Long time chicken lover, first time chicken momma!

Hello fellow chicken lovers!

I am new (obviously). I have been coveting other peoples chickens for a long time now but I finally got my first baby chicks this past weekend. I got 4 chicks. Hopefully most, if not all, are female since I can't have roosters where I live. I am told they are "Easter Egger/Ameraucana" and that they should lay green eggs as they all hatched out of green eggs... We shall see!
We currently have the chicks inside in a plastic bin (pics below). Hopefully we can finish the coop before they outgrow their current living quarters. Once they go outside they will share their run with our rabbits. We only have a 1/3 acre lot, but we have a large garden and are in the process of building a greenhouse. I plan to grow/raise as much food (for us and the animals) as possible. My partner and I are on a mission to obtain self-sufficiency. We currently live in Florida but are looking for land in the NC mountains and plan to make the move in the next few years.
In addition to the rabbits and chickens, I have 2 dogs (one is a foster) and 2 cats. One of my cats has decided she is the house chick-sitter; a title one of my dogs is runner up for. The first thing he wants to do in the morning is check the baby peeps... I just hope he doesn't think they are toys or food...

Anyhow, I have been doing a lot of research while I waited for the right time to get chicks. A lot of the learning I have done occurred while combing through the forums here. So, I figured the next step was to join and stop being a lurker!

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

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! Congratulations on your new chicks I'm sure you are going to enjoy this new adventure very much, they are lots of fun to raise. Your chicks are adorable and I love your pics! The learning centre has some fab articles on raising chicks that I'm sure you would find most helpful. Her is the link ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Wishing you the very best of luck with your new chicks. Be sure to ask any questions, everyone here to help and very friendly.
Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat

Cute birds, thanks for the photos!

If you would like to 'meet' other members in FL, come say hello on our state thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/305793/florida-always-sunny-side-up

Have fun with the chicks!

Hi and Welcome to Backyard chickens. Love all the chick photos.

Thank you all for a warm welcome! The baby peeps are spending their first night outside tonight. I am nervous but I am sure they will be fine. I am starting to think that I have 2 females and 2 males. Is it possible (though I understand unlikely) that I could tell when they are this young (less than 3 weeks)? The ones I think are males are slightly larger, have different combs and larger feet.....
I read through a lot of the Easter Egger sexing thread and have gathered that generally they need to be much older to tell.
I have been making an effort to handle them as often as possible.
They willingly eat out of my hand but still scream like crazy when I pick them up. I have been taking them on field trips outside to the bunny run (/future chicken run) for a few days and they love scratching and picking around. Catching them after to put them back in their box is quite the challenge. It's amazing that they just know what to do even with no momma hen around... I offered them worms today but they weren't sure what to make of it so I put the worms back in the worm bin before they escaped. They ate a strawberry top the other day but weren't interested in pieces of homemade bread.

Hi and welcome to BYC - great photos of your chicks - thanks for those. I hope that your chicks are fine after their first night out!

All the best
CT