Chicken Newbie Here!

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QHGirl

QHGirl

In the Brooder
Apr 3, 2015
32
2
36
Warba, MN
Hi Everyone,
I'm just as new to chickens as I am to this forum. In fact, I don't even have chickens yet but I will within the next week. We are letting my daughter get chickens for Easter. Actually, that's the excuse I'm using to get my husbands buy-in. I want them too. I want the eggs and my daughter wants to hug them.

I currently have five horses and two dogs on 54 acres in northern Minnesota. Not for the faint of heart, I know. I am researching hearty chicken breeds that can stand extreme cold and heat (90 degrees plus and humid in the summer), and want to be hugged. I should mention, my daughter is 11 for those that are scared that the chickens might be mishandled.

I have so many questions! OMG! Like how can I get eggs with a rooster? I may inadvertently end up with one u intentionally. Is it okay if I do? Can I raise a guinea with my chickens? I hear they are good for snakes and we have a lot of gardners around. Do the lay eggs and are they good to eat? My chickens will not be dinner. I can't eat anything I name. Why don't free range chickens fly away? Or do they? I want my chickens to be out enjoying themselves whenever I am home. Where does one go about getting show chickens. They are so pretty and I just love looking at them at the fair. As you can see, I am a complete novice but I'm here learning as much as I can.

I'm looking forward to meeting you and hopefully, one day, being a contributing member.

Shannon
 
Hello Shannon, and
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! We're glad you joined us.

We'll be happy to answer your questions as well as possible.
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Hens will lay eggs with or without a rooster's presence. The only thing a rooster does is fertilize the eggs, which does not make them inedible. As long as you refrigerate fertilized eggs, no embryo will develop, and the egg will taste just like an unfertilized egg.

Ending up with roosters is just fine, as long as it is legal where you live, you don't mind crowing (and other rooster habits), and you have enough hens to avoid overmating. The general rule of thumb is about 8 hens for 1 rooster. More roosters, or fewer hens, leads to overbreeding and unnecessary stress.

Many people do raise guinea fowl with their chickens. I don't have any experience with it, but if you post in the Guinea fowl section of the forums, you may get more replies: Guinea Fowl From what I know, Guinea fowl do lay eggs, and you can eat the eggs. Just don't expect as many eggs from a guinea fowl as from a chicken.

I've never free-ranged my chickens before, other than a little supervised "free-time." However, most chickens will not intentionally fly away from their home. Once they know where their coop is, they will usually return each night to roost and get some easy food. The main concern with free ranging is predators. There is also the possibility that your chickens could get lost, and be unable to make their way back to the coop (though that isn't very common).

The best place to get show chickens is from a local breeder of whatever breed/variety you want. You can get some beautiful birds from hatcheries and other large scale dealers, but those birds are not bred to be competitive at shows. For more information on showing, I would recommend posting in the Exhibition section of the forums: Exhibition, Genetics, & Breeding to the Standard of Perfection Showing chickens (and/or simply raising quality show chickens) is a wonderful hobby, at least in my experience.
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I hope that answers some of your questions! Good luck with any future chickens!
 
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The Learning center is a great place to start your chicken education. The many forums will cover most of your questions. You can buy possible show prospect chicks (which usually means no glaring faults at that age.) but, chickens change a lot as they develop. If you want a serious show bird, you would go with one mature enough for the breeder to
label that quality.
 
Thank you so much for the information! I really appreciate it. Is there a way to tell if an egg is fertilized or not? Oh and I guess I have one more question, I am getting my chicks from out local farm store (I.e. Rural, tundra, not many options). Do you have any idea what the mortality rate is? What is the likihood of buying 10 and all 10 surviving? I do not like to think of any dying but if I want to end up with four or five, where should I start? Am I bad for asking? Should I be thinking zero mortality? To me, that not realistic. As much I'd like to think it would be....
 
Hi Shannon
Yes you can rase guinea fowl with chickens I have 6 of them and yes you can eat the eggs it's like chicken eggs but the shell is harder. One thing you have to know they are very noisy and Loud they are like an alarm if there is an intruder in the year. I Hope that help you make up your mind
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! You can't tell if an egg is fertilized unless you break it open to check the blastoderm and if it has the "bulls-eye" (fertile) shape or not... thread with pictures https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures/0_20
If you are getting your chicks from a farm store, and you can pick them out, you should not have much mortality if you pick active happy bouncy chicks that are eating and drinking etc... if the store gets in a shipment that has had a rough trip you may be better off to wait until the next one. It is usually pretty easy to sell started pullets, so you might want to go ahead and start with more chicks than you need (whatever you can fit in the brooder?) and then sell off whatever you don't like/want, especially if you get multiple breeds... a lot easier than trying to add a chick or two a few months later.
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Bantam Lover 21 has given you great advice.

Like how can I get eggs with a rooster? Roosters are only required if you are wanting fertile eggs that will hatch out chicks. Otherwise hens lay perfectly fine without a rooster present.

Can I raise a guinea with my chickens?Yes. My grandma used to raise chickens and guineas together and everything always worked out just fine. Just make sure you have their feeding requirements met.
Do the lay eggs and are they good to eat? They won't lay as many eggs as chickens and their eggs won't be as big. But they still lay.

Why don't free range chickens fly away? Chickens can't technically fly. And they usually stay within one place once they know what is home. And they always return to the same home every night.

Best of luck to you!
 

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