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[FONT=verdana,geneva]Brand new to keeping chickens. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=comic sans ms,sand]I fell in love with a pair of Ameraucana's even when I was not looking to own chickens! [/FONT]I decided to start with just 2 (was told they might be male and female) at about 3 days old, until I knew enough about them to make sure I could properly house and care for them. My husband built me one of the coops posted on this site, and since the coop is inside the goat pen we used heavier wire and wood to accommodate goat horn ramming! I will be asking a lot of questions in between my other zoo keeping duties, as we have a ton of rescued pets. Love this site, it has been a big help.
January 1, 2009~ Update~ Well, after my chicks grew up and started mating, I hatched 32 chicks in an incubator, found homes for 24 of them, lost 2 and kept 6. The youngster gang is now over 5 months old and including parents I ended up with 4 roosters and 4 hens. I now have a second coop which we built as an "L" shaped extention onto the first one, plus we added a run with an additional sleeping area. So far I've been able to keep the 4 roosters together in one coop and the 4 hens in the other so I won't end up with more fertilized eggs and I alternate time for free range in the yard. Two of my babies ended up with crossed beaks but they've been eating well and keeping up with the bigger birds on crumbles and cooked oatmeal. I gave up on hatching, way too much work for my bad back and other animal duties. I do spend several hours per day hanging out with my chicken buds, always some laughs and photo opportunities, or like today a black eye from a rooster peck! As I type I'm sitting here with ice on my eye, good way to start out the New Year, being pecked by a mad rooster!
I have a few photos of our new coops and alterations, sorry didn't document the building process but have some creative ideas. If you would like more info just drop a note.
April 2010~ Wow how time flies. And how sad it is to lose chicken buds to "unknown" causes. Lost a rooster and 2 hens to totally unknown causes, months apart from one another. So sad and frustrating. But on to the good side of owning chickens, I rescued a Rhode Island Red who had pasty butt and feed store wouldn't clean her up. So "Henrietta" (I hope she doesn't end up to be Henry) is about 8 wks old now and what a hoot. So even with the sad times, the angry times for not knowing what killed my babies, I guess I will continue to own chickens as long as I can take care of them. Each one of them has their own personality, not much different than dogs or cats. This site has been a Godsend, the members are so helpful and supportive. Thanks to all, I'll be updating here and there when I can.
[FONT=comic sans ms,sand]I fell in love with a pair of Ameraucana's even when I was not looking to own chickens! [/FONT]I decided to start with just 2 (was told they might be male and female) at about 3 days old, until I knew enough about them to make sure I could properly house and care for them. My husband built me one of the coops posted on this site, and since the coop is inside the goat pen we used heavier wire and wood to accommodate goat horn ramming! I will be asking a lot of questions in between my other zoo keeping duties, as we have a ton of rescued pets. Love this site, it has been a big help.
January 1, 2009~ Update~ Well, after my chicks grew up and started mating, I hatched 32 chicks in an incubator, found homes for 24 of them, lost 2 and kept 6. The youngster gang is now over 5 months old and including parents I ended up with 4 roosters and 4 hens. I now have a second coop which we built as an "L" shaped extention onto the first one, plus we added a run with an additional sleeping area. So far I've been able to keep the 4 roosters together in one coop and the 4 hens in the other so I won't end up with more fertilized eggs and I alternate time for free range in the yard. Two of my babies ended up with crossed beaks but they've been eating well and keeping up with the bigger birds on crumbles and cooked oatmeal. I gave up on hatching, way too much work for my bad back and other animal duties. I do spend several hours per day hanging out with my chicken buds, always some laughs and photo opportunities, or like today a black eye from a rooster peck! As I type I'm sitting here with ice on my eye, good way to start out the New Year, being pecked by a mad rooster!
I have a few photos of our new coops and alterations, sorry didn't document the building process but have some creative ideas. If you would like more info just drop a note.
April 2010~ Wow how time flies. And how sad it is to lose chicken buds to "unknown" causes. Lost a rooster and 2 hens to totally unknown causes, months apart from one another. So sad and frustrating. But on to the good side of owning chickens, I rescued a Rhode Island Red who had pasty butt and feed store wouldn't clean her up. So "Henrietta" (I hope she doesn't end up to be Henry) is about 8 wks old now and what a hoot. So even with the sad times, the angry times for not knowing what killed my babies, I guess I will continue to own chickens as long as I can take care of them. Each one of them has their own personality, not much different than dogs or cats. This site has been a Godsend, the members are so helpful and supportive. Thanks to all, I'll be updating here and there when I can.