Hello, I'm Rachel. I am a stay at home mother of 3.We live in Seattle where we are allowed up to 8 chickens per lot. Our family has been thinking about raising a couple of chickens for a while now.. and with some recent health issues I have developed my main source of food has been eggs. So we are doing it. There are a few questions I have and will be looking at the forum but felt why not just post a couple here incase someone can point me in the right direction #1 Do chickens need a certain size flock to be happy? Does that flock size depend on breed or is it an over all thing #2 What resource materials do you suggest for someone just starting out? Thank you I look forward to lots of fun learning and sharing my experiences with what seems like a pretty great community
Hi, Rachel, welcome to BYC. A flock can be anything from 2 to infinite. Generally at least 3 is a good idea. That way if something happens to one there are still two to provide company for one another. Click on 'The Learning Center' located at the top of the page. Then go to the forums. Read threads and post questions as they arise. Good luck in establishing your flock.
Hi Rachel, I'm in North Idaho (use to live in Spokane Wa) and I just started raising chickens less than 2 years ago. What I have found is they are very social. I do not handle mine very often, but they know my voice and what the Dave's Killer Bread (DKB) Bags look like. We feed a strictly non gmo diet to our flock and all the produce scraps go to them too. They love the DKB and mine really love when I give them a head of cabbage (I tie it up with a piece of twine and they peck at it until it's gone), it takes them a bit to get use to it, but once they do they destroy a head of cabbage in about 15 minutes. I make sure they always have fresh water and ours free range and seem to enjoy the space, but I know not everyone can do that. Ours also have 36 feet of roosting space so they have plenty of room to move around. Good Luck and hope you feel better
Hi Rachel and welcome to BYC. As Sourland says, the Learning Centre, is a good starting point for helping you work out what you need. A safe, dry, well ventilated coop, a feeder and a waterer are the basics, but look at things like "first aid resources for chickens" in the search box and that will also help you. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center Your state thread is worth joining as you will get to know other BYC members in your area (just type your state in the search box). In fact, the search box should become your best friend Lastly but by no means least, the members here are amazing - very friendly and helpful, so if you need an answer to a question or simply want some reassurance that what you are doing is ok, then post away - we all help each other out here at BYC. All the best CT
