Brehchickens
In the Brooder
- Feb 8, 2024
- 8
- 10
- 26
I have been lurking on this site for a couple of months but have never posted. This time I would like to share my first experience of owning chickens.
I bought 6 Delaware chicks from Tractor Supply in the first week of August without prior knowledge. My first worrisome encounter were pasty butts on the first week of being home. I read on here to wipe with warm cloth and to give them a bit of electrolytes in order to ease their stress level in a new environment. I did not provide a heat lamp and only gave them a box with bedding, starter feed, and clean water alternating to electrolytes. The following week, I made them a small enclose shelter in our backyard that was secure enough to keep off stray cats and a small dog we had. I introduced them to small portions of dried worms around this time. It was a hot summer in Southern California so warmth was not an issue. By the first week of October they were getting too big for the cage I had built and finally made a shack for them. In the shack we provided a wooden ledge, an opening for sunlight, wood chips/hay, water, feed, and occasionally grains or scratch mixed with dried worms. On cleaning days I switch out hay and continue to use poultry spray (also used it on the first shelter) around the shack and wood for mites, fleas, and roaches. By end of November, I had switched to layer feed used in an 8 lb feeder and a separate water feeding. Around this time was when I had accepted the fact that my hens will not be laying in the winter. I did watch out for signs like redness and growth size of combs and squatting. For squatting, my hens only do this when I pet her. January was a rainy month and I checked on them often. I prepped for nesting boxes and placed two fake eggs in the box. By the end of January was when I noticed my hens squatting when I walk next to her without petting her. Come February, and this was still a rainy month it had been raining all week… I found eggs on the floor, in their nesting boxes, and even one that looked like she had put a small effort into hiding it in the ground. If you read all this, thank you for all the advise on this forum and I wish everyone a good experience with your backyard chickens. Happy Lunar New Years in 2 days!
I bought 6 Delaware chicks from Tractor Supply in the first week of August without prior knowledge. My first worrisome encounter were pasty butts on the first week of being home. I read on here to wipe with warm cloth and to give them a bit of electrolytes in order to ease their stress level in a new environment. I did not provide a heat lamp and only gave them a box with bedding, starter feed, and clean water alternating to electrolytes. The following week, I made them a small enclose shelter in our backyard that was secure enough to keep off stray cats and a small dog we had. I introduced them to small portions of dried worms around this time. It was a hot summer in Southern California so warmth was not an issue. By the first week of October they were getting too big for the cage I had built and finally made a shack for them. In the shack we provided a wooden ledge, an opening for sunlight, wood chips/hay, water, feed, and occasionally grains or scratch mixed with dried worms. On cleaning days I switch out hay and continue to use poultry spray (also used it on the first shelter) around the shack and wood for mites, fleas, and roaches. By end of November, I had switched to layer feed used in an 8 lb feeder and a separate water feeding. Around this time was when I had accepted the fact that my hens will not be laying in the winter. I did watch out for signs like redness and growth size of combs and squatting. For squatting, my hens only do this when I pet her. January was a rainy month and I checked on them often. I prepped for nesting boxes and placed two fake eggs in the box. By the end of January was when I noticed my hens squatting when I walk next to her without petting her. Come February, and this was still a rainy month it had been raining all week… I found eggs on the floor, in their nesting boxes, and even one that looked like she had put a small effort into hiding it in the ground. If you read all this, thank you for all the advise on this forum and I wish everyone a good experience with your backyard chickens. Happy Lunar New Years in 2 days!
They did it! What fun! It was worth the wait, wasn't it?
and congratulations on the egg production.
