I'm new to this board and actually new to chickens as well. I have wanted chickens for about five years now and finally have the ball rolling on it. My husband is designing and building my coop as we speak. We have a farm with acreage and I always visualized chickens free ranging. The coop is a large coop with an attached very large run. We plan to use the run some but mostly free range. I've ordered my chicks from mypetchicken.com and have been notified that 11 will be shipped in July and 6 of them in August. Here is what I have ordered; a male Salmon Faverolles and a male Welsummer... the rest are all hens and I ordered one of each of these... Salmon Faverolles, Welsummer, Dominique, Australorp, Golden Campine, Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Buff Chantecler, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Light Brahma, Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and a Partridge Plymouth Rock. I also have Partridge, Red and Blue Silkies arriving. I know it's a big assortment but I just couldn't decide and they are all so gorgeous. I pretty much tried to find ones that said were cold tolerant and friendly. My daughter is planning to do some 4H showing with some of these girls. Maybe some of you can tell me about the silkies... will I need to keep them separated from the rest of this flock or will they mix in fine with them. The coop and run are big enough that we can plan to have it divided up if needed. I look forward to learning much and even more excited to get my babies.
