Hey There, Hi There, Ho There

Hello All,

Glad to be joining. I've used the site in ghost mode for several weeks and decided to finally "take the plunge" and sign up. My wife, kids and I recently moved back to my small hometown on 10 acres and are starting our flock. I had a flock of Barred Rocks as a kid but haven't had a flock in about 25 years. We are having a lot of fun so far and my kids (okay, me too) are learning a lot as we raise our chicks. We decided to go with a mix of breeds for our flock since my wife loves the variety of colors and my kids are excited by the different egg colors. We currently have 60 chicks, from 1 week - 6 weeks in age, we (okay me mostly) couldn't resist adding a few more every time we went to the feed store. The breeds we have are

7 - Black Laced Gold Wyandotte pullets
2 - Blue Laced Red Wyandotte - cockerels
5 - Black Laced Silver Wyandotte - straight run
7 - Gold Sex Link pullets
6 - Black Sex Link pullets
4 - Easter Eggers straight run
4 - Welsummer straight run
3 - Silver Leghorn - straight run
4 - Buff Orpington - straight run
3 - Barnvelders - straight run
14 - Barred Rocks - straight run (8 known cockerels)
1 - Silver Pencil Rock - pullet

I'm planning to keep 2-3 roosters depending on how many hens we end up with. The rest will head to the freezer in a few months or possibly be sold/traded. We'd like to get a few other breeds (colors) specifically Columbian Wyandottes and Speckled Sussex but that will probably wait until next year.

I think I've rambled enough for now... lol

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! Oh wow it sure does seem chicken math has taken you over! Your sure can't help getting more and more!! It happens to us all so you are not alone. Those are some lovely breeds that you have there. Wishing you the very best of luck with your flock in the future.
Be sure to ask any questions, everyone here to help and very friendly.

Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat

Hi and welcome to BYC - glad that you have joined us. I'm sure that you and the rest of the family will love your chicken-keeping adventure - I'd love to have the space to keep so many chickens!

You may wish to consider joining your state thread as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area - just type the name of your state in the search box.

All the best
CT

What a nice mix of chicken breeds you have!

Thanks for joining us!

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

You really LOVE chickens. I think you are going to need a large, large coop to house them all. Have you checked out the coops section above? I guess it would be quite an imposition to ask to see photos of your birds. A few pics would be nice though.

My whole family is really enjoying them, the kids are jumping right in with their care. I have been going thru the coop section, that's actually what led me to the site. I'm still in the planning stage for my final coop (chicks are currently growing out in a re-purposed storage building for right now). I intend to have about 225 square feet in the coop. Although the flock will free range for the most part I will be adding a large run onto the coop as well. I'll try to take a few pictures this evening.

I'm glad you decided to join.

These are the Easter Eggers


One of the Barred Rocks, 2 of the Barnvelders, 1 Gold Sex Link and another alleged GSL that I believe is a roo and possibly a White Rock.


One of the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes.

Nobody else felt like cooperating for the camera tonight lol