Congratulations MamaNini! You won a beautiful coop from Handcrafted Coops! - Page 16

A quick but VERY important reminder!

You MUST fill out the form in part 2 of the instructions in order to be eligible to win.

My best advice to someone just getting started in chickens is to buy (or build) an incubator.  Sooner or later that hatching bug is going to bite you..  you may want to show your children the miracle of life (but find mammalian reproduction a little too .. eewww... for their phase of development) you may want to have baby chicks that will know you as their friend and provider from day one (pshaw.. that still takes time) OR.. you may be totally psychotic like myself and thoroughly enjoy the incessant turning and rotating and candling the eggs night after night to see the babies YOU are growing.  It is truly an intense and amazing feeling knowing that all of those tiny lives depend on you and whether or not your temperature and humidity is perfect. (YIKES!)  I can say that every baby that hatches in my bathroom (yes my husband is super thrilled with that idea) is special and unique and I never get bored of hovering around my 'bator around day 19, inspecting each egg for the first tiny crack.. for the faintest peeps and tiny wiggles that tell me those babies are on their way.  Trust me.. get an incubator and every member of your flock will feel like family.

Spend as much time as possible with them, handling them. Get them used to you. I call mine with "CHOOK CHOOK CHOOK" & they know something good will be given to them. Also read up as much as possible. I just LOVE my girls & am excited to be getting some Blue Laced Red Wyandottes in the next week!!!!!

Another thing, do NOT feed them with your hand, as when you go to pick them up, they will peck at your hand (thinking they're going to be FIRST getting the "food"). Don't wear ANY open toed shoes. They may thing your toes are GRUB WORMS, LOL!!

Most of all ENJOY THEM!!!! (I DO DAILY) Love my "Girls"!!!!

My best advice for raising backyard chickens is to research your breeds. If you know what you want out of your chickens, eggs, meat, show for example, that gives you something to go on. By learning about the breeds and learning what breeds will do good in your climate it will help you make informed choices. If you can have a rooster it can also be helpful to learn about crosses for sustaining a good egg laying flock. For example RIR Rooster x  Barred Rock Hen will give you Black Sex links. RIR reds are good egg layers, so are Barred Rocks, and Sex Links are great. These are things I wish I would have done. Most importantly, love your chickens and enjoy their antics.

I'd have to say my best advice would be, if you want happy chickens, always make sure you don't have too many roosters. From experience and what I have seen, one rooster to every 1-10 hens. And if you can, have the groups separated in their own spaces. Roosters will fight each other! Roosters will mate and mate a lot. You don't want your hens overwhelmed. They could end up bald on their rears and heads from too much mating.  And always make sure there is enough roaming and running space in case they need to get away from each other to help avoid fights and feather picking. 

And lastly, Talk to your chickens. Every time you go out to feed, water, and egg collect, talk to them. They will listen. I have a hen who loves to sit on me while I do my chores and listen to me and she will even talk right back. :)

The best advice to raising chickens is to invest in an automatic door opener. It will take 95% of the work out of raising chickens. Not only does it make it easier on you, it makes for better conditions for the chickens too. If you oversleep, or are too busy to let them out first thing in the morning, they still get to go out! If you aren't home on time to lock them up in the evening, you won't come home to a massacre because they weren't locked in. An automatic chicken door has taken all the fuss and worrying out of raising my chickens, no trekking out first thing in the morning on a rainy cold day!!! The last one I purchased (for a new coop) cost $70... worth every penny!!

My best advice for someone who wants chickens, and may live in a city or neighborhood situation, would be to be VERY FRIENDLY to your neighbors.  Offer them eggs on a regular basis.  Chickens are addicting, once you have a couple hens for eggs, your hooked, and you will not believe how much you will LOVE your birds!!  You can't envision yourself without them, so keep your neighbors happy!!

My best advice is to have a great coop.  This is important for several reasons.  One, the coop will keep your chickens safe.  Without a good coop, your chickens are likely to face predators and we all know that chickens are fairly defenseless in the face of danger.  Two) A coop is where your chickens live.  A happy and secure chicken will lay more eggs.  Three) A coop is where you will interact with your chickens.  You need to be able to clean it easily and easily gather your eggs.  You also need to have easy access to your chickens.  In my experience, the coop is the thing!

My best chicken advice? Beware: Chickens are addictive!

You will start with good intentions, do your research, build an original coop of repurposed materials, and even have a goal number of chickens.

-THEN-

All too soon, you will find yourself displaying signs of chicken addiction such as:

- You are still researching chicken information even though your chickens are happy and healthy.

- Your chickens are better trained than some people's dogs.

- You cook extra spaghetti so you'll have leftovers to feed the chickens.

- Your husband will be jealous because the first "person" you go to when you get home is your chickens.

- Your family will think that you are on a health food kick because you serve salad more frequently (when you just want leftover produce to feed the chickens!).

- Your chickens are better behaved than some people's children.

-  You will attend chicken swaps to look at chickens, talk chickens, and more than likely buy a few additions for your flock.

- You will build a "better" coop less than 6 months after completing the first one.

- You will find yourself planning a worm farm to produce fresh worms for your chickens.

- Your children will want to show chickens at the county fair which means you'll spend a memorable afternoon washing chickens.

- You will plant a garden for your chickens.

- You will become everyone's new best friend with your fresh, grass fed eggs!!

My best advice is to always ALWAYS ALWAYS Quarantine your new chickens  for a month before adding them to your flock.