Hello there! I moved to MD from ND where I had goats, a garden, horses, etc., but never did get into chickens out there for some reason. Since I've moved to MD (10 years ago now) I have been mooning over my loss of rural country living. I was 8 miles from the nearest town (population 43!) and now I am 2 miles from a McDonald's, so it's been quite the culture shock for me. lol I still have horses (and a mule) but now I have to board them and drive 20 minutes to go see them. I miss having goats but there is no way my husband would let me get a goat and I'm not sure we can have them here anyway. So, I'd like to get some chickens. I know we can have hens, just no roosters. Anyway, I joined up here to gather as much information as I can about what I'd be getting myself into if I decide to get a few hens! Thanks for having me!
Welcome to Backyard chickens. Do you have any thoughts about what breed(s) you would like? Do you want layers, meat bird, pets or fancy lawn decorations? There are breeds to fit any desire.
Greetings from Kansas, Sioranth, and ! Great to have you in our community! BYC is a great place to do the research!! You can also visit with fellow Maryland poultry folks here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/63745/maryland-thread
Hello and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us. You'll find lots of info in the Learning Centre - https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center and if you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads. All the best CT
G’Day from down under Sioranth Welcome! As you have already received some links to great starting points, I will just wish you all the best. I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun. If you would like to share pictures and stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out
Thank you for the warm welcome and for the helpful links! We're (my daughter and I) thinking about Easter Eggers. I also like the Rhode Island Reds and the Marans breeds. We're primarily interested in layers and decorative/ornamental chickens. We go through about 1/2 to 3/4 dozen large a week here. She likes to bake and I love eggs for breakfast and so does my son. I'd rather have "too many" eggs (really, can you have too many?) than not enough. Would 3 hens of that breed be considered adequate? I'm going to build an 8'L x 5'W x 55"H A-frame coop (a la Ana White) to start with, since it's inexpensive and fast, and then work on a better "chicken palace" over time. I plan to allow them access to my garden (free pesticide!) and a good portion of the backyard via a chicken run. I have to enclose my garden anyway because the deer here have no shame and there's a herd that thinks my backyard is their personal master suite. They aren't even afraid of my German Shepherds! I'm going to go check out that learning center and the MD forum.
