1st chicks I've owned

CKFchicks

Hatching
Oct 26, 2015
2
0
9
Mississippi
This is the first time we've had chickens, so I'm researching the do's and don'ts. I have two Barred Rocks, two Rhode Island Reds, one New Hampshire, and one mystery white chick with a couple of black specks on it. Out of the 2-3 dozen eggs in the incubator last week at our Extension FARMtastic event for children, this was the only white chick. I've thought about raising chickens in recent years as several of my local friends have been talking about theirs, so this was the perfect opportunity to take some home and get started!

My husband (of 40 years!) and I live on the farm, and our children are grown with families of their own in other towns. We have plenty of room for the chicks, but we also have many, many predators, so that will be one of the challenges.

I've already enjoyed reading the forums and educational files, so I'm looking forward to being a part of the group.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
frow.gif


You have come to the right place for all the help and fun!

Once that white chick grows up a bit, you can post a picture in our What Breed and Gender section for more help with it's ID.

Predators sure are troublesome. Make sure to build your coop and run like fort knox. If you feel safe sleeping in there, then your chickens are safe. Predators have tons of time on their hands in the night and will work at something until they get in, knowing there is a meal on the other side.

As for free ranging, if you have too many predators, you may want to do supervised free ranging only. I have all kinds of predators too and can't leave my birds outside unsupervised. I let them out in a large fenced off area for a couple or few hours day, but I am always out and about in the yard or checking on while they are out there. The rest of their time they are kept in a very large run with plenty of room.

Make yourself at home here and we do welcome you to our flock!
 
welcome-byc.gif
so glad you have joined us.

TwoCrows has given you excellent advice regarding predators.

If you haven't already done so, you should visit the learning center, there are so many articles there to help with raising and managing your flock.

Good luck in your adventure.
 
and also a Ft.Knox run with cover - you may benefit from running some electrified fencing just beyond your coop and run. It could change predator thinking before they have a chance to zero in on your flock.

Birds that have never free ranged don't miss it. If you free range, you have to accept that 'some" loss to predators is part of the picture.
 

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