Bok bok from PA! :)

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teamjessie

teamjessie

In the Brooder
5 Years
Joined
Mar 12, 2014
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27
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Location
Exton, PA
Hi everyone,

Well, I guess it's official now. We brought 8 chickies home from the feed store yesterday, and we're ready to rock. My kids (a nearly 4-year old and a 5-year old) are just on cloud nine. All the chicks have names (including one my daughter named "Log", which is about the funniest thing ever), and we have a good lead on some pallets to get started on a coop.

I guess my main question is... anyone else get nervous at the beginning? I've wanted chickens for years, been researching like crazy, and felt like we were ready to go for it. Now that they're here, I guess I'm a little afraid of screwing it up. Either we'll end up spending way too much money, or something will go wrong - all the usual worries. Anyone want to talk me through the new-parent jitters?
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My sister and I built two coops from pallets and they are beautiful. Just because you don't spend much money on it doesn't mean it has to look like it. We had to buy the hardware cloth and two sheets of ply wood. All of the rest of the wood on this coop is from pallets. I do suggest spending the money on the 1/2" hardware cloth. Chicken wire is only good at keeping chickens in. It won't keep predators out.

Here is a link to the coop we built.


Chicken tractor



Good luck :)
 
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Absolutely! Very common to be a nervous mommy at first. But you get a little better as time goes on. Although I still find myself worrying over my birds.
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Maybe doing some reading in our learning center here on BYC will ease your mind a bit. The more you know, the less stressful this new stage will be for you....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Is there anything that really has you freaked out that you need to ask about?? That is what we are here for.
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Good luck with your new babies and welcome to BYC!
 
You might also like this podcast. It goes over things like how to clean and store your eggs to spontaneous sex reversal in chickens. The host doesn't have any great background in chickens, but her guests do. I have loved getting chickens and I hope you enjoy yours just as much. The only other advice is to build your coop and run as large as possible because you will as big of a sucker for those baby chicks next year as you are this year and you need room for a few more ladies.\


http://www.urbanchickenpodcast.com/blog/
 
Hello and Welcome To BYC! Good luck with your chicks! Love the name "Log" sure is original. Ya, everybody worries over their chickens, chickens are pretty tough though, we manage to muddle through even if everything doesn't go perfectly the first time... there seems to be answers for everything chicken related on BYC.
 
Aw, thanks for the comments! Odelia, those coops are excellent! I'm super glad to see they turned out so well. We're about to go raid the beer distributor for some free lumber :)

TwoCrows, as for specifics, I guess it's just typical startup jitters. Mainly, I'm concerned about the coop. When I was first researching coop prices, I was under the impression that you could get a dcent one in the $200 - $300 range. Next thing you know, all the reviews say they're cramped and total junk. So I was a little upset thinking I had just gotten us into a $1,000 mess. Luckily, the pallet thing seems to be working out really well for others, so that's helping me feel better :)
 
teamjessie said:
Aw, thanks for the comments! Odelia, those coops are excellent! I'm super glad to see they turned out so well. We're about to go raid the beer distributor for some free lumber :)

TwoCrows, as for specifics, I guess it's just typical startup jitters. Mainly, I'm concerned about the coop. When I was first researching coop prices, I was under the impression that you could get a dcent one in the $200 - $300 range. Next thing you know, all the reviews say they're cramped and total junk. So I was a little upset thinking I had just gotten us into a $1,000 mess. Luckily, the pallet thing seems to be working out really well for others, so that's helping me feel better :)
Click to expand...

There is always a huge price difference in buying something pre-made vs. making it your self. I think the coop we built cost under $100 and most of the money was for the wire. It will also hold more birds and a lot more comfortably than a $200-$300 dollar coop.
 
My husband just brought two carloads of pallets back from the beer distributor
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Looks like we can get started this weekend!
 
Alright
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great to have you joining the BYC flock
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I have been doing this for over forty years and I get a little worried
every day about security, feed, their health, and on and on this is
normal as with children can talk or show you that something is
wrong in one way or another but poultry you need to watch them
for any little movement or illness in the flock this is all part of being
a poultry farmer ....




My new baby's .....





Bob & Aflack tacking in the Noon sun ....





Chow time ....




My EE chicks at 12 weeks ....





My Russian Orloff hens
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My EE chicks at ten weeks ....





Feeding time at the zoo .....




Russian Orloff chicks at 3 weeks
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My Molted Houdan's .......





When all else fails something like this Bob Cat will show up to wipe you out
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Watching them grow ....



With this you can understand why every day I am worried about something but if you do not worry about anything you wont have anything ........









gander007
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