Bruwen chicks

[Bruwen chicks]

Hi everyone at Backyard chickens ! I am a total newbie on this site as well as being a chicken "Momma" ! It was my other-half's decision to get a few chickens....about 8 months ago. We were given 1 RIR hen, a RIR Rooster and 1 Ancona hen. which all are free ranging on our 5 acres. After several clutches of eggs that were layed in my neighbors barn, we now have a total of 14 adult RIR hens, 1 adult RIR/Ancona Rooster, 10 RIR chicks( 3 months old) and a newer addition of Barred Rock chicks(18 from a livestock auction). All of our housed birds were started on Purina Start and grow until 4 months old, then the hens went on Purina Layena crumbles. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with things like when and how to worm them all, and what type of chicken coop flooring is best, and how to medicate 2 hens that started a "Cough" today.
I know that there is a ton of good information out there and i feel confident that this forum is a good place to start I just want to raise and keep healthy chickens. Our first thoughts about having chickens were for fresh eggs and good table birds. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated !

Thanks,

Bruwen

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, Bruwen, and . Great to have you aboard. I'd recommend spending some time perusing the information in the Learning Center here https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
It's an absolute treasure trove of information for the chicken keeper. Ask any questions you might have along the way - BYC is a friendly community! Best wishes.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi Bruwen

Glad you could join us here! What a lovely flock you have there Please do check out the link redsoxs left for you, lots of super info there that I'm sure you will find most helpful. Good luck for the future and enjoy BYC

 

[drumstick diva]

Nice to meet you Bruwen. Do your hens have any other symptoms aside from a cough? Are the eating, drinking, pooping normally ? Do they scratch and peck, and do regular chicken type things?

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - you have some great advice already so I'll just say hello!


All the best
CT

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[Bruwen chicks]

Thank you and I am looking forward to learning everything i can !!

 

[Bruwen chicks]

Thank you !!

 

[Kiki]

Welcome and congrats on being a chicken Momma!

 

[Bruwen chicks]

I have heard only 2 out of 13 hens in this coop cough. it is not frequent, in fact i have to hang around with them for a while to even hear it. They are eating, drinking and behaving normal at this point except yesterday i watched one of the hens that has the cough/bark slowly stalking every other hen in the coop one at a time and sneaks up behind them and plucks a feather and eats it !! she did this to about 8 of the hens while i was watching her. Could this be the reason she"s coughing ? Is this behavior normal ? she's the only one doing it....I now call her "Sinbad"...lol.