RiversideChick
Chirping
Hello! I am a new chicken owner and this forum has already become invaluable to me.
My husband and I live on the Nisqually River in Washington State (hence the screen name). We have 13 chicks that are now 4 weeks (and some change) old.
They have been living outside full time and thriving for a few days now. I made the decision to move them outside after much research, as temps will be quite cool in about a month and I didn't want the transition to be so drastic. Overnight temps here are still above 50, but we generally get our first frost sometime in October, and while they aren't quite fully feathered now, they will be by October and they will be better acclimated to the temperature swings. They are also starting to roost! It's so cute. They were also very cramped in their indoor brooder but I didn't have a good in-between location for them, so outside they went into their mini-coop.
We have 4 Easter Eggers, 3 Sapphire Gems, 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 Golden Laced Wyandottes, and 2 Silver Laced Polish. We had an additional 2 GOlden Polish and 1 additional Wyandotte but they died within 24 hours of arriving from the hatchery. We got them from Hoovers and I'm satisfied with them, however, I would love recommendations of other hatcheries as I can already tell I will want to add more rare/beautiful breeds to our flock.
We plan to blend our 13 babies with an established flock of 6 three-year-old chickens that my mother in law raised. They currently have an enclosed run inside the pasture for our established flock so everyone can get used to each other. We will introduce everyone and move the babies into the "big coop" in mid-October when the pullets are about 8 weeks old.
I also suspect that one of our Easter Eggers is a rooster, as it is much bigger than the others of its breed (although currently, the Sapphire Gems and the Wyandottes are still the biggest overall) and has what look to me like saddle feathers... we will see in a few months!
My husband and I live on the Nisqually River in Washington State (hence the screen name). We have 13 chicks that are now 4 weeks (and some change) old.
They have been living outside full time and thriving for a few days now. I made the decision to move them outside after much research, as temps will be quite cool in about a month and I didn't want the transition to be so drastic. Overnight temps here are still above 50, but we generally get our first frost sometime in October, and while they aren't quite fully feathered now, they will be by October and they will be better acclimated to the temperature swings. They are also starting to roost! It's so cute. They were also very cramped in their indoor brooder but I didn't have a good in-between location for them, so outside they went into their mini-coop.
We have 4 Easter Eggers, 3 Sapphire Gems, 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 Golden Laced Wyandottes, and 2 Silver Laced Polish. We had an additional 2 GOlden Polish and 1 additional Wyandotte but they died within 24 hours of arriving from the hatchery. We got them from Hoovers and I'm satisfied with them, however, I would love recommendations of other hatcheries as I can already tell I will want to add more rare/beautiful breeds to our flock.
We plan to blend our 13 babies with an established flock of 6 three-year-old chickens that my mother in law raised. They currently have an enclosed run inside the pasture for our established flock so everyone can get used to each other. We will introduce everyone and move the babies into the "big coop" in mid-October when the pullets are about 8 weeks old.
I also suspect that one of our Easter Eggers is a rooster, as it is much bigger than the others of its breed (although currently, the Sapphire Gems and the Wyandottes are still the biggest overall) and has what look to me like saddle feathers... we will see in a few months!
We are glad you joined this flock!
