Newbie here. Not just to the forum, but to chickens as well. I really just wanted to say thank you to everyone because this page has been a life saver ever since my husband showed up on our anniversary with a chicken. A google search trying to figure out what to do with this new girl launched me here, my go-to page for any chicken question that I have had since. So again, thank you all for being so informative and extremely easy to navigate and the answer to every question that I've had so far!
Actual introduction: My name is Morgan. I've been a horse owner and caretaker for years, and finally found a place in the country to accomodate not only my family, but my horses as well. We always talked about getting chickens because we are all avid egg-eaters and it's a nice relief on our grocery bill, so my husband buys our first for our anniversary. She will always be know as McCluckins. She's just a random rock hen and has yet to start laying for us (despite the fact that she's supposed to be almost 9 months old by now) but she is our number one source of entertainment. He then brought home 2 Silkies that we loved, but met unfortunate fates recently (one was taken by a fox and the other, my dog, who had been sick, so I was trying to boost his spirits by letting him do barn chores with us). After the Silkies came 2 fairly feral English Game hens. By the way, we got them before we lost the Silkies. We thought we'd be silly and name them egg related names. The Silkies were Over Easy and Omelette, and one of the Game hens got stuck with Scrambled. The other Game hen is Scrapper as she is always the first to challenge the pecking order whenever a new hen joins us. Today, we added 3 Rhode Island Reds and somehow, my husband got talked into buying a box full of Delaware chicks...18 in all! I have a friend on her way over now to come to our chick rescue...lol. The husband wants to sell all the chicks now, but I'd like to keep a couple for our own flock and would be upset if we sold all but 2 and they both turned out to be roosters, so I think we're going to raise them to sexing age before we sell them. As of now, we have one good solid coop with 4 boxes, and one new coop that is almost completed with plans for 6-8 boxes. We (and our chickens) prefer to free range, but the fox threw a wrench in that plan until we can eliminate him/her.
Any and all advice is welcome at any point in time! If I haven't already asked a question, then I'm sure I've overlooked a question that *needs* to be asked!
