SunnyDayFarm

We are planning on getting chickens this spring. My sister has had chickens and we helped “babysit” them from time to time. Norfolk will allow up to 6 chickens and we are considering Ameraucana/Easter Egg (for the egg color) and Rhode Island Reds (my sister had these and we loved them). Both breeds live well in this area – We were concerned about our hot and humid summers.

I learned about BYC.com through my sister and have been reading posts for two months. I am really interested in gardening and am planning a coop with a green/living. So I have gotten lots of good ideas from BYC already – Thanks!

I am from PA and my wife is from CA. We met at school and have lived in Pennsylvania, Israel, and northern Alaska before we moved to Norfolk, VA. We have 2 children, a cat, a bird, a goldfish pond, and 2 bee hives. Our plan is to build the run around the bee hives to take advantage of the chickens eating the beetles and moths that plague bee hives in this area.

I am a high school special education teacher and my wife works at the Norfolk Zoo. We are involved in our civic league, church activities, and our kid’s school activities.

Welcome to BYC! Fill free to hang around the Gardening section on BYC lots of helpful people there.My Easter eggers do fine in the summer and lay beautiful eggs.You probaly wont get Ameraucanas they are very rare.Most stores will label Easter eggers under Ameraucanas.Hope you have a wonderful time here

Greetings from Kansas, SunnyDayFarm, and welcome to BYC! Great to have you aboard. Have you visited the Learning Center yet? It is chock full of information you will find useful with your spring chickens. Here's the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
Also, if you'd like to chat with fellow VA poultry folks, find the Virginia thread in this link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you
Best wishes and thanks for joining BYC!

Regarding your concern about hot/humid climates the RIR will do just fine but if you supply enough cool water and places where they can get under shade, even the EEs should be okay. There are many tips and tricks you can use on hot days such as letting them eat some frozen vegetables like peas so that it cools them as the nibble or putting bottles of ice into their water dishes so that it keeps them cool for longer times. Water is key to getting them through the hot days so if you plan ahead for what you are going to do in order to keep them cool then you will succeed with chickens. Best wishes.

Thanks, everyone, we appreciate the welcome. I hadn't thought about the BYC-VA group, that will be great info.

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.

G’Day from down under SunnyDayFarm Welcome!

Thank you for the great introduction.

As you have already received some good links and advice, I will just add that I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun. Unlike non chicken loving friends, family and colleagues, BYC’ers never tire of stories or pictures that feature our feathered and non feathered friends

Great to have you

Gary from Idyllwild Ca here

It's nice to have you here!