Hello!

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Welcome to BYC. I think your kids will enjoy the birds, and learn a lot along the way. Good for you guys, being such a welcoming family. Best wishes with your chicken journey!

Here are my favorite beginning articles that helped me as a newbie. I hope you will find them helpful as well. All articles are short, have illustrations, and reviews, which are often worth looking at for the comments.

1. Intro to chicken keeping

2. Common mistakes & how to fix them

3. Ventilation (important to chicken health), with helpful links to coop designs organized by climate (because what is just right for my New England hens won't work for my brother's Arizona chickens)

3(a). Farmers Almanac on Building Coops (Includes size requirements!) Allowing plenty of space for chickens is really important because, even as chicks, they will start pecking each other or plucking their own feathers, or become unhealthy if they are overcrowded. Here is a link to Colorado State Extension's publication on space and temperature requirements for chicks as they age.

4. Predator protection for new & existing coops

5. Dealing with a muddy coop and run

6. Gardening for chickens

7. BYC Lists of Chicken Ailments and Cures

To look for articles on your own:

A. Use the SEARCH button, but use the Advanced Search choice, and select ARTICLES at the top of the box. Just enter your keyword(s) and scroll through your results!

B. I find it helpful to notice the rating and reviews. All articles are by BYC members, and all the reviews/ratings are as well. The ratings help a newbie like me sort the most useful and reliable articles.

C. You can bookmark the articles or posts you think you want to refer to again using that bookmark icon at the top of articles or posts. You can find them again by clicking on your own avatar and looking at the list of bookmarks you have built up!

Notes about where to put a coop:

1. As far as you can, put a coop and run on high ground, that drains well, so you won't have so much muddy coop problems. Chickens need to be dry, dry, dry.

2. As far as you can, put a coop with the ventilation lined up with your prevailing breezes, and away from the direction of your storms. If you are not sure of these (who is these days?), check with your local National Weather Service website.

3. As far as you can, arrange for some sort of shade over your coop and run. Preferably deciduous so the girls will enjoy winter sun, but summer shade.
 
HomeschoolHen said:
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? We have chicks that we just purchased yesterday. We have been planning on getting them for a couple years.

(2) How many chickens do you have right now? We have seven. City ordinance limits us to six, but we got an extra just in case one ends up being a rooster. If anyone ever complains, I have a friend who can take one.

(3) What breeds do you have? Two black sex link and one each of production red, easter egger, white leghorn, brown leghorn, and smoky pearl. We almost have them all named with an outdoor theme.

(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? Fun pets and eggs for our large family to eat. We currently buy four dozen a week from a friend, and I'm looking forward to producing most of our own.

(5) What are some of your other hobbies? We homeschool, so we're a family of bookworms. I love hiking, traveling to national parks, quilting, baking with sourdough, and playing board and card games.

(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. We are a homeschooling family with six bio kids and foster kids coming and going. We have a Golden Retriever named Llama and two guinea pigs named Luna and Ember.

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community? :D I found this forum via google years ago. I joined today because we finally fulfilled a long term dream by getting our first chicks yesterday.
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Welcome. What a blessed busy family life you have. We are here for you to help you successfully raise chickens. Just ask questions as needed.
 

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