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I am again contemplating the idea of getting some hens to give us eggs. I'm thinking if I do the research and get the coop built now, I can buy the chicks next spring when the feed store has chick days. With planning a wedding, now is not the time to jump in with wings flapping! Who else has hens? Any pointers or resources you would recommend? I do know several families in the area with backyard chickens whom I plan to learn from.
__________________ ~Mary~"Marmee" to Tiffany(27, Married to Bill. Mommy to Karabeth- born 8/07), Christina(24), Heather(22, Married to Bryce. Mommy to Bryce Eric, born 3/09, and Conlan James,born 9/15/10), Ashlee(19), & Rebecca Joy(14)
I want chickens so bad! Again, I can't right now since we are in on base housing I hope at our next duty station to be able to find a house with some land off base since we will be there for so long.
homesteadrevival.blogspot.com is a blog I read and she had some pretty good advice for raising chickens on there!
i have hens! theyre fun. i dont really have any pointers aside from definitely let them free roam often. after eating my organically raised and fed and free-range chicken eggs for years, i tried store-bought eggs. they tasted..bad.
also, i dont know if rats are a problem in your area, but protect your chickens from them.. dont let them have any chance of getting in the coop or cage and if they free-roam, try to exterminate the rats.. chickens get salmonella from infected rat feces.
i havent seen any rats but how would i get rid of them if i did?
my ladies are half free roaming - they have a huge outside run (kinda like their own yard) to go into cause our yard is not fenced and we dont want them to get harmed. they go in and out of the coop everyday. (dh will be making them their own special door when he returns from florida from the meetings. until then i let them in/out as much as possible). ours are organic also and they really do taste sooo much better!
Thanks for the tips! After I get past this wedding, I'll kick it into gear and start planning for spring!
__________________ ~Mary~"Marmee" to Tiffany(27, Married to Bill. Mommy to Karabeth- born 8/07), Christina(24), Heather(22, Married to Bryce. Mommy to Bryce Eric, born 3/09, and Conlan James,born 9/15/10), Ashlee(19), & Rebecca Joy(14)
We have 26 chickens! lol We live on 5 acres, and our "yard" is about an acre that they free range on, plus about 1/2 an acre of woods that they love to hang out in. Ours are just starting to lay (we just moved here in March). We had one that was laying beautiful large blue/green eggs every day, but once the days shortened she stopped completely. We have one that is laying small brown eggs every day to two days. Just a warning, though...YOUR eggs will taste completely different than store bought eggs. They have a much stronger flavor, and for some people (ME) it takes some getting used to. Once you do, though, you won't be able to go back to store bought. lol
They are SO much fun! All of them have names, and they all have their own personalities. I love going out to talk to them, and just watch them out in the yard.
I also suggest not getting straight run (not sexed, random pick) from a feed store, but instead ordering all females from a hatchery. We got straight run the first time, and ended up with all males and only one female! Most of the time, with straight run, you are more likely to get males, unfortunately. I get my chicks from Meyer Hatchery. They are fairly inexpensive, but their shipping prices are confusing.
Backyardchickens dot com is a VERY good resource, and their forum is very helpful. They have a lot of people that know a lot about chickens, so if you ever run into trouble or need a question asked, there is always someone there that will have an answer for you. Some people are rude and judgemental, but you will run into that type anywhere. Most of them, though, are nice and have no problem answering even the silliest questions. I know I have asked my fair share. LOL I had never been around chickens before my own, so I had no clue about a lot of things. hehe
Good luck! You'll love having chickens!
__________________
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Thanks for all the info Kara! I babysat for a woman the other night that just got chickens and I spent the evening reading her book about building chicken coops. I'd really like to let them roam free during the day, but don't know if cats would be a problem. I want to avoid losing all the grass in a pen if that's all they have to peck around in. I'm still researching, between wedding planning and life!
__________________ ~Mary~"Marmee" to Tiffany(27, Married to Bill. Mommy to Karabeth- born 8/07), Christina(24), Heather(22, Married to Bryce. Mommy to Bryce Eric, born 3/09, and Conlan James,born 9/15/10), Ashlee(19), & Rebecca Joy(14)
Well, we definitely know that our husky(ies) will not be "used to chickens" to where they can roam on the land as Storm just ate one the other day (our friends are dog sitting and they have chickens).
ooooo.... but you can't blame a dog for behaving like a dog! The good thing about chickens is that they are inexpensive to start with. The bad part is waiting for them to get big/mature enough to give eggs. hahaha I just remembered my father-in-law always called eggs "hen-fruit". That was a good memory!
__________________ ~Mary~"Marmee" to Tiffany(27, Married to Bill. Mommy to Karabeth- born 8/07), Christina(24), Heather(22, Married to Bryce. Mommy to Bryce Eric, born 3/09, and Conlan James,born 9/15/10), Ashlee(19), & Rebecca Joy(14)
