Author Topic: Got my first chickens today! (Read 1767 times)

loyalty4eva · « **on:** August 15, 2012, 08:56:08 PM »

Well today I picked up 7 hens from a local farmer. The gold star & long island reds are doing fine in their new place after a hour drive home they layed 2 eggs with in the first hour! I couldnt beleave it most of the time ive heard chickens take 2-3 days to start laying again they go into a molting phase but no this didnt happen. They were free range birds they just ran around the guys farm 100% of the time and once in a while he would put them in the coop for some eggs. They now have a nice big coop about 8 feet by 8 feet with about 100 square feet of out door room to run around in. I want to get a few more hens and possably around spring get a rooster or two and get some babys going.

Well I just had to share my good news with everyone this is so fun! Ill post pics when i get some in the computer.

16onRockandRoll · « **Reply #1 on:** August 15, 2012, 09:21:25 PM »

Awesome! Our pair have become a bright spot in our backyard. Chickens are a great addition to a homestead. Ours run up to us now to get petted. Never seen chickens do that.

Sweethearts Mom · « **Reply #2 on:** August 15, 2012, 11:05:37 PM »

Yay I am very excited for you. I love chickens

zackandjen2004 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 16, 2012, 09:15:26 AM »

Poultry parenthood is awesome. Just brought home another batch from the post office this morning.

loyalty4eva · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2012, 08:42:52 PM »

post office you say? How does that work? Ive always heard people getting them from local farmers or a local hatchery.

TexDaddy · « **Reply #5 on:** August 16, 2012, 10:26:28 PM »

You can get chicks mail order from places like http://www.healthychicksandmore.com/

(This is just an example, not a recommendation.)

rikkrack · « **Reply #6 on:** August 17, 2012, 08:06:47 AM »

Congrats. We got ours about this year last time. They are great. More entertaining than TV. Our kids now are more eager to eat fruits and vegetables because the want to rush out and give the chickens the apple cores or watermelon rinds and watch them go to town. We ended up getting a rooster this year so we can start having chicks. People who can’t believe we have chickens in the suburbs come check them out and leave wanting some of their own. We have given away a bunch of ours and then replace with new and different breeds.

Our favorite are the Cochin. Our kids call them the “fuzzy feet ones”. When they run through the grass they almost skip. Cracks us up.

Sweethearts Mom · « **Reply #7 on:** August 17, 2012, 08:57:44 PM »

I want some cochins too

rikkrack · « **Reply #8 on:** August 17, 2012, 09:37:07 PM »

We have Cochin, amaracuna, autstratharp, Orpington, and island rock. We have 8 cochin hens and two Cochin Roos. Maybe we can get ya some if the ladies hatch any.

Prepper Recon · « **Reply #9 on:** August 17, 2012, 11:25:43 PM »

Congratulations! I am looking forward to getting chickens or rabbits soon. I have a lot of racoons in my area, does any one know if they will kill chickens?

loyalty4eva · « **Reply #10 on:** August 18, 2012, 01:42:28 AM »

Yes racoons will kill chickens.

So my new chickens are trying to escape the chicken coop guys. They were free range completly around the farm I got them from they now dig around the outside area of the outer coop fence area. I even built up the sides orignaly about a foot high it is now 2 inches deep on the sides its only been what 2 days. Does anyone know if this is just a phase because they were free range and they were used to digging for their food or if they will do this forever because that is what they were used to. I know chickens do this but they are only doing it on the sides not the middle.

zackandjen2004 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 18, 2012, 03:50:43 PM »

A chicken is a rototiller that eats and poops.

I don't know if they have the intellect to think: "If I dig around the edges, I can dig OUT!" My chickens dig wherever the soil moves below their feet--on ANYTHING soft, actually. They love to excavate holes for dustbathing.

16onRockandRoll · « **Reply #12 on:** August 18, 2012, 08:25:09 PM »

Especially in raised beds

loyalty4eva · « **Reply #13 on:** August 20, 2012, 07:59:07 AM »

haha ok. I just thought it was wierd that parts wernt dug out but the edges were.

rikkrack · « **Reply #14 on:** August 20, 2012, 09:06:45 AM »

Quote

A chicken is a rototiller that eats and poops.

