Hello from a newbie

[Nette00]

Hello Everyone!

I became a Mother of chickens by unexpected circumstances. I live in the mountains near the Poconos in Pennsylvania. I came home one day to a chicken in my driveway. I don't have any other homes nearby so I thought it was a little odd but wow, a chicken was in my driveway. I initially thought she must have strayed away from her home and would leave when she was ready to go home. The next day I went outside and she was still strutting around and foraging in my garden. I put some messages out on Facebook that a chicken was at my house and posted pictures. A few people came and looked at her but no one recognized her or claimed her. Day 4 I went searching for information on how to care for her (Food, shelter). My three year old grand daughter named her Sofia The First. Luckily, I had a birthday coming up and my husband went to work building me a coop and a new friend I met (searching for Sofia's rightful owners) offered to give me a handful of day old chicks. I now have Sofia, Dot, Haize, Coco and Georgia. My husband and son completed a beautiful coop for them in less than a week. I'm really loving my chickens. Sofia has been amazing with baby chicks, they are 10 weeks old now. She is literally Mama hen. I'm still learning a lot about chickens so I'm thankful to have backyardchickens.com as a resource.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
That's amazing that she accepted those chicks. Were they straight run? Are you sure you have no cockerels hiding in your flock?

 

[BullChick]

 

[Nette00]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
That's amazing that she accepted those chicks. Were they straight run? Are you sure you have no cockerels hiding in your flock?

They were straight run and I'm pretty sure I have at least one cockerel. I'm still trying to determine their sexes and just posted pictures of them under
"What Breed Or Gender is This?"

 

[DiYMama540]

What a beautiful introduction! Has Sofia laid any eggs yet? Welcome to our flock! I'm sure you'll find all the info you need and then some!!

 

[Nette00]

What a beautiful introduction! Has Sofia laid any eggs yet? Welcome to our flock! I'm sure you'll find all the info you need and then some!!

Sofia has not laid any eggs yet. I'm not sure how old she is or if I should be worried that she hasn't laid any eggs. I was giving her layers feed but then when all the chicks moved into the coop together about 2 weeks ago I was told to only put the starter crumbles as feed for all until the chicks were old enough to have the layer feed. I purchased oyster shells but I'm worried to put it in the coop if it's not safe for the younger chicks.

 

[bajabirdbrain]

You are a softie! Congratulations on the start of a fun and rewarding journey. For many years we had some kind of "vacation" place other than our primary residence, a travel trailer in Baja, then a cabin in British Columbia and a demanding seasonal construction business. Finally in '15 we had reduced our property ownership to one nice house on 2.5 acres. Wife had been trading house watching duties with a neighbor that had a few chickens that she would watch when he went away from home. After a couple of years of doing this and enjoying the "girls" but disappointed with the care and living quarters of them, she decided she wanted her own, March of '17! Anyway, these girls have changed our lives, not sure for the better but definitely entertaining. You show compassion that will probably lead you down the same path as we are going. This site is a wonderful source for about any question you can come up with. Wish you all the best and can't wait to read about your progress. Hubbie of Bajabirdbrain

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens, how lucky for Sofia, that she picked your house. I'm going to look for her picture in the "breed or gender" section.

 

[CarpCharacin]

Welcome to BYC! We're glad you decided to join our wonderful community!

 

[slordaz]

Welcome to the BYC flock, Sometimes pullets as young as 8 weeks will take in baby chicks, I about died laughing at an 8 week old barred rock that heard the baby cheeps and wanted to see, she plucked it right outta the box when I showed her and took it to her favorite nesting box and was screeching like a banshee until I took the others over to her, was cute as she was so young, but she brooded them for a month. Some chickens are just naturally wanting to be momma hens.