- Sep 12, 2010
- 9
- 0
- 7
Hey everybody,
Sorry I'm not too knowledgable about chickens, I only know the basics read in books and such. We currently have two chickens (had three, but one got attacked by a raccoon when we forgot to shut them in for the night. Won't happen agian, RIP.), a Wyandote and a Red Sex Link (almost two years old). We are looking into getting more chickens as a possibility, but we want to be well informed before we take that fateful step. Our two chickens are kept, for the most part, free range. We have a fenced in yard, and there is one side they can jump over and into our neighbors (luckily our neighbors are good friends of ours and don't really mind, they just lead them back over to our yard). We give them leftovers (yes, we know what and what not to give them), we hang lettuce for them sometimes, scatter a mixture of scratch and their regular feed for them, have water and food available in their coop, and have an outdoor water dish for them. They are fairly independent. We are looking to getting more hens because we would like some more eggs, but we have a couple questions. First, what kind? Our chickens do fairly well, and we were thinking maybe getting a few more Wyandotes (the Red Sex Link is the dominant in the pecking order). Does it matter getting the same kind as what we currently have? We want good layers, good foragers, and preferably docile hens. What breed and how many would you reccomend?
The second question, is how to introduce them? I've heard of giving the new chickens a quarantine where they can only see our current hens, but for how long? How should we introduce them? Just put all the new hens in the coop at night? Let them go in the yard, where they have room to escape bullying?
Thanks so much for helping an ignorant newbie.
Sorry I'm not too knowledgable about chickens, I only know the basics read in books and such. We currently have two chickens (had three, but one got attacked by a raccoon when we forgot to shut them in for the night. Won't happen agian, RIP.), a Wyandote and a Red Sex Link (almost two years old). We are looking into getting more chickens as a possibility, but we want to be well informed before we take that fateful step. Our two chickens are kept, for the most part, free range. We have a fenced in yard, and there is one side they can jump over and into our neighbors (luckily our neighbors are good friends of ours and don't really mind, they just lead them back over to our yard). We give them leftovers (yes, we know what and what not to give them), we hang lettuce for them sometimes, scatter a mixture of scratch and their regular feed for them, have water and food available in their coop, and have an outdoor water dish for them. They are fairly independent. We are looking to getting more hens because we would like some more eggs, but we have a couple questions. First, what kind? Our chickens do fairly well, and we were thinking maybe getting a few more Wyandotes (the Red Sex Link is the dominant in the pecking order). Does it matter getting the same kind as what we currently have? We want good layers, good foragers, and preferably docile hens. What breed and how many would you reccomend?
The second question, is how to introduce them? I've heard of giving the new chickens a quarantine where they can only see our current hens, but for how long? How should we introduce them? Just put all the new hens in the coop at night? Let them go in the yard, where they have room to escape bullying?
Thanks so much for helping an ignorant newbie.