids to get attached to. Sooner or later a predator is going to get a free range chicken. We lost nearly 30 in one year until I started popping off fox. We had one of those roosters. He would lunge at me every time I went in to feed. One day I was walking back towards the house and he attacked me from behind. I quickly turned around to face him and he came at me again. He got a size 10 right in the chest, flew about 20' and didn't move. I thought I'd killed him. I walked over and nudged him with my boot. He jumped up and ran away. Never had a problem after that.
We got our first flock from TSC too and got a lot of eggs from them. Don't be surprised if you get a rooster or two from the straight run chicks. We got a rooster with our first chicks and he was NOT a nice guy. They grow up fast, so you might want to get started on that coop.
Our rooster would go for blood every time he got the chance, didn't matter how hard I kicked him...or hit him with a broom stick. He was tough as nails and twice as mean.
Yup. He tore a hole in my jeans and put a small scratch on my calf. KatwillNY don't lets us get you nervous with our war stories. 99% of the birds we've had over the years were easy going and fun to have around. But there's always that 1% and with young kids around you'll need watch for it. If you do happen to get a rooster like we've described, name him "Dinner" .
You don't need a rooster. I wouldn't put up with aggressive behavior esp. if kids are around. My son has a flock. No roosters allowed. His birds get along just fine with the kids. I agree, put the rooster in the roaster.
I had a mean a$$ rooster once. He would come after me, the kids and anything else. I gave him the boot a couple times. Best thing to ever happen to him was something got him. I grew to like him though. I like to think whatever got him had to work a little for it and that he might have helped save the girls.
As above don't panic about the roosters. We've had at least 20 of them over the years. Only one was overly aggressive. He never bothered us but he terrorized our beagle. We had to Craigslist him. I too think that roosters help protect our free range flock.
Personally I keep a couple roosters around. They will intervene if a predator threatens the girls. But I also keep roosters because we have a couple hens that get broody around May/June. If they're going to sit on eggs I want them to hatch and give us fresh birds.
I keep about 20 layers and process 250 or more meaties a year, too. This year I may double the meat birds though. I converTed an old she'd into a coop for the layers and use the electric net fence for the meaties.
I just ordered 60 Cornish cross and 6 replacement layers to make the shipping quota from Moyerschicks.com