Consolidated Kansas

[StinkyChicken]

Thank you for the welcome! I really am going to need lots of advice. I want chickens for eggs and meat. We had started out with borrowed meat goats and my husband grew so attached that he's made it very clear that, if that was the route we took, he wouldn't be able to eat one of our own goats. (I grew up with beef cattle...some that I bottle fed and some that I helped fatten for butchering, so I feel a little different about the situation. But he's a sweetie and that's why I love him...and I really wanted dairy goats anyway.) He is coming around to the idea that he might not be so attached to chickens. We'll see how that one plays out.
I know he's going to just want to buy some chicks at Orscheln. I'd prefer to purchase them local but I also can't afford to break the bank right now. If someone can give me an idea of the price difference as well as the reasons why, I could at least start easing him into the idea.
Should we start with baby chicks? Or a little older?
Also, I think I've created a problem. I found a damaged pre-built (like the ones at Orscheln) chicken coop that's probably about 4x8 maybe. It has three nesting areas and it has been put on wheels so it can be moved around. We can get it cheap and it's a real temptation since our goat shed building experience was expensive, not fun and took pretty much all of last summer. Now that I've shown it to David and he likes the idea of getting it I have a feeling it won't hold as many chickens as we are going to need. On the other hand, we plan to let them out in the yard in the afternoons and we can build a run. It's the housing part that scares us. Should we get it, start small and build something bigger later?
As for number of eggs needed, there should be just the two of us but we have three adult children that live in town with a total of 6 grandchildren plus friends and, last but certainly not least, a Great Pyr that expects an egg every day with his dog food. (He was fostered with chickens so I'm looking forward to seeing how he does with them.) How does the number of egg consumers compute into number of chickens to purchase?
Oh, and I made the mistake of also buying my husband a Nebraska Football book along with the Raising Chickens book so he's not reading about chickens right now. So if there are little tidbits of info that I should be dropping on him to get him prepared for our next great adventure, please let me know.
Really looking forward to chickens! (And it's keeping my mind off wanting baby goats. Yes, I understand animal addiction.)
TIA!

Here is how I first started off with chickens. I read a lot of books and a lot of backyard chicken forums. Then I made a list. I’m a guy, I love a to-do list.

#1. What type and size of chickens do I want? I was looking for Kid friendly, Large birds/eggs, Winter hardy, and then color of eggs. In that order. I went with Easter Eggers (blue-green eggs), Golden sex link (brown eggs), Buff Orpington (brown eggs), and Wyandottes (light brown eggs). I wish I had got better quality birds. We got hatchery birds.

#2. How many chickens/eggs do I want and how many do I have room for? I went with 8 chickens to start with.

#3. How big of a coop and run do I need? I built an 8’x4’ coop. In my opinion that will hold up to ten chickens. I started with 8 chickens so I have a little room to grow. My run is 20’x30’ and they free range in the apple orchard. But I can lock them up in the run if I need too.

#4. Chicks or eggs. I have an incubator, but just starting out we went with chicks. It is one less thing to go wrong. We got them home and let them rest for 24 hours and then we let the kids go. I think this is the best time to let kids be kids. We let them play with the chickens, feed them, hold them, talk to them, you name it. I think the more time you spend with the chicks the more friendly your chickens will be.

I think the most important thing for me was coop and run size and its location. It’s by power for the winter water heater and in the shade in the summer time. When I built my coop I built it big enough to keep them cooped in for a few days. I used the 3 to 4 square feet per chicken rule. On a typical day my chickens free range all day, but sometimes they won’t go out of the coop. My birds don’t like the snow and they refuse to go out in it. When we had two inches of snow this year they stayed in the coop for two days. The third day when the snow was gone they went out to free range. No one had missing feathers or blood, so they had room in there coop to stay in. It’s Kansas you can’t always free range in my opinion. I think the biggest thing is go slow and don’t overdo it with the number of chickens you get.

That is what worked for my family nothing more. Good luck and have fun with it.

 

[Trish44]

As sharol said you can get "sexed" chicks from the farm stores but the problem is that they let kids & other people handle them & they do get put back in the wrong bins & even the employees make mistakes with putting them in the wrong marked bins. Hatchery birds are not bad to start out with as long as you know that you're not necessarily getting what you order breed wise with them. They often will cross breeds to get better layers or different coloring so they're usually not pure bred. If you just want them for eggs or meat though it doesn't matter that much. The other thing is that I got really burned out with seeing the treatment of the chicks in the hatcheries, they are very roughly treated & it's a wonder any make it after the treatment there & the shipping stress. I just started getting any new chicks I need or want from reputable breeders & then I know what I'm getting & the chicks don't have to suffer the stress of shipping unless of course I order from out of state & then you take your chances. With the trend now of more & more people getting into backyard chickens you see more breeds available in the state now as well as the online swaps to choose from. If I were starting out now I would just get chicks from a reputable breeder close by to me if possible.

 

[KsKingBee]

If anyone has some OLD Cochin hens on the downhill side I am wanting some for broodies. I plan on incubating my pea eggs for at least two weeks under them then going into the incubator. I hear that gives better hatch rates than in an incubator all four weeks.

Send me a PM if you are interested in three and four year old breeding trios of India Blues or young IB Black Shoulder cocks. I also have some young IB trios.

 

[StinkyChicken]

I have not had Seramas but Danz told you about those. This is my first winter with Cochins & so far they're doing fine. HEChicken who isn't on here much has had them through a couple of winters & said they did great. The egg size is very small, so if you wanted those for eating it would take several for a meal. I think a lot of people who live in town & have a limited space for chickens like the smaller birds & they do eat less than the bigger ones. I haven't had to clean feet, mine are in a pen where I keep straw on the ground & they have a dog house to get into.

I think what my daughter wants is a smaller chicken she can hold easier and make very tame. I want something that she could show in 4H if she wants.

This chicken thing was easier when no one knew what they wanted. Now we have to go through a committee. LOL….

 

[Trish44]

Stinkychicken the bantam Cochins are very small, very cute, & could be tamed if handled from the beginning. I know there is someone up your way that raises them. I will have two colors but am a ways from you.

 

[Trish44]

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

 

[chicken danz]

Happy New Year.

 

[cherwill]

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm way too far behind to try to catch up. I hope everyone's year is starting off well and only gets better.

My crazy birds must love the cold because the nine of them are laying 4-5 eggs a day. Not that I'm complaining.

 

[Trish44]

cherwill some days mine lay more & some days they hardly lay at all. On one of the coldest days we've had they laid more eggs, go figure.

Well I sure hope this year brings less injuries for us & healthy birds. I'm sick to death of winter already & we still have quite aways to go yet. My DH is getting tired of caring for my birds but I just don't want to go out there & hurt my knee worse. I'm going to call next week to get in to get the knee checked out. Keep your fingers crossed I don't have to have surgery, I hate the thought of that. I just take twice as long to recover these days than I used to.

 

[chicken danz]

I'm so done with the cold. I'm just not dealing with it at all. Instead of using the time to be productive inside I'm just moping around doing much of nothing.
Yeah Trish as we age it seems like it takes 10 times longer for everything. Whether it is something we are working on or healing from an injury. It's such a balancing act to know what projects to take on or not when you never know how much time you'll have for them.