Spring 2017 first timers post!

[AutumnHens]

I just got my shipping confirmation for my chicks!!! Brooder all set up and ready to rock, just waiting on my little cheep cheeps to arrive.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I just got my shipping confirmation for my chicks!!! Brooder all set up and ready to rock, just waiting on my little cheep cheeps to arrive.

Wow so exciting, can't wait to see them. I am banging away at my coop and it is tarting to take shape I will post pics tomorrow, I have 3 months before I get mine but I shall be ready!

Gary from Idyllwild Ca here

 

[urbanchickening]

I just got my shipping confirmation for my chicks!!!   Brooder all set up and ready to rock, just waiting on my little cheep cheeps to arrive. 

How exciting!!! Can't wait to see the little fluffsters!

 

[AutumnHens]

I'm super excited, although a bit of our order got changed due to availability issues. Now we're getting 2 EE, an Americauna, BO, RIR, Lav Orp, BR, Austra White, and a Blue Splash Maran. So still a pretty variety but not what I had originally hoped to get.


I like them all except I'm a bit leery of the RIR because our neighbor's are not super friendly. But one shouldn't be too rough on the flock dynamic.

 

[kfiore]

I am also preparing our first coop. I'm very nervous about ordering our chicks and making sure that all is well in the brooder. I haven't set any of it up yet. Our coop should arrive next week. I'm looking to order chicks from either My Pet Chicken or Cackle. I am only allowed up to 4 hens where I live and not sure how many chicks I should get. I worry about losing any. But, I am beyond excited! What breeds are you planning on?

 

[AutumnHens]

I am also preparing our first coop. I'm very nervous about ordering our chicks and making sure that all is well in the brooder. I haven't set any of it up yet. Our coop should arrive next week. I'm looking to order chicks from either My Pet Chicken or Cackle. I am only allowed up to 4 hens where I live and not sure how many chicks I should get. I worry about losing any. But, I am beyond excited! What breeds are you planning on?

Brooding chicks is honestly pretty easy if you have the temp right for them. Check out the MHP thread and it'll give you tons of good info, plus it's still very active so they'll answer any questions you might have. We did it for the first time last June (with a heat lamp) and I was so worried I was going to screw it up and kill them all but they sailed through with no problems at all.

For tomorrow's chicks (that's when I assume they'll arrive) I've had the brooder set up for a bit, tested it didn't like it, took it apart and reassembled it with a better heat source. Now it's looking ready to go, feeder filled and waterer sitting on the sink to be filled with fresh water the moment they arrive. It's pretty simple really as soon as the post office calls I head over there with the boys, open the box to make sure all survived transit, thank the postman, head for home. Re-open box, take out each chick one at a time and dip their beak in the waterer and then put them under the MHP. They'll come out in a bit to explore and grab some food. Meanwhile I'll make popcorn and sit down with my phone next to the brooder to take pics, brag on FB/here, and take notes.

The hardest part is keeping hands off them for the first day.

 

[AutumnHens]

Correction the hardest part is sitting here waiting for the post office to update the tracking info, according to their site my chicks haven't left OH yet and I know that to be a lie.

 

[urbanchickening]

I agree that the hardest part is waiting to get shipping/tracking updates to pick up the fluffsters from the post office. As for brooding...it's been easy! My fluffsters arrived a week ago in the mail and I put them in a 50 gallon storage bin with a generic ecoglow. They run under it when they're cold but spend most of their time running around being absolutely adorable. The only time mine chirp obnoxiously is when the room gets dark in the afternoon so I turn on the lights for them around 7pm and turn it off for 'bedtime' at 9.

 

[urbanchickening]

I should add that I ordered my chicks from mypetchicken..but they came from meyer. I ordered 15 but am only allowed 6 where I live without a permit. I figured I'd order more than what I was allowed just incase some don't make it....but all 15 of mine are thriving and as healthy as can be. So a permit I shall get lol!

 

[AutumnHens]

We'll have 15 total if all the incoming chicks survive which is as full as I want to make this coop. Next piggy bank goal is a bigger coop, but that's going to have to wait a bit..