2 Chickens

[Lloyd Henry]

Hi
I am new here (just Registared) and I need some advice.
My wife and I just purchased 3.5 acres which is zoned for horses. I was born and rasied on a farm so I am used to having chickens but my wife is a city slicker but is adapting very quickly. My wife was injured at work so has a very bad back and can no longer work so I am always looking for things to help her keep busy and pass the time of day. Last year while out riding horse the neigbors dog found and killed a hen pheasant that was sitting on a nest. I took the eggs home in my hat and gave them to her and was instructed to get a incubater. I gave her 12 eggs and she hatched 9. she rasied them to the feather stage in the house and had them all named and eating out of her hand. When they were big she started taking them out side for walks and to learn how to feed out side. The day came when we tried to move them out side but they made so much noise we had to bring them in every eveing. They would not let her out of their sight, if she went in the house they would sit on the window ledge and look for her and when she went out they would either run or fly and have to be right by her feet. I have never seen her so happy and proud since she was injured.
this year I thought I would get her some chicken eggs or chicks to raise but we are not zoned for anythng but horses but after a few phone calls and some very detailed explaining (beggin) the zoning commission decided to allow her to have chickens for education purposes but whe can have only 2.
if she is only allowed 2 Iwould like to get her some that can be handled easily, good egg layers, colorful, can be confined (thought I would build her a small portable chicken coop)and winter hardy (we live in North Dakota). These will not be for eating.
what would be a good choice and where could I get just 2 or 3 eggs most places require at least a dozen eggs.
I am very sorry for being so long winded but tried to give you some back round so my question would make sense. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Lloyd Henry

 

[Ga Chicken Mom]

Welcome to BYC! What a great story about the pheasants. Seems if you have 3.5 acres you could hide more than 2 chickens. I think your wife will need to try to hatch more than two eggs to be sure to have success. Someone should jump in soon who can ship some eggs. Buff Orpingtons are wonderful, friendly hens who are heavily feathered for the cold.Good luck!

 

[Tuffoldhen]

She would enjoy Buff Orpingtons or the Blue/Black/Splash...very calm bird and hardy in winter...they do have single combs so drafts in ND winter would mean a good insulted coop because of frostbite......I also raise Light Brahmas they are a cold hardy bird with feathered feet, pea combs which you don't have to worry as much about frostbite...I'm sure others will chime in on what breeds they like and how hardy they are for bitter cold..And I know ND is bitter cold!! lol

 

[Josie]

I am so glad you were persistant, congratulations on your victory.

There are sellers of hatching eggs that sell only three eggs at a time, and they sell pretty breeds. This is one that has good selection to choose from Buc Buc Farms.

You might also want to consider incubating more eggs anyway.
The hatch rate is not guaranteed, and of those you have an average rate of only 50% females.
In my area, I have never had any trouble getting rid of excess birds.

 

[ChickNLittle]

Hi

I would get a half dozen eggs to hatch. Especially since this is your first experience with an incubator. Now...I have some leghorn x barred rocks which are hardy, great egg laying chickens. I would be glad to sell you six eggs. $1.00 each plus $6.95 priority postage. If you would like them , I could send them out by friday. You can pay me with Paypal if you have Paypal. The ID is; [email protected] Please make sure to list the right shipping address.

 

[Lloyd Henry]

Thank you all for your reponses.
I was kind of thinking that I would get some extra eggs and if they all hatched I would let them tell Peggy (my wife) that she couldn't keep all of them. She gets real protective of her babies and she is really good with her walking cane. I went on the sight recomened by Josie and I never realized there were such beautiful chickens. Being rasied on a farm I was used to white chickens and they were meant for meat and eggs and not enjoyment. I realy liked the Blue, splash and siverlaced Cochins. Every one recomended Buff Orpingtons and Tuffoldhen refered to some blue,black and splash Orpingtons. Are the Cochins as cold hardy as the Orpingtons? ChickNlittle would you have any of the Cochin or Orpington eggs for sale. I do not have Pay Pal so I would send a money order. I could send the money order even if you were expecting the eggs to be laid soon.
thank you all so much for the info. I all all fired up to get some eggs. I figure I would have time to build the coop as the chicks would be in the house for awhile.
If I don't answer your messages right away I am not being rude. I am using the computer at work and get busy and can't get to the computer. We live to far out to get high speed internet. We could use dial up but it is so slow that it would be quicker to drive to town
P.S please forgive my spelling. trying to hurry on this end
Lloyd Henry

 

[AussieSharon]

What a great story. I think your wife would love Buff Orpingtons also. There really is a reason so many people recommend them.

 

[d.k]

* Gotta tell you, LH, I'm flabbergasted!!! You live some ways out of town on 3.5 acres in the Dakotas, and they told you you could only keep TWO! TWO!!! chickens- GLA!! What is going on in this country??????

 

[patandchickens]

If you don't think it would be pushing things too far with the doofus zoning laws (horses but not chickens? sheesh!), you might want to seriously consider *3* chickens. The reason is that chickens are, ah, not always as lucky and long-lived as we might like them to be, and if something Sad should happen to one chicken, then you'd still have two to keep each other company. Whereas if you'd only had two to begin with, you'd find yourself with one lonely hen, have to scramble around to find a grown companion, worry about what diseases and pests it was carrying, find out whether the two actually got along or whether they just wanted to peck each other apart, etcetera. Lots of extra stress and no fun, easily avoided by simply developing an inability to count accurately to 2

Just a thought,

Pat, who actually went through exactly that last fall when Matilda died of eggbound/internal-laying issues and was REAL glad I'd started with 3 instead of just 2.

 

[Lloyd Henry]

I couldn't agree with everyone more. Here I am in the Dakotas known for farming and ranching and I can only have 2 chickens on 3.5 acres but I can have 2 horses which make a bigger mess than chickens. When my wife was raising the pheasants some people found out about it and tried to make us buy a permit to raise wild birds. told them that if they were so worried about a permit they should go buy one and mind their own business. I am not the most popular person around here right now.
Does anyone know who might have some Buff Orpington eggs for sale. Iwould like to get 3 blue and 3 splash Buff Orpingtons. Figured I would get 6 and let the chips fall where they may. I have to make sure I don't have any roosters because that would really set the neighborhood off. It's alright to listen the horses, which I really do like to hear, and all the dogs barking but if a rooster crows I am afraid they may loose their minds and try to string me up. Ha Ha. Oh! almost forgot if I could only get 3 buff eggs I would like 3 light brahmas.
I like them all they are so beautiful I really would like to get them all. Boy everyone would read about the great Dakota chicken war.
Thank you all again
LLoyd Henry