Hi All! I just joined yesterday as my hubby and I are thinking of doing the backyard chicken thing. All the info in reviews, FAQs and forums has been extremely helpful already.
Big thanks to the community on that!
So, obviously we don't have any chickens yet, but I think we're headed in that direction. We spent today designing and pricing out a coop and run, with much input from the small and medium coop posts on this site (so fun to browse!). We do have a cockatiel, four dogs (Great Pyrenees, Boxer/Mastiff, Schnauzer, and Poodle/Yorkie), and two cats (mixed breed), almost all of whom were rescues.
We're thinking of starting with 5 female chicks of 5 different types (ideally, a Dominiques, a couple of different Orpingtons, an Easter Egger and a Wyandotte - any input on how the personalities of these breeds might or might not get along would be welcome). My husband had chickens as a kid and teenager in rural Wisconsin, so he's not completely new to this, but it's definitely been a while. I've never had chickens, but we both love animals, and are attracted to the idea of knowing where our food comes from. Anyway, we'd love any advice along the lines of 'I wish I had thought of .... before I started keeping backyard chickens'.
The non-chicken background on us: I'm a human geneticist/anthropologist at IU Bloomington, my husband restores classic cars. We watch way too much television but make up for it by reading tons of good books. My hobbies mostly relate to fiber arts (quilting, weaving, crocheting, knitting, needle point), and his to cars and tools and mechanical anything.
That about sums it all up.
Best,
EurekaChic
Big thanks to the community on that!
So, obviously we don't have any chickens yet, but I think we're headed in that direction. We spent today designing and pricing out a coop and run, with much input from the small and medium coop posts on this site (so fun to browse!). We do have a cockatiel, four dogs (Great Pyrenees, Boxer/Mastiff, Schnauzer, and Poodle/Yorkie), and two cats (mixed breed), almost all of whom were rescues.
We're thinking of starting with 5 female chicks of 5 different types (ideally, a Dominiques, a couple of different Orpingtons, an Easter Egger and a Wyandotte - any input on how the personalities of these breeds might or might not get along would be welcome). My husband had chickens as a kid and teenager in rural Wisconsin, so he's not completely new to this, but it's definitely been a while. I've never had chickens, but we both love animals, and are attracted to the idea of knowing where our food comes from. Anyway, we'd love any advice along the lines of 'I wish I had thought of .... before I started keeping backyard chickens'.
The non-chicken background on us: I'm a human geneticist/anthropologist at IU Bloomington, my husband restores classic cars. We watch way too much television but make up for it by reading tons of good books. My hobbies mostly relate to fiber arts (quilting, weaving, crocheting, knitting, needle point), and his to cars and tools and mechanical anything.
That about sums it all up.
Best,
EurekaChic
and Welcome To BYC! Good luck with the coop build and soon to be chicks, sounds like you have picked a nice assortment of breeds that should get along! Some great links and suggestions above, there are also a number of threads on what people wish they had known or done differently when they first got chickens that make for good useful reading ie 
