Hello!

[degarmo2911]

Hello! My name is Jess, and my husband Travis and I will be getting our first chicks soon! We're very excited, and very new at this. We've been doing lots of research, and we think we've narrowed our chick choices down to Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and Chantecler chickens. We think we want four chicks total, and what we end up with will probably be what's available at our local Fair next week. Our goal is to raise our chicks for eggs, and when they quit laying, they will be our pets.

I'm looking forward to talking chicken with you all. There are so many things we have to learn and I can't wait to get our little girls and start backyard chicken farming!
And of course, any advice you have will be most appreciated.

Warm Regards,

Jess
Northern Pennsylvania

 

[Rich386]

Welcome to the flock. If you need answers this is the place lots of knowledgeably Folks here.

 

[LoveChickens123]

hope you like it here

 

[rje ma]

Welcome, I have not been doing this long but two ideas I got here that have worked for me:
1. Use sand not wood chips.
2. Apple cider vinegar (ACV) in the water. 1 teaspoon per gallon. Prevents pasty but.
Good luck with your flock

 

[BantamFan4Life]

 

[drumstick diva]

don't buy "straight run" chicks, that almost quarantees they will be roosters

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, Jess, and

! Pleased you joined us! Great to have you in our flock!

 

[liz9910]

Welcome to BYC! https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

 

[degarmo2911]

Thank you, everyone! Great information already! I'm so pleased to be here.
I have a general question maybe you could answer:

My hubby and I like the idea of raising our chicks organically, so we can get organic eggs from them. However, I read the Backyard Chicken's "Care of chicks for the first 60 days" article, and it mentioned medicated vs non-medicated crumble. If we were to feed our chicks medicated feed to prevent that disease, would that automatically prohibit them from being "organic"? And what if they get mites and we have to treat them chemically? Would that prevent them from being called organic chickens? We're trying to stay clear of chemicals, but obviously if there are issues, we'd want to fix them.

 

[DDNONIN2016]

Hello and welcome....so glad you joined BYC

Check out the "Natural chicken keeping thread" (just type "natural" in the search bar at the top) There are tons of experts there that keep their chickens naturally. Love that thread and have learned a lot.

Good luck to you