Greetings from Missouri, USA

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billinmissouri said:
Hi all,
I am an absolute neophyte with chickens but why should that stop me? I bought two 3 packs of chickens from Cackle Hatchery that I picked up from the USPS May 13th and it was a delight. They called around 7:30 that morning, with their office opening at 8:30 and I was there on time. The clerk was enthralled with the chicks and the 3 people I passed in the lobby were mystified that you get chickens in the mail.
I bought one each of layer breeds that appeared to be good for the uninitiated according to various articles
  • Easter Egger
  • Barred Rock
  • Cinnamon Queen
  • Black Australorp
  • Bielefelder
  • Buff Orpington
View attachment 4129419

Yup, 2*3...Plus 2. Apparently while not guaranteed, Cackle usually throws an extra chick in per order as insurance. Hopefully, it's not a "packing peanut" aka roo because those are outlawed in the city limits.

So far the best aspect has been just watching these brainless little fuzzballs do all the chicken things. The two honey colored (think it's the buff orpington and cinnamon queen) have been the most adventurous (wanna be escape artists) and interested in being held. I love the coloring of the grey as I've never seen that in a chicken, not that I have any experience beyond cartoons.

I bought a chicken tractor after much deliberation. While in the city, I'm near enough a 200+ acre park that I have foxes and coyotes wandering the neighborhood. I'm hoping https://farmandyard.com/products/chicken-tractor-mobile-chicken-coop this will keep them safe and warm/cool enough for the climes of Missouri.

As for other hobbies, not much. I'm a pretty decent failure at gardening. Next year I hope to add bee keeping to the mix but we'll see once I get to do activities with the local clubs.

Otherwise, old married guy with two adult sons and an even older dog but he is the best boi and should live forever. I work from home, yay programming, so tending to the chicks has been a breeze.

I've been lurking on BYC since December as I wanted to make sure I understood the commitment I was getting into. I've certainly appreciated the pinned threads on coop design, what to do in your first N days and super appreciate the scientist/researcher that put together this thread on feed https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/

Here's my girls at 8 days. I had just moved the roosting contraption from being mostly vertical to this flatter arrangement and it quickly became *the* hang out.
View attachment 4129431

And in case people are trying to get ideas on brooders, I went with a large cardboard box, walls about 5 inches high inside a cage I picked up off Amazon. Initially, it was just large pine shavings, the waterer and the silver saucer feeder. Heat comes from a ceramic reptile bulb. The birds started scratching around day 5 and I got tired of fishing shavings out of the feeder so the move into plastic milk jug bases has been helpful. Oh and I haven't finished my home security cam project so my girls are well monitored

View attachment 4129432
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Hello! Welcome to BYC! Good luck raising your flock!
 

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