Hello, and some odd (?) questions

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Hello from Hesperia, Ca
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Greetings.

Just a warning on the roo issue - if you're getting chicks that are already professionally sexed, they're still only like 95% guaranteed to be pullets. If you get an EE, it takes a while to sex them. By then, you may have bonded.

And yes, chicks die. For no reason. It sucks. You'll feel like an ogre. Then you'll get over it and go on and do the best you can for the ones that are still around.

DEFINITELY go with a bigger coop and a run. Too small a coop encourages pecking and other unpleasant behavior, I believe.

And do keep posting here. It's an amazing group of knowledgable people - who even put up with weirdos like me!

P.s. Your name reminds me of CremeYvette - a violet flavored liqueur.
 
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Welcome! Just wanted to say, about the social happiness of your chickies, if you want them to be love-chickens and good culddlers, you'd best keep working at it all the time. When we first got our chicks, I did my best to keep talking to them (Yeah, we read books out loud and sang songs
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) and be petting them a lot, even though they seemed very skittish and squirmed when I picked them up.
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One day, I got tired of their tiny little toes scratching my arms, so I scooped one up and cuddled it in my jacket. At first they were a little worried, but if I kept blowing warm air on them they would relax and get all sleepy. So cute! I guess it's because their heat lamp was on all the time, making it difficult to sleep. Now that they're all grown up and out there in the cold, they still respond to my voice (perhaps because I am the bringer of food) and come out from under the coop to see me. One of my red stars is very friendly, and loves to hop up on my back to go for a ride. When I come home from school and they're out roaming the property, they come running to say hi. However, mine in particular are very curious, and will peck at my clothes and shoes. It's not intentional naughtiness, but it is rather annoying when I'm busy doing something in the yard and all of a sudden somebody pecks me really hard in the back of the knee. Just keep in mind to try not to let them get into that habit. Good luck!
 
I didn't post a reply to your inquiry above, but I do take almost the exact approach to chicken handling as the above poster - "abhaya" I have only ever lost two hens to some type of unknown disease and those were not recent. It had no effect on any of the other hens, none seemed to care. I think I was the only one that did morn their passing. However, I presently own around 15 birds counting two roosters, "mutts", and they are from at least three different sources and as many different ages, so mixing them shouldn't be a problem.

Personally I kind of think you are making too much of details, raising chickens is not rocket science. There is far more that I don't know about chickens than what I do know, and I have done fine keeping chickens for the purpose of eggs and meat for many years. While some think of their flock as pets, ours are really just farm animals to us. Not that I'm against having them as pets, I love it when they gather around me wanting handouts, but they have never been what a cat or dog would be in the home. However, saying that, I worked in a home years ago where a woman lived alone and had a rooster for a pet, she kept in the house, in town. When I entered the house, she had to move the bird to keep him from attacking me to protect her. Kind of funny at the time, but that was her pet.

So, relax a bit and just dive into this, sure you may make some mistakes, but most of the time it won't make a difference to your birds. As for keeping young chicks the right temp, I have a box I keep mine in until I can move them to a larger coop, I have 1-2 heat lamps I can use to adjust the temp with. If the chicks crowd around one light and look cold, I turn the other lamp on, if they spread out, they are too hot and I'll move the light back some. Yeah, you'll do just fine mothering your chicks. I only had one chick die and it died because it got something caught in it's throat not from something I did right or wrong and not from a disease. Sometime things just happen.

Good luck!
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Thank you, Anna!

Between now and when I get my chickens, I'll have to figure out what to do about "surprise" roos. Most definitely. I'll certainly not be able to keep a rooster in suburban Boston. I'll have to figure out what to do about it, before it happens.

I was thinking of the 4x8 coop as a place to store the hens at night, with their primary indoor living quarters being an attached covered run (8x16) with roosts set up. Is this really too small for 6 to 8 hens? Here's an example of one I really love: http://www.starvingofftheland.com/2010/06/16/coop-proud/

Thank you so much. All of the info I'm getting here is awesome. :)

Yvette.

P.S. I've never heard of Creme Yvette...I'll have to try it!

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nobodyherebutuschickens,

Thank you! I had an iguana for almost 11 years who was extremely tame and exceptionally sweet (for a lizard, or otherwise). Reptiles use their tongues to get information about things (like: what is this? can I eat it? is it animal, vegetable, or mineral?), so they go around licking everything in sight, all the time. Is it possible that chickens peck to gain information about things, as well? I'm looking forward to learning about chicken psychology. :)

If early and continuous handling is what creates sweet chickens, I'm happy to hear it.

Thanks so much.

Yvette.

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