Newbie in Wales in at the deep end!

Hi everyone.

My name is Mike and I've been chicken/duck/goose sitting for my neighbours for the last 3 years and finally decided to take the plunge with some of my own. The neighbours in question have lent us an incubator and provided 6 fertile (we hope) eggs to start off with. The incubator is coming up to temperature as I type.

Been pouring over the information on this wonderful site for a few weeks now so feel as ready as I'll ever be. Planning to build my brooder once we're sure that we have something to brood and then get started on the coop once we get that far. I plan to free-range as we live in the middle of nowhere but I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Over excited!

Looking forward to becoming part of the fraternity.

Cheers,
Mike

Hi Mike and welcome.

Good luck with your incubation. What breed of eggs have you got, or are they farmyard mutts and are they chickens or ducks?

Great that you have been able to "practice" being a poultry keeper before starting your own flock. Wonderful that you are able to free range. Although it can come with challenges and occasional heartache, seeing them out in the field enjoying the grass or turning over the manure heap for whatever bugs they can find helps you forget the odd sad loss to dogs or foxes.

Anyway, just wanted to say "Hello" and hope you have a successful hatch.

Best wishes

Barbara

Hi Mike,

Good luck with the egg hatching!

It's nice to have you here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Hi Mike and welcome to BYC. You're telling us it took 3 years of intermittent chicken sitting to catch the bug? - you have some serious immunity, but alas chicken keeping has won the day and that's great. It seems like you have exciting times ahead, and busy ones at that what with making a brooder and then a coop - sure to keep you out of mischief!

There's lots of resources here and the learning centre and coop forum should point you in the right direction, but if you need advice, then theres no better thing to do than whop a post out - there are so many helpful members here who are more than willing to share their experience with you.

If you are a rugby fan, like myself then I'm sure that you're looking forward to the weekend

All the best
CT

Thanks a million Barbara. I have two Bresse, two Silkie and two from my favourite hen "Mabel" who looks a bit Rhode Island Red but I'm not 100% sure. But since they've all been sired by a Bresse cock, I guess they're all just "farmyard mutts" to be honest.

Been wanting to do this for years so ridiculously excited but not counting my chickens... (sorry).

Thank you everyone for the well wishes. I'm a serial photo documenter so will probably post pics as I go along my journey.
Great to have a group of enthusiasts who are happy to answer the odd question and, of course, I'm lucky to ave my neighbours on hand should I need any urgent assistance.

Cheers,
Mike

Thats great Mike - we'll look forward to seeing your progress.

Cheers
CT

Oh yes.... we love looking at photos of peoples chickens and even more so with chicks.

Interesting that you have some Bresse. I was offered some by a friend but I was at full capacity at the time. I will be interested to see photos of them. Will you eat excess cockerels (I understand Bresse make good table birds) or have you not thought it through that far. I like the sound of Maybel.... you get some chickens that just have big personalities and find their way into your heart more than others. My favourite is a scruffy mutt that I bought from an auction for a fiver because no one would bid on her. She was supposed to be an Araucana and lay blue eggs but she lays pinkish tinted little eggs and she's sneaky about where she lays, so I always have an egg hunt, but she's a brilliant broody hen and a consistent layer when she's not rearing chicks. Really can't ask for anything more, but it's her quirky personality and moustache (she's not named Tasha for nothing) that really make her a star.

Anyway, good luck with the construction and look forward to seeing photos of some fluff balls in a few weeks.

Regards

Barbara

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

Welcome to BYC, Mike. Glad you decided to join our flock. If you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.