We live on 25 acres in East Texas. We built our house last year. Now that our living arrangements are complete, we are moving on to the "farm" portion. The barn was done last week. The garden was fenced the week before that. Now we are moving on to the chicken yard and coop. I grew up with chickens on my grandparent's farm in a small town in central Texas, but have never owned any. They had leghorns and those were the meanest chickens EVER! We have ordered our first guinea fowl and will have our coop and yard done by the end of this month. Right now we are planning on a 1/2 acre fenced yard for our chickens and whatever else we decide to get. I'm still researching breeds, but I've narrowed it down to 4: Buff Orpingtons, Plymouth Rocks, Marans, and Australorps. I found BackYardChickens while searching for information for first time chicken buyers. My hobbies include gardening, quilting, classic movies and any kind of music. The indoor only cats keep me company with my various activities. I look forward to learning a lot from the members on this forum.
Hi Glad you could join the flock! Wishing you the very best of luck with your new chicken adventure sounds like you are getting everything set up ready for there arrival. The learning entre is a great place to start for lots of articles on getting started raising chickens https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center We have a section for hobbies etc including quilting. Here is the link https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/16175/miscellaneous Be sure to ask any questions you may have, everyone here to help and very friendly. Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat
Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined our community. The four breeds that you're thinking of are all great choices. Orpingtons and Australorps in particular have a well-deserved reputation for gentleness and good egg production. Marans lay beautiful chocolate colored eggs that I'm sure you'd enjoy. If you want to read more about those breeds, you should check out the Breed reviews: Orpington Barred Rock Australorp Marans Good luck with your future guinea fowl and chicks! You may want to stop by the Guinea Fowl section and post if you have any questions on raising them: Guinea Fowl
My main question to start is have we made a mistake getting guineas before the chickens. My husband was so anxious to get guineas to combat the pests with the warm season fast approaching. We ordered the keets we want, but the chickens we want won't be available until May. Any experience?
Hello and Welcome To BYC! X2, would post in the Guinea Fowl forum Wyandottes7 linked for you. You'd have to keep the birds separate until the younger ones were grown before integrating the flock either way, so probably not that much difference which order you got them in with such a big age difference.
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help. Great choices on those breeds. Orpingtons are my favorite breed! So sweet and friendly!
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to our flock. Which part of east Texas are you from? My wife and I both grew up in east Texas. Australorps are my favorite standard breed. I've raised them for years (along with dozens of other breeds), and they are extremely hardy, calm and gentle (my children and granddaughter made lap pets of them), and the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
