Western Massachusetts

Hey Fiddlehead- I live over the river in Leverett. Saw your add on CL. I started last year with some hatchery birds from the feed and seed,and today we just finished our first hatching from eggs through the BYC auction. Marans and Olive eggers. Things are going to get real interesting when these two dozen get bigger. I missed the chicken gathering last week in Westford. Kind of bummed that i forgot about it until it had passed. Would like to find the next nearby gathering. Good luck with those roosters, I can't fit any more in the coop, but I bet could find them a good home;)

Hey Fiddlehead,
I'm also in the Western Mass area not far from you... Montague Center (work over in UMass).

Since there's a beautiful trout stream behind my house I've been for a couple years raising Ducks and Geese (tried my hand at Guinea Fowls but those local Foxes really LOVED them just too much). NO chickens though, still have some bad memories from when I was really really young. One of my chores included feeding them in the mornings... <cough> spent a couple years with bloody ankles/knees and running from the roosters.

Set up my COOP and two pens for the flocks off the stream.

     

I pass your family's Leverett Sugar Shack every day on my way to work. During the last Flood I was sure it was going to be float away. Route 63 was barely passable as the water rushed across the road from the parking lot.  Anyway... Merry Meet.

Cheers, Jonathan (fagusabello)

Hey there Fiddlehead and other peeps!  I am also in WMass Blandford to be exact.  Nice to see others out here.

I looked through 12 pages to find a Western Mass thread, and here you are!  I'm in Easthampton, which is not all that far from most of you, and am happy to have found you.  First three Mass threads I found were all out by Boston, and I was starting to think I was the only one out this way.  This is my first year with chickens, and wanted to know if anyone who has done this through the winter before had any input about how the birds do through the winter months. I did find one person in Pittsfield, but this is her first year too. My coop is airtight (well it has a window but there are shutters for when it gets cold) and I wasnt sure if I'd need to run a heat lamp out there or something.  Anybody who has wintered through with their flock, I'd love some advice.

Oh, just saw this thread.  I'm not quite WMass, but very far west central (the Brookfields).  It is my first year with chickens too.

far west central gets the same weather I get here.  Let me know how yours do for the winter. Im trying to convince my dh that his truck will be safe outside for the winter if I move the chickens inside the garage. He's not going for it so far.

Hey! I dont live too far from you at all! Like 45 min..
Lucky, you live by Yankee Candle!!...