Hello from NH

[ellie32526]

Hello everyone!

I am completely new to chickens. I just purchased my first flock on Sunday. I initially purchased 10 from Tractor Supply Company, but one died within a few hours. I went back to speak with them about it and I ended up leaving with 8 more, several of which they gave me for free. Luckily, I have an acre of land that they will have access to, so I think I'll be able to manage all 17 of them. I'm not sure what breeds they are, but based on reading this forum and the way that they are developing in terms of feather colors, I think I have 12 buff orpingtons and 5 white leghorns. My intention is for them to be egg producers. I also purchased 3 ducks when I got my first round of chickens and they are proving to be a much bigger challenge.

I found this website while I was searching the web for information about chicken breeds. It's been a huge help so far in terms of getting questions answered and finding the information I am looking for. One of my other hobbies is woodworking, which will probably come in handy considering the need to build a run.

I look forward to learning from all of you!

HOWDY!!! Welcome NH. We are on our first flock too! The henhouse is a repurposed storage shed. We are not carpenters so my sweet hubby did an eggcellent job considering our DIY skills are next to NIL. The house is not cutesy, but it is functional and provides a nice warm place for our hens to sleep protected from predators and cold wet weather. We learned everything from this site. You can check it out on my page if you like. We have 15 chicks that are about 2 months old now. 5-Black Australorps, 4 White Rocks, 3 New Hampshires, 2 Buff Rocks, and 1 Partridge Cochin that we are pretty sure is a roo. The other 14 we hope are hens, at least that is what we ordered. But I am suspicious of one of the NHs might also be a roo. We shall soon see.

 

[chickery-do]

Well a big shout Hi

to you too! Boy do you have a clan. I only have 13. Oops I almost forgot my 2 pekin Ducks. Which I hope one them becomes a girl. I have 8 laying and 5 just a month old. But I'm sure Ravine is a boy because it is cawing like.

And SO loud! We reused our dog kennel and it is attached to a large shed that we lock up. (my 69 bug is stored in their) I use it to hold the food. The bear has been trying to get in their so we're glad the girls are in the kennel area. Attached to it we made a 25x20 foot aviary and the kennel is 8x12 so we think we have plenty of room. What do you think? We hope to store the 2 ducks in there also. I hope the girls all agree.

 

[Chicken Happy]

Greetings from Idaho!

 

[chickery-do]

How's it going? The snow is finally out but it's was 17 degrees last nite and I hate to put them in their summer home w/o their heater. I know they'd be fine but the winter coop in under our sunroom so I don't have so far to travel. Lazy hu! I still haven't shaked of the winter blues yet with no warmth to get me going. How's your coops going. My hubby has to build one for our Pekin ducks. What did you get?

 

[V-NH]

I put mine out as soon as they were 4 weeks old. Their first night outside was around 25 degrees and I did not provide them with a heat lamp. They did just fine. I have only lost one chicken since they went outside and it had nothing to do with the temperature. It crawled under a board and the other chickens climbed on top and crushed it over the course of the night. That said, I have come to believe that keeping chickens inside for 6+ weeks is totally unnecessary. I'll be turning the heat lamp off around 3 weeks and putting them outside a couple days later whenever I raise my next flock.

I ended putting my ducks in with my chickens. They had some turf wars for the first couple days, but now they are completely mixed up and don't seem to mind each other.

 

[chickery-do]

I put mine out as soon as they were 4 weeks old. Their first night outside was around 25 degrees and I did not provide them with a heat lamp. They did just fine. I have only lost one chicken since they went outside and it had nothing to do with the temperature. It crawled under a board and the other chickens climbed on top and crushed it over the course of the night. That said, I have come to believe that keeping chickens inside for 6+ weeks is totally unnecessary. I'll be turning the heat lamp off around 3 weeks and putting them outside a couple days later whenever I raise my next flock.ut the h
I ended putting my ducks in with my chickens. They had some turf wars for the first couple days, but now they are completely mixed up and don't seem to mind each other.

Sorry I'm so late replyn It was way in the bottom of my act. sheet. I'm sorry for the poor little fella! I'm sick of mine in the house right now but the hubby is working making their run bigger! And they will be living together so I'm stuck! I know I'll be having a turf war also! And my big girls will be the worst. The ducks are 6 weeks come Saturday. Boy are they big!