New eager to learn and ready to talk all about it.!!

Good morning all,

Name is Paul, from Lisbon falls, Maine. Been thinking about getting backyard chickens for quite some time now but never actually took the leap until 2 weeks ago.

Wow how fast things have happened, I found BYC and a few other amazing resource sites, and have done a TON of learning from the sites and from talking to other local contacts that have chickens..

So in 2 weeks I have converted an old 6X8 storage shed into a coop with 6 nesting boxes 2 feed and water stations and a crap load of roosting poles.. have erected 150 feet of 6 foot fence on grass and into light woods for a run and rehomed 12 1st and 2nd year layers from a friends farm a few towns over.

It took the girls all of about 3 hours to make the place there own.. I was afraid they would be timid of me and or not want to come in the coop at night or a multitude of nightmares a newbie would have.

Well to my joy the facts where just the opposite, they loved there new home, a few went right to work building nests in the boxes out of the hay I had put in them, at dust just like clockwork they all came in and perched and went to sleep. By morning 2 they all went to work scratching up there new run.

To my immense joy I found my first 5 eggs that afternoon right in the nesting boxes, all is well with me and my girls LOL


If I see some reply's I will do my best to write at least a few times a week even daily if I get a following ???

I have tons to say and could write all day about my new found joy in life ( simple things for simple minds I guess) ha ha but don't want to babble if no one cares

Paul

Welcome to BYC!

Oh yes, we do care!! We are all huge chicken fanatics and that is why this site exists in the first place. So feel free to share pictures, stories, experiences, funny things your chickens do, or even your first eggs with us! If you stop by our Pictures and Stories Of My Chickens Forums, you can post all kinds of pics and stories about your new girls!....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/39/pictures-stories-of-my-chickens

Of course we here in the New Members section love to see pics of birds too!! So feel free to post them here as well. And wow, sounds like you are giving your new birds a very nice home with lots of love.

If you have any questions about anything, that is what we are here for. Enjoy your new flock and welcome to ours!

Thanks for the quick welcome..

I also forgot I got soft when buying supply's at the feed store and picked up 6 assorted day old chicks.. whipped up a quick brooder in a huge rubber made tote. got to love those baby's lol still researching how to best intro them to the big girls, but have a least a month to figure that out.

At the moment the challenge is to keep the wife and kids out of the brooder and the chicks in it. NO there fine but the Human girls are constantly holding them, playing and, spoiling them and I fear will not want to let them out to joint the others when the time comes..

Paul

Hi Paul! Yes, these feed stores are huge enablers this time of year. What with all the peep peep peeping, you can hardly think straight until you break down and bring more babies home!! LOL

Handling the babies is a very good thing. Chicks and chickens are prey animals and are skittish by nature. So it does them good to handle them a LOT as babies so they bond with you and know that you are not out to eat them. By the time they are ready for the coop, they will be very friendly.

And yes, nothing better than Chick TV!! When I have baby chicks in the house, and I will next week, , nothing gets done around here. LOL Dishes pile up in the sink, laundry gets piled up, ect...because I just can't stop staring into the brooder!!!

As for mixing in chicks with older birds, I like to start mixing them in at around 3 months old. I do take them out with the older birds at 6 weeks and up, just to let the older birds know that new flock members are getting ready to join the flock, but at this age, they are still too young to join the big girls. So at about 3 months, I keep the new birds in a cage or fenced off area within the flock, either in the coop or run. They stay this way for about one month. This gives them time to grow and also gives the adult flock to work out the pecking order from behind the wire. Everybody sees, nobody touches. I will lock the chickens out of the coop or run and let the babies out in either of these places during the day too. So after one month of this, the adults are used them, generally bored of these new birds and the new ones have now grown enough to be able to defend themselves and fit in as adult looking birds. On mixing day, always keep a close eye on everybody. Normally things go fairly smoothly with little jostling. But watch them for that first week. And always intervene if it turns bloody. I always get my birds locked up at night and don't rely on them going into the coop by themselves. So I know where each bird sleeps and in what order. I like to get the new birds on the end of the roost bar at the end of the last adult bird in the adult pecking order. That way they are not hurt trying to find their place on the bar at night and they learn where to sleep in peace without getting pushed off in the night. (I baby my birds to death. Not even sure I HAVE chickens. LOL)

This is the jist of getting them mixed in. If you have any questions about this, there are many articles and threads floating around BYC.

O i totally understand and don't really mind the chicks getting loved. In fact I'm just as guilty. And I totally understand that with any animal the earlier you can form a trust and bond the better for life in the long run.

As it is apparent that the older girls got some loving as chicks as they not only have little to no fear of humans, but some of them are Actually pretty find of me already. And I LOVE IT.

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sounds like you are having a great time with your new flock! TwoCrows gave you some great advice, good luck with the new chicks!

Alright Paul,