Mammabear419
In the Brooder
- Jul 25, 2021
- 3
- 30
- 44
Hello!
We are not really new to raising chicks, we’ve lived this awesome life once before, but in a drastically different climate… central MN. We inherited 8 Rhode Island reds from a friend there and when we moved south we gave them to family as we did not have enough property to bring them with us. Now we have our own place, and began the journey in March 2021, when my husband surprised me with 12 sweet Rhode Island Red chicks home. We currently have 11 beautiful girls- one baby chick did not make it even though we spent every waking minute focused on keeping her healthy. We have worked hard to socialize them daily, and they love to be held, hand fed, and touched. The ones we had previously did not approve of you coming near them and would run and hide. We love this flock we have now. One of them started laying eggs 3 days ago- even in this crazy TN heat!
Our favorite aspects of raising backyard chicks is the eggs, caring for them, and hopefully one day being able to share their nutritiously rich eggs with others.
We both grew up in self sufficient families and love doing as much as we can to provide for ourselves and live off our land. We have 4 German Shorthaired Pointers (well trained bird dogs- yes I know, we are crazy LOL), 3 Ball Pythons (my husbands hobby), and are currently cat sitting. Eventually we want to expand our flock and raise meat birds. We just don’t have the setup and know how yet… goals are good.
We love our gardens and are FINALLY figuring out how to garden in the south. Let me tell you, that has been a HUGE learning curve! We have 2 vegetable gardens and I keep three flower gardens. I’m excited to harvest some marigold petals and give them to the girls… I did not know this can help with yolk richness!
I first learned about & joined BYC when we lived in MN and it helped a ton with the chicks we acquired from a friend. I decided I needed to get back on here again since southern living is sooo drastically different and I wanted to be sure we could get help with questions if it is ever needed.
I’ve added some pics of our girls adventures out of the coop/pen, the gardens, & my sweet nephew feeding the girls. NOTE: We do not let them venture too far or as often as I’d like as the woods are directly behind their coop and we are still uncertain on how to train them to come back at night. If you have any tips & tricks for this it would be greatly appreciated. I’d ask my grandma how she taught her girls, but she’s in heaven.
Also if you have any tried and true tricks to keep the girls out of the garden I’d appreciate the advice!
We are not really new to raising chicks, we’ve lived this awesome life once before, but in a drastically different climate… central MN. We inherited 8 Rhode Island reds from a friend there and when we moved south we gave them to family as we did not have enough property to bring them with us. Now we have our own place, and began the journey in March 2021, when my husband surprised me with 12 sweet Rhode Island Red chicks home. We currently have 11 beautiful girls- one baby chick did not make it even though we spent every waking minute focused on keeping her healthy. We have worked hard to socialize them daily, and they love to be held, hand fed, and touched. The ones we had previously did not approve of you coming near them and would run and hide. We love this flock we have now. One of them started laying eggs 3 days ago- even in this crazy TN heat!
Our favorite aspects of raising backyard chicks is the eggs, caring for them, and hopefully one day being able to share their nutritiously rich eggs with others.
We both grew up in self sufficient families and love doing as much as we can to provide for ourselves and live off our land. We have 4 German Shorthaired Pointers (well trained bird dogs- yes I know, we are crazy LOL), 3 Ball Pythons (my husbands hobby), and are currently cat sitting. Eventually we want to expand our flock and raise meat birds. We just don’t have the setup and know how yet… goals are good.
We love our gardens and are FINALLY figuring out how to garden in the south. Let me tell you, that has been a HUGE learning curve! We have 2 vegetable gardens and I keep three flower gardens. I’m excited to harvest some marigold petals and give them to the girls… I did not know this can help with yolk richness!
I first learned about & joined BYC when we lived in MN and it helped a ton with the chicks we acquired from a friend. I decided I needed to get back on here again since southern living is sooo drastically different and I wanted to be sure we could get help with questions if it is ever needed.
I’ve added some pics of our girls adventures out of the coop/pen, the gardens, & my sweet nephew feeding the girls. NOTE: We do not let them venture too far or as often as I’d like as the woods are directly behind their coop and we are still uncertain on how to train them to come back at night. If you have any tips & tricks for this it would be greatly appreciated. I’d ask my grandma how she taught her girls, but she’s in heaven.
Also if you have any tried and true tricks to keep the girls out of the garden I’d appreciate the advice!
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