Becoming a country girl!

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countrygirl08

countrygirl08

Hatching
Apr 6, 2015
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Hello everyone! I am new to this site and I am researching the ins and outs of owning chickens so in the end we can get fresh eggs. Fresh farm eggs are so much better on so many levels! My husband used to help his grandmother with her chickens growing up so he is an expert at caring for them. However, I am a newbie so I am reading and learning along the way. I am so excited to be a part of this and excited to get started. We are going to start off with babies so the chickens can get to know us and our 3 children. I don't know what breed we are getting just yet but nonetheless I am happy to soak in some knowledge!
 
Welcome to BYC!

I'm in the same boat as you--about to bring home my first flock. I ordered 5 Dominique pullet chicks from my local feed store (LFS) and they're supposed to hatch next week. Fresh eggs were probably the biggest motivator. I spend a lot of time reading articles on this site and watching coop tour videos on youtube.

Anyway, here's the criteria I considered when choosing a breed:
1) Healthy birds that do well in my climate
2) Prolific egg-layers--I preferred a breed not known for going broody all the time
3) Bug eaters!
4) Aware of predators and not inclined to go totally wild
Now I didn't really care if my birds act like pets or not, but you might because you kids. Temperament can be hit or miss--some breeds that aren't supposed to be friendly might be super cuddly pets. Others that are supposed to be docile might be kind of flighty, despite being handraised. Maybe someone more experienced can shed light on their behavior...

If you'd like to hatch and raise subsequent generations of your own chicks, you might choose a more broody breed that will be good at sitting on eggs and raising babies. Some other things to think about: What kind of weather do you get year-round? How many are you allowed to keep where you live? Do you have somewhere near you where you can buy baby chicks?
 
Hi :welcome

Glad you could join the flock! How exciting for you and your family to be starting your new chicken journey. Raising chicks and chickens is such a fantastic and very rewarding experience especially when you have your children helping you.
The learning centre has some great articles on getting started with all aspects of raising chicks, keeping your birds healthy, safe from predators and happy https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Wishing you and your family the very best of luck and be sure to ask any questions you may have, everyone here to help you along the way and very friendly.

Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat :frow
 
Thank you for the info! @mermaids I live in Southwest Louisiana so it is humid and hot in the summer and we have cold weather every once in a while in the winter. We have a couple of local feed stores but I will need to go and see if we can get some baby chicks from there. I checked out my city's online website and it doesn't say how many chickens we can own but we will probably only get 3 because we live in a neighborhood where the homes are really close. The city states the coop has to be at least 50 ft from a residence so we just made the cut off, lol. Thanks everyone for the support. I told my husband I joined this group and he laughed and said I am becoming obsessed with chickens! It is not obsession I just like to be well informed and fully understand what I am getting myself into before I dive in full chicken mode!!!
 
You're welcome! So you definitely need a heat tolerant breed. With neighbors close by, I'm guessing a rooster will make you lots of enemies. If you're only buying 3 chicks at a time, personally I call that a minimum since chickens like to live as a flock, you want all pullets. Your next question for a seller is do you sell sexed pullets? Straight run means males and females are mixed in. There are different ways to guess at sex of a chick, and most are breed-specific. Black sex links and red sex links are when 2 purebreds are crossed so that it will be obvious by color which are which. For the safety of the chicks, vent sexing should be left to the experts, and personal opinion, I don't like the hold them upside down by their legs or hold them by the neck methods. I found this explanation enlightening: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

I feel the same way you do about entering the chicken-keeping world--I want to be well-prepared and well-informed. I don't like doing things halfway!

This site has a wealth of information on the characteristics of each breed as well as a buy-sell-trade section. You may get lucky and find someone selling chicks near you. Best of luck to you!
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided join our flock. Since eggs production is a priority and you are only getting 3 birds, I would suggest Black Sex Links. They are friendly and hardy, egg laying machines which can be sexed by color from hatching so that you will not accidently end up will a male (male chicks have a white spot on top of their black heads, the tops of female chicks' heads are solid black). I've raised Black Sex Links for years (along with dozens of other breeds and hybrids) and they have been my best layers, consistently churning out more than 300 eggs per hen per year. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Whatever breed or hybrid you end up getting, good luck with your flock.
 
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