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We get our chicks in late March. Keep them in the house until they are feathered out and the weather is warm in May. Works out to be good timing for us.

I agree with a soft white light. I use a timer to turn on the light at 5am and off at 730am. I dont use lighting in the evening because I dont want to interfere with their ability to find the roosts.

If you go with shavings, make sure to use PINE not cedar. The dust from cedar shavings in nasty and can cause problems.

I have RIRs and Barred Rocks. They get along fine. We live near Chicago and gets pretty cold. I think the Barred Rocks seem to fair better with the cold. Make sure you consider the climate.

Your chick probably wont start eating until the second day. after that I dont worry about their poop for the first week.

Your chick probably wont start eating until the second day. after that I dont worry about their poop for the first week.

Quote: where at in IL? unincorporated Joliet

We live in Illinois and get 3.00 per dozen. No one complains about the price.

I wouldn't worry about attaching it to the pavers. The pavers aren't going to hold anything down. They're not a true footing or foundation anyways. Most sheds aren't attached to a foundation or footing and you don't them blowing down the street very often. The easiest and cheapest was to hold...

If your hens on layer feed they don't need supplemental calcium unless you start seeing problems with the egg shells. Layer feed has calcium added in it.

My girls are alowwwed to free range during the day and are fed layer pellets. I still offer them grit and oystershell. I only have 10 hens so bag of each of those will last me years. If the need it it's there.

I mix a little bit in with their scratch about once a week.

We only have 5 hens laying right now. Our other 5 should start laying in a month or two. We sell our eggs for $3.00/dozen. We can't even come close to keeping up. We sell 2dozen/week. Cant really supply anyone on a regular basis so now i feel bad when people ask for them and have to say sorry...

I agree. If they are free range they will find the grit the need. They don't require much and they know when they need it. As long as they are out and about they will find it.

We feed the starter until about 16 weeks but as we close in on the end of the bag of starter we start mixing layer pellets in. I think it is better to make the change by mixing the foods .

We give scratch as a treat from time to time. But as it starts to turn colder, we give them more.Not much protein value, but lots of carbs and starches use for energy. They will burn lots of calories in the harsh cold just maintaining body temp.

Coal definitely is not a good idea. I doubt they would eat it anyways. Coal does absorb toxins but will also remove essential minerals and vitamins that after long exposure/ and could be detrimental. A 50# bag of grit is about$8 and lost a looong time!

We leave feed for the girls 24/7. They always have access to it. Also using a hanging feeder will pretty much eliminate the rodent problem. The girls dont leave anything on the ground for uninvited guests. As far as the the oyster shell, that is always available too. When they need calcium they...

We feed Nutrena Layer 16%. We are in the southwest burbs of Chicago. Get 50# bag for about $10.50 - $11.00. I don't ever see anyone post anything about Nutrena. It seems to work for us. Girls are always active and lay good quality eggs consistently. They are allowed free range everyday also.

We currently have 2 barred rocks (1 year old) and 3 RIR ( 2 years old we got from a friend last fall) all hens. Got 5 more Barred rock pullets about 4 weeks old now. The pullets won't be ready to go out to the coop for a month to 1 1/2 months based on size and temp. We free range during the day...