I've been lurking for a while, BYC has been a great resource in my chicken raising adventure. And what an adventure it's been.
It all started last year when I mentioned to my dh that I have always thought it would be cool to raise a few chickens, and although he scoffed at the idea, he promptly (and with no warning) presented me with a box of 7 little chicks from the flea market a week later. Construction of the coop began that night. He told me the lady he bought them from said there was one rooster and 6 hens, and with no prior knowledge of chickens I was all set to start collecting fresh eggs in a few months.
Well don't you know I waited and waited for my hens to start laying, only to find out about 6 months later I had 7 roosters. It figures that would be the case with my luck, and to this day I don't know if we got taken or were just unlucky since it's nearly impossible to sex baby chicks (they were RIR mixes.)
This year I've decided to try my hand at hatching some eggs in my diy cooler incubator from my RIRs and some silkies. Fingers crossed for some babies at the end of May.
I've learned so many things from BYC in the past year, what a great community!
