New Member Intro From Utah

My wife and I bought our first chickens at the end of March 2016. We are brand new to raising chickens. We've never raised chickens before.

Before we bought our chickens we checked with our city and found out that we can have up to 6 hens and our coop can not be larger than 120 sq ft. I found one on sale that holds 6 to 8 chickens and put it together before we bought the chicks. We bought our chicks at farm & ranch supply store in town and the woman that helped us informed us that they needed to be kept inside in a brood box with a heat lamp until they are big enough to go outside.

We bought the chicks on a Friday and kept them in a plastic tub. The next day I bought some plywood and build a 3 ft by 4 ft by 2ft tall brood box and moved it into a bed room that is not being used the next day. We are so new and so uninformed to raising chickens that I didn't know that I had to keep them inside and warm. Fortunately I like woodworking so building the brood box wasn't a problem.

This last week (the 2nd week of June) it not only got warm enough but it got hot during the day so yesterday we moved our chickens into the coop last night when I got home from work. They were totally freaked out over this move.

We bought 3 white leghorns and we cannot tell them apart so we haven't named them, 1 Rhode Island Red which we obviously name Rhoda and 2 Barred Rocks. We used names from the 1974 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail and named them Zoot and Dingo from the two twin sisters from the scene at the Castle Anthrax. Yes, I know. That makes me a geek but in my defense I am a software developer so I am a geek by profession, a professional geek.

In addition to chickens I am also a beekeeper. This is the start of my 4th year beekeeping. I have 3 beehives.

I hope to learn a lot here on this site. It looks amazing.

Thanks,
Robert

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

BantamFan4Life said:

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

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Thanks

Hello I am Angel. Thank you for letting me join!

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Congrats on your new birds! It can take some time to be able to tell them apart. But each chicken has it's own face and comb design. You can even use some food coloring and color code each one with a dot on the head of a different color. Go sit with them each day and you will see differences and they will get to know you. Leghorns can be a bit high strung, so you may need to work with them.

Enjoy your flock and welcome to ours!

TwoCrows said:

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Congrats on your new birds! It can take some time to be able to tell them apart. But each chicken has it's own face and comb design. You can even use some food coloring and color code each one with a dot on the head of a different color. Go sit with them each day and you will see differences and they will get to know you. Leghorns can be a bit high strung, so you may need to work with them.

Enjoy your flock and welcome to ours!

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My wife wondered about using food coloring on the chickens. She was afraid that the other chickens might peck at those dots.

I can tell the leghorns are high strung. They are the most aggressive of the group. They frequently raise up their feathers and face each other off.

Here is a concern as a newbie to chicken raising. We just put them outside yesterday because they had gotten big and it was warm enough. I must not have been paying attention to the weather forecast because today it is pouring rain.

The chickens are dry in the coop but this has to be freaking them out a whole lot. Is this going to be a problem?

Also I think one of my Barred Rocks is a rooster. That one is bigger than all of the others and has a full comb while the others barely have a comb. I am not sure what to do with a rooster. There is a city ordinance against owning roosters and that also means one less chicken producing eggs. I suppose I can find a farmer who raises chickens and see if they want a rooster.

Yesterday morning that chicken was squawking louder than I had ever heard any of them squawk. It wasn't the sound of a rooster crowing but it was loud. This was before we moved them outside and they were in the basement. None of the other chickens ever squawked that loud.

Abbey Normal said:

Here is a concern as a newbie to chicken raising. We just put them outside yesterday because they had gotten big and it was warm enough. I must not have been paying attention to the weather forecast because today it is pouring rain.

The chickens are dry in the coop but this has to be freaking them out a whole lot. Is this going to be a problem?

Also I think one of my Barred Rocks is a rooster. That one is bigger than all of the others and has a full comb while the others barely have a comb. I am not sure what to do with a rooster. There is a city ordinance against owning roosters and that also means one less chicken producing eggs. I suppose I can find a farmer who raises chickens and see if they want a rooster.

Yesterday morning that chicken was squawking louder than I had ever heard any of them squawk. It wasn't the sound of a rooster crowing but it was loud. This was before we moved them outside and they were in the basement. None of the other chickens ever squawked that loud.

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If you put just a small dot right behind the comb, they shouldn't see it and bother each other. Get the dot right up under the comb there and keep it small.

You can leave the coop door open during rain and give them the option to go out in it, or stay in. Most chickens dislike rain and won't go out, but at least they don't feel cooped up and can see for themselves that it is indeed raining.

If your Barred Rock turns out to be a rooster, which it sounds like may be, you could always try and rehome him. Roosters don't rehome well since most people want hens. But you can place an ad (its free) in our Buy Sell and Trade section... https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/16182/animals-in-need-of-free-re-homing

You can also put up a flyer at feed stores. Some of them do have bulletin boards where you could leave a flyer about your boy.

And if all fails, you might try the "no crow" rooster collar. It is humane, a soft velcro held wrap that goes around his neck. It won't stop him from crowing, but it muffles the sound of his crow. Many people have had good luck with these collars.... http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Chicken-Supplies/No-Crow-Rooster-Collar-p1580.aspx

Good luck with your flock!

Nice to meet you Robert. I used to be a Monty Python fan as well and remember seeing "The Life of Brian." at the movies. If you've got questions, the Learning Center has tons of answers.