Becoming a country girl!

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@Michael OShay thanks for the input on the breed. My husband had past experiences with Rhode Island Reds. What are your thoughts on this type of breed. Temperament? Productivity? Also what are your thoughts on purchasing chicks online versus the local feed store? I am new to this and have never purchased live animals online and just wondering what to expect. If online is the way to go do you have any suggestions on which company we should purchase from?
 
countrygirl08 said:
@Michael OShay thanks for the input on the breed. My husband had past experiences with Rhode Island Reds. What are your thoughts on this type of breed. Temperament? Productivity? Also what are your thoughts on purchasing chicks online versus the local feed store? I am new to this and have never purchased live animals online and just wondering what to expect. If online is the way to go do you have any suggestions on which company we should purchase from?
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Rhode Island Red are a very hardy breed and excellent layers of large, brown eggs. In my personal experience temperament is variable with RIRs. Hatchery quality RIRs are sometimes aggressive (especially the roosters), whereas those which come from breeders are almost always docile. Purchasing from the local feed store is fine if you know what you are doing. Just be aware that the people who work in feed stores often don't know what they're doing and chicks can be mislabeled or even mixed up in the bins. The main advantages of buying from feed stores is that you can see the condition of the chicks before you buy them and you can buy as few as you like. With online hatcheries, you don't see the chicks until they actually arrive in the mail, and hatcheries generally have minimum orders for shipping. Actually more chicks ship better, so I always order 25 pullets whether or not I need that many. Since I have the order form showing they are pullets, I've never had any trouble selling off the extras and recouping my money. The major advantages in ordering online from hatcheries, you will have a much wider selection of breeds, and you should get exactly what you ordered. It is highly unlikely that there will be a mistake in breeds or gender. I've ordered chicks on multiple occasions from four different hatcheries; Murray McMurray Hatcher, Cackle Hatchery, Ideal Poultry, and Dunlap Hatchery. Dunlap is my personal favorite, but I've been happy with the birds and service of all four of them, so my suggestion would be to order from the one that is closest to where you live. That way the chicks will have the least distance to have to travel in the mail.
 
@Michael OShay well we bought some today! We went to a local feed store and purchased 3 pullet red sex links. I am so excited and so in love! My kids named them Ms. Honey, Ms. Rose, and Ms. Ella. They are so precious and already falling asleep in my hands. Here is a pic of them!
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Hello Country Girl! Just my 2 cents on feed store chicks and hoping to spare you what I've gone through...DON'T do it! I wish I had taken to heart all the pointers on chicken keeping before I gambled on feed store chicks. I have lost over half my flock from Marek's Disease since purchasing our last group of pullets. It's a heart wrenching experience watching the girls go one by one and always wondering who's next. The thing with feed store chicks, though vaccinated against Marek's, are potentially exposed to the virus (carried in on customers) before their immune systems have had adequate time to build up a resistance to the disease. They don't show signs or symptoms until around 16 weeks or so, plenty of time for you and your kiddos to become attached. Obviously, I will never give into the temptation of buying those cute little fluff balls from a feed store again. In fact, I won't even go near them because I don't want to expose them to the Mareks virus that might be on my clothes. At any rate, just wanted to share my experience. Wish you well and enjoy your new adventure!
 
countrygirl08 said:
@Michael OShay well we bought some today! We went to a local feed store and purchased 3 pullet red sex links. I am so excited and so in love! My kids named them Ms. Honey, Ms. Rose, and Ms. Ella. They are so precious and already falling asleep in my hands. Here is a pic of them!
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Thanks for posting the pic. I love Red Sex Links and think you will too. They are egg laying machines, consistently churning out more than 300 eggs per hen per year. You should get loads of eggs from those girls. Good luck with your RSLs. :o)
 
@Michael OShay and @WeBeCluckin just to give everyone an update one of the girls is dying. I don't know what happened. I checked everyone's butt and cleaned their area everyday. We came home this evening and she is listless and barely breathing. The other two are full of life and trying to fly. I noticed this morning that the one that is not doing well was standing alone this morning and I think that was my first sign that something wasn't right. But I thought maybe she was sleeping. But when we came back she was laying on her side and barely chirping with her eyes closed. I think she is past the part of saving. My kids are ok and ready to get another one. I hope the other two continue to grow and get stronger. I will keep everyone posted.
 
Oh my gosh, I am so sorry to hear that. :( Good your kids are taking it well though. My kids always fall apart when anything happens to one, especially when they're so tiny and cute! Wish you luck on your next little baby. Sometimes it just happens and never really know why. My 7 year old's hen is a red sex link too and she's an awesome girl.
 
countrygirl08 said:
@Michael OShay and @WeBeCluckin just to give everyone an update one of the girls is dying. I don't know what happened. I checked everyone's butt and cleaned their area everyday. We came home this evening and she is listless and barely breathing. The other two are full of life and trying to fly. I noticed this morning that the one that is not doing well was standing alone this morning and I think that was my first sign that something wasn't right. But I thought maybe she was sleeping. But when we came back she was laying on her side and barely chirping with her eyes closed. I think she is past the part of saving. My kids are ok and ready to get another one. I hope the other two continue to grow and get stronger. I will keep everyone posted.
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I'm sorry to hear that. It's always sad to lose one of our flock. I hope the rest of your chicks all do well.
 

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