Hello all,
I have been reading BYC for a while now and finally decided to join. My wife and I moved to the Seattle area 7 1/2 years ago from New Hampshire, where we lived and raised our family over 25 years. During that time, we raised backyard chickens and turkeys but we had to wind everything down when we decided to move.
We finally put down stakes and bought a house nearly a year ago. In June we bought our chicks and have been raising them in a 12x16 coop that we built. The 20x24 outside run is almost completely fortified. We did not initially make it predator-proof so it could only be used during daylight hours. Fortunately, we have not lost any of the birds.
I'll tell you, this coop and run has cost us a small fortune, but what we get back from the birds is worth much more than that. When everything is done, I will post pictures to the coop section.
We originally bought 12 chicks:
3 Ameraucaunas
3 New Hampshire Reds
2 Brown Leghorns
2 Australorps
2 Barred Rocks
Of the 12, one of the Australorps turned out to be a cockerel. I was afraid that it was an automatic death sentence, but my wife suggested that we wait to see if any of the neighbors complain. We have 2 1/2 acres with 9 neighbors around us, and so far 3 of them know about the rooster and have not complained. Two of them like hearing him! I suppose that we'll wait and see. We are expecting our first eggs in the next few weeks.
We also bought 12 poults:
4 Broad Breasted Bronze (from the feed store)
4 Bourbon Reds (from a local breeder)
4 Midget Whites (from a local breeder)
One of the BBB's had a problem with his legs that he couldn't recover from, so I had to address that. The remaining 3 BBB's will make their appearance on nicely adorned holiday dinner tables over the next few months.
I hope to connect up with some other members who might be in the area. I have enjoyed reading in the forum and am looking forward to contributing to the conversation.
John
I have been reading BYC for a while now and finally decided to join. My wife and I moved to the Seattle area 7 1/2 years ago from New Hampshire, where we lived and raised our family over 25 years. During that time, we raised backyard chickens and turkeys but we had to wind everything down when we decided to move.
We finally put down stakes and bought a house nearly a year ago. In June we bought our chicks and have been raising them in a 12x16 coop that we built. The 20x24 outside run is almost completely fortified. We did not initially make it predator-proof so it could only be used during daylight hours. Fortunately, we have not lost any of the birds.
I'll tell you, this coop and run has cost us a small fortune, but what we get back from the birds is worth much more than that. When everything is done, I will post pictures to the coop section.
We originally bought 12 chicks:
3 Ameraucaunas
3 New Hampshire Reds
2 Brown Leghorns
2 Australorps
2 Barred Rocks
Of the 12, one of the Australorps turned out to be a cockerel. I was afraid that it was an automatic death sentence, but my wife suggested that we wait to see if any of the neighbors complain. We have 2 1/2 acres with 9 neighbors around us, and so far 3 of them know about the rooster and have not complained. Two of them like hearing him! I suppose that we'll wait and see. We are expecting our first eggs in the next few weeks.
We also bought 12 poults:
4 Broad Breasted Bronze (from the feed store)
4 Bourbon Reds (from a local breeder)
4 Midget Whites (from a local breeder)
One of the BBB's had a problem with his legs that he couldn't recover from, so I had to address that. The remaining 3 BBB's will make their appearance on nicely adorned holiday dinner tables over the next few months.
I hope to connect up with some other members who might be in the area. I have enjoyed reading in the forum and am looking forward to contributing to the conversation.
John
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So glad you joined us!!!
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