Getting our first chickens

[strat318]

Good morning!
I am a newbie to having chickens. I got plans for building a chicken coup for 10 chickens in my back yard and I am starting to build it. I will be keeping chickens mainly for eggs. I have been reading various articles on chicken breeds for egg laying and their characteristics. I live in Huntsville, Alabama. I have never purchased eggs/chicks before. I was seeing is it better to purchase eggs and hatch them, chicks, and if you have any recommendations for purchasing them where/from who and if there are options near Huntsville, Al.

Thanks!

 

[nuthatched]

It's better the buy chicks, eggs are a gamble.
There's cacklehatchery in Missouri, and Mt Healthy in Ohio, those are my preferred hatcheries.
What coop plans do you have? Not all designers are aware of chickens needs.

 

[Noraaaaa]

I love Meyer Hatchery in Ohio! They will ship. You should probably buy chicks so you have a confirmed amount of chicks. Some may die, but with eggs you may hatch 95% and you may hatch 30%.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I was seeing is it better to purchase eggs and hatch them,

Did they tell you why? I enjoy hatching eggs, it is exciting, but you do not know how many will hatch. It could be all of them, it could be none, or anywhere in between. You do not know how many that do hatch will be boys or how many will be girls. I had one hatch that was all seven girls, no boys. Some hatches are nothing but boys. When I started I bought chicks straight run, thinking to get both boys and girls. It did not take me long to switch to ordering exactly what I wanted as far as sex goes.

if you have any recommendations for purchasing them where/from who and if there are options near Huntsville, Al.

My first recommendation is to call your county extension office and chat with them once you know what breed you want. There is a decent chance they can tell you where to find the hatching eggs.

Find the Alabama state thread in the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum and chat with your neighbors

Chat with the people at a feed store. While it is possible they can help they may have a bulletin board where you could post a notice.

Go to the "Buy-Sell-Trade" section of this forum and start a new thread, putting your location in your thread title to attract the attention of the people you want.

Good luck!

 

[strat318]

It's better the buy chicks, eggs are a gamble.
There's cacklehatchery in Missouri, and Mt Healthy in Ohio, those are my preferred hatcheries.
What coop plans do you have? Not all designers are aware of chickens needs.

I am building a slight modification of the medium sized coups, The Colorado Coup. Thank you for your reply

 

[strat318]

Did they tell you why? I enjoy hatching eggs, it is exciting, but you do not know how many will hatch. It could be all of them, it could be none, or anywhere in between. You do not know how many that do hatch will be boys or how many will be girls. I had one hatch that was all seven girls, no boys. Some hatches are nothing but boys. When I started I bought chicks straight run, thinking to get both boys and girls. It did not take me long to switch to ordering exactly what I wanted as far as sex goes.


My first recommendation is to call your county extension office and chat with them once you know what breed you want. There is a decent chance they can tell you where to find the hatching eggs.

Find the Alabama state thread in the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum and chat with your neighbors

Chat with the people at a feed store. While it is possible they can help they may have a bulletin board where you could post a notice.

Go to the "Buy-Sell-Trade" section of this forum and start a new thread, putting your location in your thread title to attract the attention of the people you want.

Good luck!

Thank you for that info. Helpful!

 

[mcdze]

main thing is reinforce your coop 'very' well with hardware cloth anywhere theres not a solid wall, and run it down into the ground several inches ... other helpful design features is making lots of hinged access points so its very easy to get to everything .. also making it and locating it so its easy to spray out and water runs away from the area is very helpful ... chicks, yes easier to buy than hatch, but if youre new to it, knowing that keeping chickens is going to be a 'rotating' thing .. youre going to lose some, and they really only lay good the first 2 years, so youll always be needing to maintain the flock to keep the eggs rolling in .. so branch out try the local feed store for chicks, eventually get an incubator, keep a rooster, try hatching eggs from ebay etc .. i keep an average of 8 hens and a rooster, lose several a year to predators usually, and most of the time just hatch my own eggs or get a few from people i know .. doing that youll have to cull out extra roosters, so generally, i'll ask around if anyone wants chicks, put double the amt of eggs to the number of hens i want, plus however many ive set up to give away .. like that ... so yeah, buying pullets and getting all hens is simpler .. its expensive, but ive used 'my pet chicken' before, and you can get a rooster chick with the order .. quality birds from a place like that, not mutts barred rocks are a hardy breed with good backyard flock manners, and they lay good ..

 

[strat318]

main thing is reinforce your coop 'very' well with hardware cloth anywhere theres not a solid wall, and run it down into the ground several inches ... other helpful design features is making lots of hinged access points so its very easy to get to everything .. also making it and locating it so its easy to spray out and water runs away from the area is very helpful ... chicks, yes easier to buy than hatch, but if youre new to it, knowing that keeping chickens is going to be a 'rotating' thing .. youre going to lose some, and they really only lay good the first 2 years, so youll always be needing to maintain the flock to keep the eggs rolling in .. so branch out try the local feed store for chicks, eventually get an incubator, keep a rooster, try hatching eggs from ebay etc .. i keep an average of 8 hens and a rooster, lose several a year to predators usually, and most of the time just hatch my own eggs or get a few from people i know .. doing that youll have to cull out extra roosters, so generally, i'll ask around if anyone wants chicks, put double the amt of eggs to the number of hens i want, plus however many ive set up to give away .. like that ... so yeah, buying pullets and getting all hens is simpler .. its expensive, but ive used 'my pet chicken' before, and you can get a rooster chick with the order .. quality birds from a place like that, not mutts barred rocks are a hardy breed with good backyard flock manners, and they lay good ..

Thank you so much for all that info. Lots to think about. I was thinking about a rooster. However, being in my back yard with neighbors I do not need one crowing in the mornings! I need a quiet one!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I love Meyer Hatchery in Ohio! They will ship. You should probably buy chicks so you have a confirmed amount of chicks. Some may die, but with eggs you may hatch 95% and you may hatch 30%.

And, as others have said, on average about half of what you hatch will be cockerels so you'll need to plan what to do with those. You'll only need one rooster for your flock, and extra cockerels are just a big headache. Will you be able to "process" them for the freezer or find someone who can? Good luck, whatever you decide!

 

[Altairsky]

Hatch the eggs. You'll get very lovely chickens because they will imprint on you. Look for some neighbor with a rooster and ask for some eggs to hatch. It's really fun and educational to incubate eggs.
IMHO shipping live chicks can get very ugly very quick and I personally find this practice inhumane. Hatchery chicks also tend to be skittish and traumatized compared to chicks that you hatch yourself.