2018 Newbie Chat!

[BBZZZZTT]

Hey!
I made this thread as a place for all us first timers to get together and share our experience!
I saw there was one for 2017 and it kept going all the way until those chicks were grown up and laying!
This year will be my first year raising chicks (Or chickens at all). I got my coop built in fall before it got too cold and snowy here. My local feed store gets chicks late Feb to mid March so now I'm not so patiently waiting for that! I live in a city so I am only allowed "4" hens. I think I'm going to get 5 or 6 chicks though just in case.
My brooder is almost ready to go, just waiting on heating pad from Amazon for MHP.

 

[BBZZZZTT]

 

[Jay E.]

I'm not new. Good luck. Chickens are addicting .. LoL We started with 8 last Spring. Hen went Broody in September, she hatched 5. Then my son got an incubator. We're now up to 14 in our Coop, we've given 8 new homes. We still have 3 recently hatched and 1 more egg in the incubator that they snuck in.

 

[BBZZZZTT]

Haha, yeah, I've definitely read a lot about chicken math on this site.
This thread certainly doesn't need to be limited to newbies though!

 

[NNYchick]

I’m a newbie. I got my Silkie flock (8)last summer but they were all older chicks between 8-15 weeks. I just incubated And brooding my first batch of chicks now. I hatched 9/12 of my flocks eggs on 1/18. All nine are doing well. I have them in a dog crate made brooder with a MHP for heat. Chicken math is a real thing and hatching is addictive! My husband talked me into setting another batch, so this morning I put another 12 in the bator. So as I’m integrating this batch into coop I’ll have newbies in the brooder. It will be chicks chicks everywhere chicks, I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

 

[Jay E.]

This is our latest little guy. He's got a little bit of splay leg so he's not to happy with us right now.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

Welcome to BYC! I’m a definite newbie. Beautiful coop! Made the mistake of getting my chicks before we built ours. First batch of babies is six weeks old now and I’ve got a couple more weeks before they can move into our coop. I’m also getting another batch of babies on February 6th from MPC

 

[aimwad]

Newbie here! I'd like to join ya! I've got 3 8wk olds. I would love to add more but I'm making myself hold out. I live in the city and by law I'm allowed only 6 hens. So I've settled for 3 now and will try and add 3 more in a year and go from there. I just moved my girls into their coop/run a week ago. Currently working on getting them to go into coop at night. They prefer to sleep in the run. ugh.

 

[nine9d]

Woot woot! I'm a newbie too, and I have a pending order with MPC to be delivered in April. I like your coop, did you get instructions for it or just build it yourself? I know I should have built mine beforehand, but I am handy so putting something together around April/May will be fine.

My city allows us up to 12, I have 9 on order. Let's see what happens here!

 

[Hufflefluff]

Hello, everyone! I'm not a newbie to chicken keeping (or to byc), but I will be starting my flock anew this year (my entire flock was lost in one fell swoop to predators in November, and so after taking some new security measures we're all set to restart this March)
I'd love to hear about everyone else's chicken journies and experiences, especially if they involve cute chicken pictures

And an extra warmhearted welcome to all new byc-ers!
To those starting their first flock this year, I hope everything goes smoothly, and I can't wait to hear about it

(edited for spelling mistakes- whoops!)