Hey Y'all

Hello from SE Georgia!
I am a first time chicken mama. Got my nine chicks home this past Tuesday. I luckily have a good friend that hatched some eggs for me, however, due to an incubator malfunction only 6 of the 15 hatch, and one of the 6 died shortly after hatching with an unabsorbed yolk sac. Since I wanted more than that and the feed store had two breeds that I really really wanted I grabbed 4 more, they were only one day older than my other chicks, and have blended well.

I have been getting information from this site for the last 6 months before I decided to jump in with both feet, thank you all!

My flock is currently in their brooder on the back porch (which is enclosed). I will be assembling my coop and run over the next few weeks. This will only be temporary housing because we will be relocating in less than a year. For the run I will be using a 10X10 foot chain link dog kennel, I will be using chicken wire to make it more secure, and I haven't figured out how I will cover it yet. For the coop, I will be getting an old coop from a neighbors father (I have no clue what it looks like or the condition it is in) and/or my brother has been saving pallets for me from work. That way if the coop needs repairs or is unusable I can build something that can be used for the time being.

I have my fingers crossed that all my chicks are ladies (wishful thinking, I know) but, at what age will I know for sure which are roosters? I haven't decided yet if we will keep a rooster, but we will NOT be keeping more than one. So... If I have more than one, what age would be best to butcher them (are roosters even good to eat)? I am not exactly looking forward to culling any of the chick that I already adore, but life is life.

But here is my flock:

My two Americauna



"Stripes" my (I think) Black Silkie X RIR mix


My two Black Copper Marans chicks "Copper" (left) "Killa" (right)


My three (I think) Light Brahma X Black Silkie mixes. "Ginger" (top) is the only one that has five toes!




"Molly" the Millie Fluers X (unknown) bantam mix, pictures with one of the Americauna chicks to show her size (I refer to them all as "her" for good luck, lol)

You normally can't start to sex them until they are around 8-10 weeks old, sometimes you can't even be sure until they are much older. When they are around 8-10 weeks you can start a thread in the What Breed Or Gender is This? forum, we would be happy to help . Be sure to ask if you have any questions! Good luck on your chicken raising adventure!

You can post your chick photos at "what breed or gender is this," when they are 6 weeks old. If you know they are mixed(not purebred) mention what mix like Silkie x cochin or whatever. So they will take into account the features of both. You have some beautiful babies.

Hello!

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. You chicks are so adorable! I absolutely love Molly giving the stink-eye.

Hi and welcome to BYC. You have some good advice already, but if i may, i'd suggest using hardware cloth rather than chicken wire - chicken wire keeps chickens in, but does not keep predators out. The Coop section and "coops and runs" forum may give you ideas once you see the state of your coop.

All the best

CT