Any advice for beginners

Glad you have joined us.

First advice is to visit the Learning Center Articles on raising baby chicks. Have your brooder equipment, feeder/fount in place before they come. Decide on what type feed you want to use and also have it on hand when they arrive.

Start exploring the coop sections. You need to start building once you get the chicks, to have it ready when they are 5-6 weeks old.

Wish I had listened to the advice from the forums and books to build a little larger than you think.

Feel free to ask questions, we are here to help.

Please do also post under New Members to get a warm welcome from many.

Good luck in your new adventure.

 

Always build bigger than you think you need. Also don't think you have to have everything perfect. Chickens have survived in the wild in trees and on the ground before we came along and domesticated them. They still could if we just left them alone.

Don't stress, enjoy!

 

Read, read, read between now and then. Go to your local library, and check out all of the books available on poultry raising. That way you can read a bunch of different authors without spending a lot of money. Save that money for your coop and brooder build. Read the threads on this forum, as well as the many learning center articles. Got a question? Type it in the search bar, and see what folks have to say about your topic of interest. If at all possible, stay away from the cute little pre-fab coops. They're way over priced, poorly designed, especially regarding perch design and spacing, and ventilation. Don't believe the manufacturer's statement about how many chickens their cute little coop will house. You can probably buy a custom built coop from a local builder cheaper than you can get a pre-fab. Build big. Don't use chicken wire in your coop. It is not predator proof. You'll need 1/2" hardware cloth to seal all openings.

 

How exciting to have a new BYC member! You're going to have fun here and fun raising chickens. You're in for so many wonderful surprises!

I bet you didn't know that, besides producing fresh eggs, chickens of both genders make wonderful pets. Some are especially affectionate and are like kittens and puppies in enjoying being cuddled.

No matter if you want tame pets or just eggs, you will need to be able to handle your chickens from time to time. Chickens can be skittish if not raised to be comfortable being handled, and the way to achieve easy to handle chickens is to plan your brooder, which will house your baby chicks for the first four to six weeks, so that they will be raised tame and trusting.

The secret to this objective is to create a brooder with a side access as opposed to simply having a box on the floor that you reach down into to pick up your chicks. I use large cardboard boxes and they're easy to cut nifty doors into that open on the side. This way, you reach in for the chicks at their level instead of diving down on them from above like some bird of prey. And that's the fear instinct that awakens in chicks by approaching them in that way.

You can set the brooder on a table and it'll be simple to play with and handle the chicks, even for children, if they're going to be included in raising these chicks. This is the most important secret I wish someone had told me when I got my first chicks. The hens I raised years ago in a top access brooder are still running away from me to this day, making it a major production to try to handle them.

Anyway, welcome!