Colorado?

[Chirpy]

Bandobrown: You put a tiny hole in each end of the egg. One hole will be just a little larger than the other. Blow into the smaller hole and the insides will come out the larger hole. If it doesn't start coming out then you need to make the hole a little larger. You have to blow pretty hard sometimes, just don't crush the egg while holding it and blowing.

We do this for Easter eggs so the kids can decorate them and they can sit out for a long time without worrying about them rotting.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Yep, blowing eggs out works good. You should practice on some store bought eggs first to get the hang of it.

From Colorado here too. Longmont.

Waiting for that first egg, about 10+ weeks to go

1 hubby (not patient

) 1 cat (a terrorist) 1 black Great Dane (totally worthless but lovable) 14 hens (to help the male/female ratio)

 

[4myHennyPenny]

Have any of you along the front range had any luck finding a feed mill that sells or would order organic feed or any organic grains? I'm having a heck of a time finding a vendor nearby, and shipping is too expensive otherwise. Thanks in advance for any leads...

 

[LoneCowboy]

did ya try Hygiene Feed?
I know they carry organic fertilizer, they might carry organic feed.

Tell the guy Lone Cowboy sent you.

 

[4myHennyPenny]

Yep, alread tried there. I wonder if they'd consider ordering some, though. Maybe if they had it in and were the only feed store in the area offering organic, they might actually bring in a few new folks. Worth a shot. Thanks for the idea anyway, LoneCowboy.

 

[coloradochick]

Morning all, I'm new to the site. No chickens yet, hopefully March. I'm trying to learn as much as possible until then. We live in the Arvada West area with myself(stay at home mom), hubby(owns his own truck), 4 kids, 1 Bassett, 2 Chihuahua's, 2 cats, and 1 horse. I'm so excited to start my coop. I have 3 types of hens in mind that I want to start with. I've been told they are hardy in Colorado and very good natured: Black Austrolorps, Buff Brahmas, and the Cochins. All standards, I don't want Bantams. Anyone have any suggestions or preferences of your own? Any advice would be much apprecitated.

 

[paganfish]

I'm in Fleming, CO - which is about 3 hours North/East of Denver...by the Nebraska Panhandle (Yes, there is a panhandle in Nebraska). I am like 25 minutes from Nebraska border, in fact!

Peace-

Pedro

 

[Chirpy]

Welcome Coloradochick! Oh, it's so sad that you too are now going to be draw into the addictive world of chicken keeping. You're going to be one of us now. CONGRATS!!

Those three breeds should all do just fine out here. I have Australorps and they are wonderful. They are very friendly, we pick ours up and pet them pretty much every day. My children have raised our chickens so they are very people friendly (except my SSHamburg - that's just a flighty breed, although she will let me pet her sometimes ... it's just on her terms.). I am going to get Brahmas this coming year. I also have RIR and Red Sexlink which are also very, very friendly and great egg layers. Sexlinks are one of the breeds that start laying eggs at a younger age (around 17-18 weeks many times) so that was nice to get those eggs weeks before the rest of my girls started laying.

It's great to see you doing your homework before getting your chickens. That will save you possible headaches and make things much better for your chickens. My biggest suggestion is to make sure you have their chicken house and enclosure (whatever that is going to be) done and ready when you get them. Go overboard on protection from predators from the beginning and hopefully you won't lose any chickens.

It's also great to have another stay-at-home mom here.

I live SE of Elizabeth so probably an hour and a half or so from you.

Search the board here for your questions, most general questions have been asked and had many good answers, if you can't find an answer to a question then please ask -- lots of people here with far more knowlege than I have will give you great advice.

Have fun!

 

[LoneCowboy]

Hi Coloradochick, I see you found your way here. I already e-mailed you my thoughts on chickens and some other references before I knew you'd come to the forum. You will find great info here and extremely helpful people.

I don't remember if you said you were building a coop or looking for one. I have one on Craigslist that will hold 4-5 chickens. You might have already seen it. But you are welcome to come down and check it out in person if you want ideas if you are planning on building yourself. I don't mind if you steal some of my ideas. I also have my coops you can look at too. Of course you are always welcome to order one from me if you don't want to go through the effort.

I build mine to be as strong as Fort Knox.

Good luck

 

[coloradochick]

Hi LoneCowboy, I do have the coop already, the woman I bought it from said it will hold 4 large hens very nicely. It looks like a little red barn, we also have a 6 ft fence dog run that we're going to put around it. It's not together completely yet and that's why the end of March will work out. Like I told Chirpy, I'm already addicted and haven't even got my chicks yet. I told my husbad today that I already need a bigger coop. LOL! He just rolled his eyes as usual. But I do want to look at the coop you have. I'll go to CL (my other addiction) (could be worse I guess) and see if I can find it. I think I've decided to get 2 of the Blck Austros and 2 of the Buff Orps for now. Just let me know on your end what I need to do and I will get my coop ready with all the fixins(food, water, etc.) I truly do appreciate your help.