Howdy from northern NM!!!

Hi everyone! Melanie here, love the forums! Have been reading the site for weeks and finally joined. Tons of great information on this site, more than others.

I've never raised chickens before but my husband supports all my new and weird hobbies and built me a coop. After a few sleepless nights of planning, I placed my very first order from Meyers this week and my chicks are due to arrive first of March!

I never realized you could buy livestock through the mail, but this is 2016. Seemed kinda in humane at first then I realized everyone around here purchased theirs the same way. So hoping for a box of live, healthy chicks! Have a large brooder ready to go for them, just waiting on a heat plate and of course the babies!

I may have over exceeded my chicken farming ability starting off with 15 but I guess if your gonna do something go BIG or go home lol I am running out of room with this whole "backyard farming" I really need to bat my eyelashes and see if we can buy more property haha

I have 2 little girls, ages 1.5 and 4. They LOVE animals and eat eggs like crazy!!! So this just may be something that we can enjoy for years.

Since they are so young I researched and spoke to many people about calm friendly breeds so I ordered what I thought would work for us. Another plus to ordering from an online hatchery and not Tractor Supply. Ordered all female for now. Maybe someday I will be brave enough to get a roo and hatch our own chicks!

Anyways, hope to meet several of you and learn from those who have been there done that

Welcome to BYC, Melanie. Glad you decided to join our flock. A lot of us were lurkers before joining. ) Sounds like you are already the victim of "chicken math." Very few BYC members are immune to it. ) 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.

Hello Melanie!

Welcome to BYC and the coop! There's a lot of great peeps here! Feel free to ask lots of questions. But most of all, make yourself at home. I'm so glad you decided to join the BYC family. I look forward to seeing you around BYC.

Hi Melanie and welcome to BYC - great to have you onboard. All the best with your new chickens but i think you may have to do a little more than flash your eyelashes in order to get a bigger place in the future

All the best
CT

Hi Melanie,

What breed of chicks are you getting? If you haven't thought of it yet, be sure to notify your PO a few days prior to arrival and let them know you are expecting live birds (and give them your phone number). It wouldn't hurt to mention it to your postal carrier too. Ask them to hold the chicks there at the office and call you as soon as they arrive so you can pick them up. That will save the chicks from bouncing around inside the carriers vehicle all day as they make their deliveries. When you get to the PO, open the box of chicks in front of them; hopefully they all make the trip safely but if you do have a casualty, you'll have a witness that it was DOA. Then call the hatchery right away and let them know so they can refund or replace any you've lost.

Have their brooder ready and warming up with the heat lamp before you pick up the chicks. When you get them home, dip their beaks one at a time into the water and feed so they'll know to start eating and drinking.

Good luck & if you have questions, always feel free to ask!

so glad you have joined us.

Sounds like you have done your homework and are ready for your newbies to arrive.

NorthFlChick has given you some great advice.

Here's youtube video you might find helpful:
Do watch each for pasty butt for the first week - IMO more common than I had expected - but easy to deal with.

NorthFLChick said:

Hi Melanie,

What breed of chicks are you getting? If you haven't thought of it yet, be sure to notify your PO a few days prior to arrival and let them know you are expecting live birds (and give them your phone number). It wouldn't hurt to mention it to your postal carrier too. Ask them to hold the chicks there at the office and call you as soon as they arrive so you can pick them up. That will save the chicks from bouncing around inside the carriers vehicle all day as they make their deliveries. When you get to the PO, open the box of chicks in front of them; hopefully they all make the trip safely but if you do have a casualty, you'll have a witness that it was DOA. Then call the hatchery right away and let them know so they can refund or replace any you've lost.

Have their brooder ready and warming up with the heat lamp before you pick up the chicks. When you get them home, dip their beaks one at a time into the water and feed so they'll know to start eating and drinking.

Good luck & if you have questions, always feel free to ask!

Click to expand...

Melanie,
Welcome to BYC! Great to have you with us. NorthFL gave great advice about the PO, definitely let them know.

Hello there Melanie.

With a new coop, yep you need some new chickens. And it's
something the entire family can enjoy together. Chicken farming
is a blast.

Buying livestock through the mail, you've never heard of it? Big
thing around here. The chickens aren't too bad, but the postman hates
it when we start ordering our cows and pigs for the spring.

Enjoy your time here, enjoy your chickens and more that that, enjoy
your family.

Spook

I ordered a mixed flock of Barnevelders, Speckled Sussex, Buff Orps, partridge rocks, golden laced wyandottes, and Salmon Faverolles. Then there is a surprise "Meyer meal maker". They will all be for egg laying but will be our pets as well.

We do have a lot of large Hawks in our area and tons of coons, skunks and foxes. Coyotes don't ever come too close to the house.

Thank you all for the warm welcomes!!! I will definitely go talk to our PO and give them a heads up! I live only 5 min away from the PO so I can watch for the truck maybe.

I will watch for the pasty butt! Very excited to say the least! Cannot wait to see them and make sure they are ok.

Spookwriter said:

Hello there Melanie.

With a new coop, yep you need some new chickens. And it's
something the entire family can enjoy together. Chicken farming
is a blast.

Buying livestock through the mail, you've never heard of it? Big
thing around here. The chickens are too bad, but the postman hates
it when we start ordering our cows and pigs for the spring.

Enjoy your time here, enjoy your chickens and more that that, enjoy
your family.

Spook

Click to expand...

No I hadn't! I never looked into it before now Ive always wanted too but had to wait until our kids were Little older.
We may end up with pigs eventually for 4H.

Just figured we would buy them locally at a feed store not thinking of how they acquired them. After talking to the employees at those places though I had to order my own.