A Newbie!

[Red Barn Farms]

 

[1QueenBee]

Hi - nope no plans to take over the world! ;-) I'm just researching different breeds right now - am thinking of Buff Oprington, Rhode Island Red and maybe Barred Rock...I'm looking for chickens that can handle the cold weather too. Any tips? The plan was to get two of each kind and stick with all females - which hopefully means we would avoid hitting the 20 mark! Lol!!!

Hi and welcome to BYC! I'm fairly new here myself and just realized I hadn't posted an Introduction of myself, but wanted to see how others posted theirs...yours is one I looked at and I can't help myself following the resulting threads!!

I have a thought for you on breeds...since you have children, you might want to consider a couple of Americanas/Easter Eggers (or true Arauncanas, but their tough to find!). They lay green and or bluish eggs (hence the Easter Egger nickname) and are quite cold hardy and friendly. I have five (bought four and they gave me an extra!) that I got on July 7th, so they won't start laying until November at the earliest, and so far they seem pretty social - always run to the fence to greet me when I come around, and I have read that they are very friendly. Past that I have six RIRs and three Silver Leghorns...the RIRs are very friendly, but the the Leghorns are not at all.

Good luck! Would love to hear what you get.

QueenBee

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, Tongy, and

! Great to have you here. Yeah, I know...maybe 8...maybe 10!

 

[Melabella]

Hi Queen Bee!

Welcome to you as well! I love that there are so many newcomers and it just goes to show you the power of the chicken to bring people together!

I too was thinking I should have gotten some EEer's. You must post some pictures your eggs once they start arriving. Not sure how the year will go but was thinking that next spring if I have mastered being a good chicken caregiver, I might perhaps add some EE's, and I am so inlove with the look of those Black Copper Marans. The roosters are beautiful! I also recently heard from a fellow horse woman about Buckeye's being excellent mousers. That is one thing that I am not short of here, MICE! I am having a huge explosion around the barn of toads, and the other day a baby toad wandered into the brooder pen. He was a tiny little thing, and the girls gathered around him, and as per usual, my Barred Rock head of the class and one of my Wyandottes were the first to take a peck, from there the poor little thing was history!

Post some pics for us!

MB

 

[weimarmama]

&

from Alabama. Glad you joined us.

 

[1QueenBee]

Hi Queen Bee!

Welcome to you as well! I love that there are so many newcomers and it just goes to show you the power of the chicken to bring people together!

I too was thinking I should have gotten some EEer's. You must post some pictures your eggs once they start arriving. Not sure how the year will go but was thinking that next spring if I have mastered being a good chicken caregiver, I might perhaps add some EE's, and I am so inlove with the look of those Black Copper Marans. The roosters are beautiful! I also recently heard from a fellow horse woman about Buckeye's being excellent mousers. That is one thing that I am not short of here, MICE! I am having a huge explosion around the barn of toads, and the other day a baby toad wandered into the brooder pen. He was a tiny little thing, and the girls gathered around him, and as per usual, my Barred Rock head of the class and one of my Wyandottes were the first to take a peck, from there the poor little thing was history!

Post some pics for us!

MB

I used to get eggs from a sort-of neighbor who has a huge assortment of chickens...she told me it was a hobby that got out of hand and I now totally understand that! There are so many wonderful chickens that it's hard to decide which ones to get and I'm always seeing or hearing of others I want!! Now I'm thinking I'll have to get some Buckeye's...we live next to a river and across from a state park and there are a million mice here. We have cats, but not enough to control this huge mice population!

That poor baby toad...at least you know your chickens are getting enough protein!! The circle of life.

These EEs are only about six weeks old, but here are some pics...













QueenBee (aka Denise)

 

[Melabella]

I know Meyer had several hatches of Buckeye's due for the next few weeks,,,,The woman who told me she has a flock said that they weren't just like other chicken breeds that occasionally catch a mice, she explained they are almosts cat like with instincts to catch them, and she has seen them sit and wait, as a cat does. They are cold hearty, very friendly, and are a bit broody, but most people don't mind that. I also liked it was one of the few breeds directly started by a woman, of course she was from Ohio!

Pics are great, and I think you are going to be fine with what ever you pick, pullets or those chicks. I have to tell you, I have so enjoyed raising them so far. Trying to handle them a lot,,, every day, but they don't seem to enjoy it yet. The Barred Rocks seem to be the friendliest so far. They are the first to approach me. I notice when I am doing chores, they watch me as well. Love my girls!!

MB, (Carmela)

 

[1QueenBee]

Thanks! Think we're done getting new chicks for the year though...fall is fast approaching - everything seems to be a month ahead of schedule this year as far as weather/season and we don't want to have to run the heat lamp all day and night. Besides, we've probably dove in at least far enough for our first year with chickens! ;-} However we do anticipate diving in a whole lot further and having a huge flock eventually, but it may have to wait until we build our house on our countryside 80-acre timber lot instead of here in the city. We're in a odd, but lovely, part of this city right next to a river and across from a state park, but it is the city and we have close neighbors...though we did recently realize that one of our lots is zoned agricultural, so we really could have a huge flock here, but unlike quite a few around here we try to be good neighbors. BTW, I also like that they (Buckeyes) were started by a woman and it makes me want some even more! And yep, I love my girls too!!

 

[Tongy]

Hi - thanks for the tip about the brooder and all the welcome messages! If I got three older hens now and then got some chicks next spring do you think the exisiting hens would accept them? I'm in NJ and it's gonna get cold in the winter so I'm not sure it would be good for chicks...

 

[1QueenBee]

Hi - thanks for the tip about the brooder and all the welcome messages! If I got three older hens now and then got some chicks next spring do you think the exisiting hens would accept them? I'm in NJ and it's gonna get cold in the winter so I'm not sure it would be good for chicks...

Hi! I'm new to this too and am in the process of my first chick integration, but from what I've read (and I've read a lot!) you need to put the chicks in a separate run that is right next to the older chickens run for maybe a week so that they first get used to each other - their separated by chicken wire/fencing so that they can see each other, but not be able to peck each other. I also read a few posts on here yesterday that said they then put the chicks in the new to them/old to older chickens coop when closing them in for the night so that they wake up with each other. There will be a re-establishment of the pecking order of course, but as long as they don't draw blood you're good. Oh, the chicks should be, I believe, 6-8 weeks old before you start integrating them. We just moved our EEs that were hatched the first part of July so that they're run is right next to our layers that were hatched the end of March/first part of April last night and will probably move them into the layer's coop some night this weekend. So far, so good and hopefully the move into the layer coop will go well!