I've been lurking and reading BYC since I found it while looking for advice re: changing our village ordinance against poultry for my youngest daughter (age 8 at the time) ...... great stuff here! Armed with advice found here, she made a presentation to the village board, complete with suggested wording of the revised ordinance, and copies of many nearby towns' ordinances that allowed backyard chickens...... and got her wish ...... We have Teh Checkunz!
We are a large family (5 kids) with the nest rapidly emptying (or at least getting a whole lot less crowded!) in the next couple of years...... I am a "stay at home dad/wood flooring contractor, and my better half works full time ......
I grew up on a farmlet in western Nebraska, and we raised chickens, typically 200+ new fryers every spring, with 3 or so dozen hens kept for eggs ....... along with some ducks, turkeys, and some guinea fowl as an alarm system .....oh, and we always had 1/2 a dozen goats, and a couple of pigs and a pair of orphan bottle calves one year........
We picked up 10 Buff Orpington chicks from Orschlen's in mid May..... lost one 3 days in to ? ..... the rest are doing well....
I spent way too much building a chicken tractor ....... I'll post about that later .....I learned SO much doing it....... I could do it for half the cost now and it'd be SO much lighter ........ but it gets the job done, and has thus far been entirely coon proof....... I love the chicken tractor concept: mow and fertilize your grass at the same time, in a slow motion, minimum effort and cost sort of way ....... you just have to stay on top of it- get lazy and you'll burn a 4x12 brown patch in your yard......
We are a large family (5 kids) with the nest rapidly emptying (or at least getting a whole lot less crowded!) in the next couple of years...... I am a "stay at home dad/wood flooring contractor, and my better half works full time ......
I grew up on a farmlet in western Nebraska, and we raised chickens, typically 200+ new fryers every spring, with 3 or so dozen hens kept for eggs ....... along with some ducks, turkeys, and some guinea fowl as an alarm system .....oh, and we always had 1/2 a dozen goats, and a couple of pigs and a pair of orphan bottle calves one year........
We picked up 10 Buff Orpington chicks from Orschlen's in mid May..... lost one 3 days in to ? ..... the rest are doing well....
I spent way too much building a chicken tractor ....... I'll post about that later .....I learned SO much doing it....... I could do it for half the cost now and it'd be SO much lighter ........ but it gets the job done, and has thus far been entirely coon proof....... I love the chicken tractor concept: mow and fertilize your grass at the same time, in a slow motion, minimum effort and cost sort of way ....... you just have to stay on top of it- get lazy and you'll burn a 4x12 brown patch in your yard......
) Raising chickens is a wonderful experience for children. Our children and granddaughter (pictured in my avatar) loved our chickens and made lap pets of the calmer and more gentle breeds. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
