Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

Most of the New Yorkers on the forum are either from central, western or way upstate, NY. I'm looking to start a thread with those of us from the southern zone. Figure there might be a few of us chickenheads this far downstate. I'm in Putnam county and thought by starting from Dutchess county to all points south, we should be able to get some backyarders here to chat it up a bit.

Most of us in the lower tier have our own unique set of circumstances. Things like; smaller lots, restrictions, access to feeds and supplies, and weather patterns that are different from other parts of the state could bring us all together to help each other.

So, I'm starting this thread off to see if there is any interest within the forum members from this neck of the woods.

Hope you will join in and make this an active thread whereby we all can benefit. It would be nice to share a few laughs, shed a few tears, and try to figure out how to make it work from the place where upstate begins (according to NYC folks,) down to where the traffic gets way too heavy.


Thanks,
ChickenAl

We are getting quite a few friends on this thread and it is not easy to keep track of everyone's first name. So, we are adding this list of BYC nicknames (for those who want to be added) with first names next to them;

Smkchick - Suzanne
ChickenAl - Al
Magsrags - Maggie
chickendude - Rich
Thespoiledchicken - Trish
Luvmy33chicks - Justine
mjuenem - Mark
Carolyn252 - Carolyn

Hi,

We live on Long Island and we do have a different set of circumstances, everyone here is a bit closer! Is there anyone nearby?
Marianne

I am on Staten Island, the Southern tip of the Island in Tottenville NY. Your in the water you travel any farther.:<)) Last train stop in the great state of New York!

Glad to see there are some in the lower end of NY showing up.

Marianne, living on Long Island must have its challenges for keeping chickens. Same for Magsrags in Staten Island. Are you both able to find feed locally, or do you need to order online? That has to be one major issue for being closer to NYC. We've been fortunate to have a few located within 20 miles from us and I was able to find a good organic feed supplier 15 minutes away. Still, it is not as easy to find mealworms or other treats after spring. They get in one supply and then don't reorder until next year, it seems. I'll be ordering mealworms online later today.

I'm curious, what brand of feed do you use? Presently, we are using Nature's Best grower crumbles and it is working out to be better than the Green Mountain pellets had. We should be seeing eggs shortly and we are getting excited!

Look forward to this thread growing and meeting more fellow Backyard Chicken friends.

Have a great 4th.



Al

Hi Al,

We have had a great feed store here for years thankfully. CG Feeds it's called. They also take in some rescues and I've personally taken in 2 of their birds this year. they have 3 juvenile ducklings available right now for anyone looking. breed unknown to me.

Still a good amount of horses/animal lovers all around me tucked away in little corners of Staten Island.

I am currently using Purina's Layena pellets. Currently down to 4, 5 month old pullets at the point of lay soon....so they began this feed just this week. But they free range everyday as well so eat nicely. Another chicken buddy just gave me some small Comfry plants to get in the ground as it is a great source of protein for them. I'll plant them tomorrow after this nice rain we are having today.
LOTS of folks now raising chickens out here as compared to just 4 years ago. I have hatched out many peeps and started a number of newbies myself. I find this the best hobby to pay forward.

My hubby and son just re-painted my 2 wooded dog/chicken houses after a move we made this past winter. Temporarily fenced in but I lock the girls down every night come dusk. Now for protective solar/electric fencing to put my mind at rest as we have raccoons/possums/hawks to worry about down here by the woods/water. My coop/run is small so it'll be easy.
maggie

Hi,

We have Agway here about 15 miles away, I buy Nature's Best organic food there. Over the winter I have to call ahead for them to order it for me but yesterday I went and they had 16 bags! I never saw meal worms there though. The chickens seem to be getting lots of bugs right now in the yard, I will have to look into online meal worms when the winter comes. How many do you give them?

Right now we are struggling with a bird I bought over the winter who is REALLY loud! I have been trying to find her a home with more room so she won't make our neighbors too crazy, I was told she is an olive egger. I wish I had done my research first ! I am looking into a couple of Buff Orpingtons, they seem like a nice bird for a backyard. Have any of you had any experience with them?
Marianne

Maggie, that's amazing to hear about Staten Island. I would never have believed the boroughs would be bristling with interest in keeping chickens, ducks and other non-traditional animals, let alone have a feed store. I do know that in Manhattan and Brooklyn the chicken population is growing, so I shouldn't be so surprised.

Comfrey is a great plant to have around for a lot of reasons. That and alfalfa make great green manures for gardens. And it is great forage for the chickens.

We have racoons, possums, hawk, foxes and coyotes upstate too. They had been a real pain in the past but the racoons got decimated by rabies some 15 years ago and they have not recovered to their former populations, fortunately. Redtail hawks are an issue too. We have our covered run secured with 1/2" hardware cloth as we do with the ventilation windows in the coop. we also have 4 dogs which manage to keep some of the predators away. The deer still manage to ruin some of the fruit trees and bushes if the winter is hard, like last year.

We also lock the girls down at night just in case. right now they are laying down in the run just looking at the drizzle. They love the covered run. I want to free range them a little bit but it is not too easy on 1/3 acre. We let them out one at a time right now when we are with them. I don't know how the neighbors would react to us chasing them through their yards. Eventually we will have to fence ours in for them.

Good luck with the electric fencing. Let me know how it works. Might be a good idea for us as the dogs stay only in the front yard which is fenced in. Make sure you put some netting on top for the hawks.



Al

Hi Marianne, we have 3 Golden Comets and 3 Amber Links. They are almost 16 weeks old and they are great with being not too noisy, as well as being early layers. They can lay as early as 15 weeks so we are getting excited to see the first egg.

How do you like the Nature's best? I switched ours to it a few weeks ago and the girls love it much better than the Green Mountain pellets. They look healthier too with less feather loss. I also use Farmer's Helper forage blocks with ultraKibble in it.

Hope you find a solution for the loud one. I had originally thought of BOs as they are a very gentle breed and should be excellent for you. We did not want our birds so large so we settled for the GCs and ALs. Also, having them color sexed guaranteed we were getting female chicks. It was fun raising them from those little balls of fluff that grew in front of our eyes. My wife could not believe they could grow so quickly. One day to the next and they looked like different birds. Simply amazing.

Our Agway only carries the Green Mountain. I'll have to ask if they can get it as they are closer than our present supplier.

I am considering Countryside Organics feed. They have a distributor in Brooklyn, but I would have to pick it up as they do not ship and it is a loooong drive from where we live. So for now, the only way to get it is to have it shipped from Virginia. Don't like the shipping costs so I may stick with the Nature's Best.

Have a good 4th.



Al

Al,
Are you in Western or Eastern Putnam?
I'm glad to see this thread.
We're in Eastern Putnam and have been getting feed from the new TSC in Patterson, but there are plenty of Agways and such around.
I would love to get 4-6 more chicks, but don't want to mail-order a "minimum".
Specifically, I would love to get some young B.O's and maybe an EE or two.

Got any local leads?

I just found a local woman here in S.I. has 2, 2 year old BO for sale. Went through their first molt this past March.