Hi there, Girliegirl1940! I am in Natick so we are practically neighbors! I don't have anybody close who is doing the "chicken thing"! Maybe we can be birdie buddies!!! What kind do you have, how many? What's your coop like? LOL Yeah, I'm obsessed, with no outlet!
I thought 4 was a good number to start with too and, luckily, that was the minimum number of day old chicks I could order from MyPetChicken.com! I ordered 4 very different looking breeds, so I could easily tell them apart, since I am so new to this too! But I made sure they were hardy breeds so they would survive the winter well! I have a Buff Orpington, an Australorp, a Rhode Island Red, and a Silver-Laced Wyandotte!
My husband couldn't believe we were doing this! He LOVES them now! Always asks how "the girls" are doing! It's hilarious! The chickens are so wonderful, so entertaining! They all have different personalities! My husband even helped me build the coop stand and the run! I bought a coop on Ebay (for a great price!) and, after doing a make-shift run because they were getting too big to stay inside!, I decided it would be best to have the coop raised off the ground! If it was raised, it would be more predator-proof, it would be out of the "weather" (when I first put them out, it rained FOR DAYS! and the bedding was cold and damp and I felt terrible! Plus, with a coop stand, they have a place to escape rain but still be outside! I love the end result! Hopefully, I will have pictures up sometime soon!
This has become a real family affair! My 9 year old is hatching eggs and this is day 20! We are expecting them any day! We have 4 eggs but we will only keep 2! We have a Community Farm that will happily take the extras but maybe you would be interested??? I am also building my son an A-frame coop for his chicks. Maybe you'd like to do a build-a-long......
Oh, and theses eggs that we are hatching we got from a farm in Sherbourne (15 min. away) where I get my chicken feed! The farmer there is a wonderful guy! He charged me $1 for each egg and I have heard peeping from inside each one so I am very hopeful!!!
Oh my heck! I just love the name Meg, it sounds so cute! Anyways welcome to BYC and have fun beware of chicken addiction, it's very contagious! Everyone here has it which means I guess you're already diagnosed xD
Welcome from Utah
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I wanted all of my hens to have names that are traditional and almost Pioneer age names! Gwendolyn, Abigail, Margaret, and Henrietta were just perfect for my hens! Gwen sounds like a golden haired beauty, which she is (if hairs were feathers)! Abby is dressed all in black, with a green sheen when the light hits her right! Meg is a solid red'headed Rhode Islander! And Hettie is very fancy with her silv er lacing!!! Glad you like them!!! I just love em!