California - Northern

[Birdmom2020]

Not sure but my mom is in Janesville/susanville.

 

[ronott1]

I used to have a lot of chickens but am down to 5 now. It is hard to resist getting more!

 

[ronott1]

Not sure but my mom is in Janesville/susanville.

Susanville is almost Nevada!

Nice place up there

 

[Birdmom2020]

Susanville is almost Nevada!

Nice place up there

I've never been. She moved there after I moved back to ohio. We all lived in orange county at first. Westminster then Costa Mesa.

 

[keepercjr]

@keepercjr So easy to go wild getting birds, eh? Years ago I just wanted two little pullet Silkies as backyard pets and throughout the years I have now cycled through 19 chickens of various breeds LOL (not all at the same time though)!!! It's amazing that one of the original Silkie pets is still around today):

This is what's left today -- a Silkie, 2 Dominiques, 1 Breda. Hopefully I can get more birds by next Spring
View attachment 2190587

LOL for sure. We have had up to 8 (I think) at one time but are now down to 2, a Rhode Island Red and an Easter Egger. Other than my original 3 from the feed store, I have hatched most of what else we have had (except for the Rhode Island Red and an Americauna). I live on 1/4 acre and have a very large backyard and they free range 100% of the time. There is plenty of space for more birds. I currently have 38 chicks and plan to keep approx 8 pullets. The rest have to go. I had a better hatch rate than usual on the shipped eggs I bought so I wasn't expecting this many to hatch!

 

[ronott1]

LOL for sure. We have had up to 8 (I think) at one time but are now down to 2, a Rhode Island Red and an Easter Egger. Other than my original 3 from the feed store, I have hatched most of what else we have had (except for the Rhode Island Red and an Americauna). I live on 1/4 acre and have a very large backyard and they free range 100% of the time. There is plenty of space for more birds. I currently have 38 chicks and plan to keep approx 8 pullets. The rest have to go. I had a better hatch rate than usual on the shipped eggs I bought so I wasn't expecting this many to hatch!

8 is a nice number!

I will need to get more next year.

 

[Sylvester017]

LOL for sure. We have had up to 8 (I think) at one time but are now down to 2, a Rhode Island Red and an Easter Egger. Other than my original 3 from the feed store, I have hatched most of what else we have had (except for the Rhode Island Red and an Americauna). I live on 1/4 acre and have a very large backyard and they free range 100% of the time. There is plenty of space for more birds. I currently have 38 chicks and plan to keep approx 8 pullets. The rest have to go. I had a better hatch rate than usual on the shipped eggs I bought so I wasn't expecting this many to hatch!

1/4 acres is NICE! Here in SoCalif most properties are much smaller in the city and suburbs in L.A. County that many local ordinances prohibit poultry. I'm lucky that our neighborhood section allows 5 hens/no roos (but a Silkie counts as 1/2 a chicken, right?). Many properties are so small that local ordinances purposely and craftily pass laws that poultry has to be kept several yards away from domiciles -- so of course many properties wind up with too small a space to keep chickens. I'm sure my backyard can't keep a coop in the required ordinance but my neighbors have been cool about my hens and don't complain. At least my hens go to sleep at dusk and don't go meowing or barking incessantly all night like some neighborhood pets do!!!

View from our side kitchen sliding door of roofed patio over chicken coop on the right -- their coop run opens onto the other side of the iron gate so we have a separated "people" side of the yard from a "chicken" side of the backyard.

View from coop overlooking the "people" patio and raised garden beds with pop-up canopies on "chicken" side of the yard.

Dustbath sandbox under the largest canopy (canopy frame legs buried in soil to keep from parasailing away in our Santa Ana winds).

Half of backyard is fenced off for the chickens with two more pop-up canopies and lean-to benches for animal shade from our brutal summer sun. We planted small trees on the chicken side last year and they were so small but this year they're big enough to give the girls shade to sit under (Last picture way way below is of the tall Pomegranate tree).

View from one of our chicken lean-to benches looking into the "people" side of the yard -- chicken coop with green cover is under patio roof in rear of photo

A 4-ft tall (2"x4" wiring) fencing divides the chicken yard from our people yard.

Approx 9-ft lean-to bench on the walkway leading from the coop-run to the sandbox under the first canopy -- the bench gives the girls cover on their way from the coop-run to the sandbox and we use it to sit and visit with the girls.

Little tiny Pomegranate tree last year is over 8 feet tall this year and the girls like to sit around it for shade.

