Chicken Rookies!

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Ah, interesting. Thanks cityfarmer! I think you're right, he/she/it just might be the black sex link - the pics of chicks looks closest to what he looked like when we bought him. I'll have to take a picture of him after work today and post it on here.

We bought the chicks May 2nd - so as of this Saturday (June 13) we will have had them for 6 weeks. They were tiny and fuzzy - no age was given. The two out of the 'straight run' bin were a little bit bigger than the other four, so we're guessing they are all between 6 and 7 weeks old.

We raised them in the garage until we got the coop delivered and built, then moved them out. We have a heck of a time getting them into the roost at night so we can close them in. We're out in the country on 5 acres with LOTS of foxes, raccoons, possum, skunks, hawks, owls... so we're the overly cautious new parents. We also have black bear that roam through the yard once in a while but have never heard of bears having any interest in chickens, and even if they did, not much I could do about it. They usually tear up the bird feeders and other people's bee hives....

Anyway, we don't let them free range because locals tell horror stories of having to replace 3-4 chickens per year due to predation, so the coop has a 5' x 10' run, which we already want to add to for them... and we are trying to get them in the habit of coming inside to roost at night but they ignore us for the most part, so I have to catch a couple and put them in, then the others eventually go in to find out why the first ones are peeping and bitter about being locked in. Takes about a half hour or so to get them locked down for the night.

Awesome! usually the chicks at feed stores are between 3 and 6 days old in my experience.

Lol, i am raising a bunch in my bedroom right now (well, actually i only have 7 chicks and 5 ducklings left in the room, but i started with 50 chicks and 10 ducklings in the room) and it is fun, but the smell of that many takes a little getting used too It's fun though cuse as they started flying out of the brooder, i would wake up with a couple chickens on my head. Strangely, no chicken ever pooped on me or my bed. Guess i should be thankful for that!

overly cautious really isn't bad...i have lost many chickens and ducks to predators (once we moved to a new house and brought the 10 chickens i had with us, and that night a coon opened the temporary bungee cord closing the coop and let the birds out...only 1 survived). I have to say though, ducks are smarter than chickens...it's like chickens want to be eaten. Free ranging is hard. i currently am not letting mine out except when i am there, but soon my puppy will be outside to chase away predators. My little chicken guardian

 

[nj2wv]

welcome to BYC !!