Love this, and it is so true. I never turn my compost anymore. The chickens do it for me. Although they also scatter it ALL over the yard. I just have to rake it back in every couple of days. Better yet, it already has the "nitrogen" dropped all over it. Rake it up and done.

We noticed something this year we haven't in any other. As we dig new beds or add new plants, we haven't seen a single grub. Before our yard was littered with them.

Chickens...The multitool of the homestead...there are not JUST for eating any more.

Sweethearts Mom · « **Reply #15 on:** August 20, 2012, 07:43:44 PM »

My free range chickens don't dig. However my grannys 1 acre chicken run looked like a mine field. Maybe it is a boredom thing?

loyalty4eva · « **Reply #16 on:** August 20, 2012, 08:02:49 PM »

I don't beleave it to ever be for boredom. They love insects a lot. In fact we had a grasshopper come in the pen and about 5 of them jumped for it while it was in the air and one got it and pecked it like twice and down the hatch.

loyalty4eva · « **Reply #17 on:** August 21, 2012, 05:51:53 PM »

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loyalty4eva · « **Reply #18 on:** August 21, 2012, 05:55:46 PM »

carolc · « **Reply #19 on:** October 26, 2012, 10:25:49 PM »

We got our chicks last April for the first time and it's been a fun learning experience. They now come running, sometimes from the back fence area, which makes us laugh every time, when my husband goes out and rattles the bag of dried mealworms, which they devour. And as it gets dark, they jump up and roost on the top of the coop and wait for usually him to physically pick them up and put them in the upper closed part of it. Maybe we spoil them, "putting them to bed", but it's what they expect now.

JLMissouri · « **Reply #20 on:** October 28, 2012, 09:18:52 PM »

We tried to have a compost pile, but anymore we just throw our scraps in the yard. You cannot even tell where the compost pile is suppose to be unless we put the rare item that the chickens don't eat. I think chickens should be the first critter considered for a homestead, a good dog a close second.

Torch · « **Reply #21 on:** October 31, 2012, 10:25:49 AM »

Good looking birds, congrats.

If you don't mind a bit of advice, you should hang your feeder. I'd hang it about shoulder height. This will protect it from poop and most insects.

Enjoy!

desertmarine · « **Reply #22 on:** October 31, 2012, 10:49:40 AM »

The only reason I would hang a feeder is if you're worried about mice or other critters getting into the coop and feed off of your chicken feed. If a mouse get in there and you have a hardy breed they should kill it and eat it. It is chicken are carnivores and love to eat meat.

Secondly, again don't worry about insect. Again chickens eat them for protein and other nutritional benefits. The more insects the better.

Desert Marine

11 Bravo · « **Reply #23 on:** October 31, 2012, 11:26:27 AM »

I don't think a mouse would last very long around chickens. I was shocked the first time I saw one of my chicken with a live frog in its mouth, running across the yard, with the other 6 hens in hot pursuit.

Torch · « **Reply #24 on:** November 09, 2012, 04:16:22 PM »

During the day, yes. But unless my chickens are weird they shut down at night and don't pay much heed to mice and bugs.

BaldDragn · « **Reply #25 on:** November 09, 2012, 05:07:58 PM »

I had the worst case of voles this year. In the early evening they would scamper all over the chicken's area. The good part was as soon as I started shooting them (from the porch) the chickens would jump down from the roost, if it wasn't too late in the evening, and clean up the mess. The bigger voles needed to be parted out so the chickens could swallow them, but it was great fun for everybody... but the voles.

Right now my chickens are enjoying the free leftovers from a big post-Halloween pumpkin shoot. I tossed the pieces from 100 big pumpkins onto a big pile of wood chips that the chickens already spread out for me. They don't seem to care much for the pumpkin, but boy do the love the bugs that try to gather on the pumpkin.

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Author Topic: Got my first chickens today! (Read 1767 times)