Chicken Newbie!

[excellentwife]

Hi everyone at BYC,

I'm a long time chicken-raiser wannabe who lives in central NJ. My family & I (husband and three children ages 13, 12, and 11) finally bought our first chicken coop used off of Craig's List. Nothing fancy, but quite adequate.

We have a small but nice vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, we love soccer, we homeschool, and we raise puppies for The Seeing Eye. That's us in a nutshell.

Though we've thought about raising chickens for eggs for years, we've never attempted it till now. I've got LOTS of questions!

Looking forward to "meeting" you all and gleaning information as we start this new adventure.

~ michele ~


PS Some questions I'll post elsewhere:

Should we buy grown chickens from local people?
Should we hatch eggs? If so, when will they produce eggs?
What type of chicken do we want?

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Welcome to BYC!!! Glad you joined.

 

[Kevin565]

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC from your neighbor in Hunterdon Co. In March of this year the Sussex Co. chicken show will take place at the New Jersey St. fair grounds. There are always birds for sale there. You can check out the NJ and Sussex Co Poultry Show threads in the spring and see what is being offered for sale.

 

[gryeyes]

Welcome to BYC from the Western Sierra Foothills!

Chicks you raise yourself grow into friendlier chickens than those already grown up.

Check Henderson's Handy Dandy Cuicken Nreed Chart at www.Ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html - this may help you choose the breeds you might like.

From egg to laying eggs is about six to seven months.

 

[Pancholoco]

First

Glad you joined I'm newbie too. This forum is wonderful a lot of info here and of course if you have Questions they are all accepted and a lot of people will help you.

Should we buy grown chickens from local people? Yes, you can. But unless you want specific breeds. IMHO is better so you will have laying hens immediately.

Should we hatch eggs? Yes, you can. If you want to start from an egg.

If so, when will they produce eggs? They will start to lay at 20 or 22 weeks old or even less(rare) some breeds start later than 24

What type of chicken do we want? If you want layers they are some good layers, especially Leghorn

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC!!

Glad you joined us!!!

 

[sumi]

Hello and welcome to BYC

Glad you joined us!

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas and

! Pleased you joined our flock! BYC is the best place to get those questions answered so don't be shy! Best of luck to you!