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Hello and Thank you for allowing me to join your chicken loving family. ❤️ I am planning on getting back into homesteading and back to my roots.

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Welcome!
I can’t help very much w ideas for chicken breeds- but if you decide to diversify into ducks or turkeys, I can help with that!!

In order that more knowledgeable chicken peeps can help-
- what are your goals?
Meat, eggs, a combo?
— meat/ eggs primarily for your family, or also to sell?
— do you have kids that you plan to have help w chores? If so, what ages? As in, how important is temperament vs your other goals?
— how many people/ age range of kids do you hope to feed within your own family if that is a goal?
— if you are considering raising for meat, are you sure you can process your birds? If not, have you looked into a location for a local processor, pricing, time frames, etc?
— Hatching/ selling babies? Incubator or w a momma?

I’m sure someone will chime in if I missed anything 😉
 
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Welcome to BYC. How exciting to be starting again! Good wishes for all your homesteading adventures. Choosing a chicken breed is fun, and I hope you enjoy it.

Besides the issue of breeds adapted to different climates, you should think about what you want out of chicken keeping. Do you want eggs? Do you plan to grow chickens for meat? Do you want calm chickens that are friendly, or are you happy for them to be more standoffish? And do you have lots of space or do you want to think about bantams, with smaller birds and eggs? Do you care about the color of eggs or the birds? Do you plan to let them free range?

Here is a link to a terrific site that includes all those factors. And here is a wonderful article from here at BYC: Pickin' the Right Frickin' Chicken.

Here are my favorite beginning articles that helped me as a newbie. I hope you will find them helpful as well. All articles are short, have illustrations, and reviews, which are often worth looking at for the comments.

1. Intro to chicken keeping

2. Common mistakes & how to fix them

3. Ventilation (important to chicken health), with helpful links to coop designs organized by climate (because what is just right for my New England hens won't work for my brother's Arizona chickens)

3(a). Farmers Almanac on Building Coops (Includes size requirements!) Allowing plenty of space for chickens is really important because, even as chicks, they will start pecking each other or plucking their own feathers, or become unhealthy if they are overcrowded. Here is a link to Colorado State Extension's publication on space and temperature requirements for chicks as they age.

4. Predator protection for new & existing coops

5. Dealing with a muddy coop and run

6. Gardening for chickens

7. BYC Lists of Chicken Ailments and Cures

To look for articles on your own:

A. Use the SEARCH button, but use the Advanced Search choice, and select ARTICLES at the top of the box. Just enter your keyword(s) and scroll through your results!

B. I find it helpful to notice the rating and reviews. All articles are by BYC members, and all the reviews/ratings are as well. The ratings help a newbie like me sort the most useful and reliable articles.

C. You can bookmark the articles or posts you think you want to refer to again using that bookmark icon at the top of articles or posts. You can find them again by clicking on your own avatar and looking at the list of bookmarks you have built up!
 

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