New to Chickens; Advice welcome!

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Dee5385

Dee5385

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jan 14, 2014
64
0
36
Northern Virginia
I'm at the beginning stages of raising chickens, I've been doing tons of reading and just bought my chicken coop! The coop says it's good for 10-14 chickens but we're starting out with 6. My husband and I will be building the chicken run this weekend to get ready for our little additions to the family at the end of February or early March. (according to the place we're getting the chicks from)

Any BEGINNER suggestions are welcome! I have talked with a few people that have chickens of their own but the more advice the better right?! For the most part everything I've been told by chicken owners, I've also read so I'm feeling pretty good so far. Of course there's going to be stuff I'm not aware of so stories and personal experiences would be greatly appreicated; espeically things I might not be able to find in a book or blog.

So I do have some questions...as I've said I've been doing a lot of reading so my questions will be all over the place. Regarding the chicken treats...for example pomagranate...do you just cut a pomagrate open and let them at it or do I need to remove the seeds for them? When I'm giving the chickens fresh produce I'm guessing I should keep it up off the ground somehow; any suggestions? Suet feeder?

We still have not gotten our chickens so I'm looking for suggestions on the friendliest, best egg lying breeds. Also, I wasn't planning on getting a rooster; thoughts?

When I'm picking out/up with baby chicks I'm guessing the age could vary, is there a way to tell the age based on where they are with their feather growth?

I'm sure I'll have more questions along the way but that's all the time I have for now.
 
Welcome to BYC! I recommend checking out the Learning Center, https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center tons of great info and it should answer many of your questions. With a pomegranate you wouldn't need to remove the seeds, they will rip it up themselves. My chickens will jump up and peck at my pomegranates on the tree and eat a big hole in them lol. Have to lock them up. You can put produce etc in a heavy ceramic bowl if you want but they are happy eating off the ground too. Hope this helps, good luck to you.
 
Alright and
welcome-byc.gif
great to have you onboard
frow.gif


Getting your coop ready before the chicks even get there is above the average chicken farmer
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Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! X2 on Liz9910's advice on the BYC Learning Center as a good starting point.
Check out the BYC Breeds section for member reviews on a lot of breeds. The Henderson chicken breed chart also compares a lot of popular breeds. http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html
Go to the Where Am I Where Are You forum and check out your local state thread to see what works best for people in your area, and for local birds/ breeds. https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you
For breeds that are decent egg layers with nice temperaments, very popular are Orpingtons, Australorps, Plymouth Rocks, Delawares, and Wyandottes (come in lots of great colors), For pure egg production, the most popular/ most productive white egg layers are probably the commercial White Leghorns, and for brown egg layers are the Red Sex Links (they go by various names depending on the hatchery, Red Stars, Golden Comets, ISA Browns etc). Don't forget Easter Eggers /Ameraucana for those colored eggs.
With roosters, do a search, there are tons of threads on BYC as to pros and cons, it depends on your individual situation.
With aging chicks, you might want to check out the What Breed Or Gender Is This forum, a lot of people post pictures on there of chicks with the ages listed, it is a good way to get a feel for how they look at what age.
 
Hi there,
frow.gif
and welcome to BYC!

Liz and Kelsie have given some good links to follow. Lots of good reads in the learning center.

Great to have you aboard and enjoy BYC!
 

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