I think our current 4 hens have decent creature comforts and plenty of yard space. We're seniors and hardly use our patio except to plant veggies in raised garden beds and container pots so why not give most of the yard to the girls, eh? Years back we used to let the hens roam the people side but I got tired of removing chicken poops all the time so giving them a sandbox and regular dirt to roam around on their side is so much easier on me. All the canopies, lean-to benches, and dog houses are to give the girls shade as well as hiding places from Cooper's Hawks -- the girls are pretty smart at hiding. All the canopies clutter air space to keep hawks from having a clear area to swoop down on unsuspecting hens.

 

[ronott1]

1/4 acres is NICE! Here in SoCalif most properties are much smaller in the city and suburbs in L.A. County that many local ordinances prohibit poultry. I'm lucky that our neighborhood section allows 5 hens/no roos (but a Silkie counts as 1/2 a chicken, right?). Many properties are so small that local ordinances purposely and craftily pass laws that poultry has to be kept several yards away from domiciles -- so of course many properties wind up with too small a space to keep chickens. I'm sure my backyard can't keep a coop in the required ordinance but my neighbors have been cool about my hens and don't complain. At least my hens go to sleep at dusk and don't go meowing or barking incessantly all night like some neighborhood pets do!!!

View from our side kitchen sliding door of roofed patio over chicken coop on the right -- their coop run opens onto the other side of the iron gate so we have a separated "people" side of the yard from a "chicken" side of the backyard.
View attachment 2196423

View from coop overlooking the "people" patio and raised garden beds with pop-up canopies on "chicken" side of the yard.
View attachment 2196432

Dustbath sandbox under the largest canopy (canopy frame legs buried in soil to keep from parasailing away in our Santa Ana winds).
View attachment 2196434

Half of backyard is fenced off for the chickens with two more pop-up canopies and lean-to benches for animal shade from our brutal summer sun. We planted small trees on the chicken side last year and they were so small but this year they're big enough to give the girls shade to sit under (Last picture way way below is of the tall Pomegranate tree).
View attachment 2196435View attachment 2196436View attachment 2196437

View from one of our chicken lean-to benches looking into the "people" side of the yard -- chicken coop with green cover is under patio roof in rear of photo
View attachment 2196438

A 4-ft tall (2"x4" wiring) fencing divides the chicken yard from our people yard.
View attachment 2196439


Approx 9-ft lean-to bench on the walkway leading from the coop-run to the sandbox under the first canopy -- the bench gives the girls cover on their way from the coop-run to the sandbox and we use it to sit and visit with the girls.
View attachment 2196504

View attachment 2196505


Little tiny Pomegranate tree last year is over 8 feet tall this year and the girls like to sit around it for shade.
View attachment 2196483

I think our current 4 hens have decent creature comforts and plenty of yard space. We're seniors and hardly use our patio except to plant veggies in raised garden beds and container pots so why not give most of the yard to the girls, eh? Years back we used to let the hens roam the people side but I got tired of removing chicken poops all the time so giving them a sandbox and regular dirt to roam around on their side is so much easier on me. All the canopies, lean-to benches, and dog houses are to give the girls shade as well as hiding places from Cooper's Hawks -- the girls are pretty smart at hiding. All the canopies clutter air space to keep hawks from having a clear area to swoop down on unsuspecting hens.

Your have a very nice setup!

 

[Sylvester017]

@ronott1 TY!!

 

[zooinmypocket]

I will tell you this shelter in place bidness really through a monkey wrench into my chick acquisition. The feed store in San Leandro had sporadic chick days and insane lines. I spent four hours in line to get 2 Buff Orpingtons and 2 Black Australorps and no Brahmas (they were shorted, and in any case they instituted limits on account of the 50 people in line). 2.5 hours were prior the line prior to opening and the other 1.5 was spent waiting on the mail carrier to arrive. (If you were there too, I was the one with the blue ukulele). Anyways, I learned about Concord Feed because they sponsored this post. But their Dublin location was closed until recently. I am planning now on getting the Brahmas through Concord Feed. And I've called and spoken with them and am only mostly reassured that it will not be a frenzy. Anyone else in the Bay Area having issues getting chicks?

Hi, a lot of places that I have been able to get chicks from tend to be out in a few hours to days if they get weekly shipments. I was doing OK selling some chicks here and there, but now I have a ton of demand. If anyone wants to input bay area demand, I would love to get input. I opened this thread a few weeks ago.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bay-area-input-needed.1384012/