Greetings from Palmyra Va moving to TriCities Tenn

[makana777]

Been wanting to raise some chickens for eggs and grow a bigger garden - back to eden gardening style. I haven't had chickens since I was a kid, our family was in an area where we could raise whatever we wanted. Looking forward to moving to at least an acre of land outside the city limits that will allow us to raise a few chickens and if the homes are close together, even though there may not be a law about it - we'll just keep laying hens and maybe build a little chick-shaw. Would like some color variety in eggs as we don't need many per week and will likely wait until the hard winter is over - since we haven't moved yet and we're just going into the freeze zone. Looking forward to learning more about resources in the Tri area.

 

[The Phantom]

EEs, buff orpingtons, and silver cuckoo marans are awesome breeds who lay neat eggs.

 

[makana777]

EEs, buff orpingtons, and silver cuckoo marans are awesome breeds who lay neat eggs.

Oh, I hope to get a few buff's I hear they also make great pets. Will also go well (color wise) with our golden retriever Will need to look up the silver cuckoo marans too! Thanks for the tips. Where do you get your birds from in the area or by mail? Do you feed them organic? Is there a feed shop in the Tri area that has organic?

 

[The Phantom]

Oh, I hope to get a few buff's I hear they also make great pets. Will also go well (color wise) with our golden retriever Will need to look up the silver cuckoo marans too! Thanks for the tips. Where do you get your birds from in the area or by mail? Do you feed them organic? Is there a feed shop in the Tri area that has organic?

My buffs are super nice. They hop on my lap the minute I sit down. Lol
My silver cuckoo marans lay a dark brown egg with super dark brown speckles. I ordered them form Meyer hatchery and MyPetChicken.com. I feed them Purina Layena with omega 3s. Not sure who all sells organic but they Layena is super good food. My girls love it.

 

[meetthebubus]

Been wanting to raise some chickens for eggs and grow a bigger garden - back to eden gardening style. I haven't had chickens since I was a kid, our family was in an area where we could raise whatever we wanted. Looking forward to moving to at least an acre of land outside the city limits that will allow us to raise a few chickens and if the homes are close together, even though there may not be a law about it - we'll just keep laying hens and maybe build a little chick-shaw. Would like some color variety in eggs as we don't need many per week and will likely wait until the hard winter is over - since we haven't moved yet and we're just going into the freeze zone. Looking forward to learning more about resources in the Tri area.

This is a great place to prepare for you upcoming chicken venture! I have buff orps, easter eggers, and one speckled sussex all are friendly my eggers are more friendly and lay sought after green eggs

Welcome!

 

[makana777]

This is a great place to prepare for you upcoming chicken venture! I have buff orps, easter eggers, and one speckled sussex all are friendly my eggers are more friendly and lay sought after green eggs

Welcome!

Thanks I'm so looking forward to moving in Dec and will start prepping the area and building a chickshaw. I don't see anything in the ordinances for Kingsport, if we end up there, that I have to build a certain type of coop. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Peeps on your state thread may have some good advice to share -
Find your State's thread.

Best wishes

Pork Pie

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens

 

[007Sean]

Howdy and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Thanks for joining us!

 

[feathermaid]

You sound really excited to get chickens, that's awesome! I don't think you have to worry too much about where to find your chicken resources just yet. I used to live in an eastern suburb of Nashville and feed stores were quite plentiful. Even in my current area I frequent about 3 different ones as their selection varies. You could order chicks from a hatchery but they usually have a minimum order. Hatchery chicks are readily available at feed stores usually end of February through May.

For my chicks, I just made some calls in early spring to my local stores and wrote in a notebook of what breeds and what dates they were arriving. Then I went to 3 different locations to get what I wanted close to the same age (just hatched). All of my nearby suppliers also carry many organic feeds, I wouldn't think you'd have a problem finding some either. You could always post in the Tennessee state thread to see if anyone in that area could help you better.

Do you already have your new home picked out? Moving is so exciting and stressful! You'll definitely appreciate having those little fuzzy chicken butts around... they are so entertaining and make for great therapy. In the meantime, you could just do research on breeds and coops. I just had to google a chick-shaw --it's a movable chicken tractor! Right? You can browse some ideas here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/tractor-coops.17/

As far as chicken breeds, I think a mixed flock is so fun and beautiful. My favorites: Barred Rock, Easter Egger (or Ameraucana), Black Australorp, Buff Orp, Wyandottes, Speckled Sussex and Welsummer.
Good luck in your future chicken adventure!