hiiii!! chickie mama newbie here :33

[kanami]

hi everyoneee, my name is kanami and i’m a first time chick momma. i’m 18 y/o and currently have nine 3 1/2 week old chickies. i might as well just start calling them pullets at this point! they grow up so fast i swear. i was only meant to get 8 babies but the hatchery accidentally gave me 9 and i didn’t realize until i got home lol.

i have 7 different breeds:
-black australorp
-blue laced red wyandotte
-cinnamon queen
-easter egger (2)
-rhode island red
-rhode island white
-red sex link

i might post asking for help differentiating the breeds sometime.

me and my family live in the bay area CA and i joined because i was hoping to get some tips about keeping chickens. specifically about stray cats!! my neighborhood has an abundance of stray cats and i’m wondering if there’s anything i should do before i move my girlies outside?? i don’t want them to turn into chickie pot pie currently we keep them in an unused room in the house with a heating plate, food, water, the basics. they are feathering out really well really fast and they cannot be contained much longer as they are already escaping their little container and wandering around the room leaving little dookies on the carpet they are so silly i love them :’)

looking forward to meeting everyone)

 

[Lor]

Hello and welcome!
Enjoy your new flock.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello, Kanami, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

 

[Boppo]

Glad to meet you, Kanami. What beautiful birds you have! thank you for the pictures!
Regarding keeping your birds safe from stray cats, you should have a good secure coop and run ready for the birds when you want to move them outside. Check out the Coop Design pages for ideas, but most people focus on using hardware cloth around the exterior to keep predators from invading the coop and run. Many folks include a 2 foot "skirt" of hardware cloth around the base of the run to keep out the diggers.

If you want to "free range" your flock some of the time, you will need to see if you can make sure your yard is off limits to cats, or stand guard.
Best wishes with your flock and all your plans!

 

[Dr Evy]

Welcome to BYC Kanami. We’re so glad you joined!

 

[Isadora]

Hello, and welcome to BYC! I'm so glad you decided to join our friendly and helpful community

 

[SilverBirds]

Hello, and welcome to BYC! thanks for sharing pics of your chooks!

Do you have your coop built/bought already? If so, you can transition them outside very soon.

Cat's do not normally kill standard sized chickens unless they are desperate. Bantams and chicks are another story. Make sure you have a sturdy predator proof coop and run to keep them safe. There are a lot of great articles abut it in the Learning Center.

Best of luck!

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

 

[rjmyooper]

Awesome pictures! What a beautiful flock you have. Keep us informed of your progress.

 

[janiedoe]

Hi Kanami, welcome to BYC. Do you have a coop and run for your chicks. You can post some pictures of what will be their home, and we'll try to give you pointers to keep them safe.