Hello from Tennessee

[East Tennessee Lisa]

Hello y’all.
I’m Lisa. Completely new to anything chicken.
My husband and I became empty nesters and wanted a change, so we sold all of our suburban life and headed to East Tennessee and bought property on a mountain. We’ve been here for two years and love the rural life so far.
I started my garden last spring and it did pretty well!
The chicken decision was mine! Lol
I’m currently building a 10x10 coop (I should say Tye is building it and I’m assisting) with a food storage area. I’ll get my first ten ladies in March… I’m thinking Easter eggers! What do y’all think? The silkies are so adorable too!
I’ve attached a pic of the coop so far. We are using all extra material from building our a-frame house. So the roof will be metal! We’ve only made it to the floor… it’s raining so we’ll have to get back to it later!
TIA for any advice to want to share!
Oh and Merry Christmas

 

[Fuchsia]

Hello Lisa, welcome to BYC. I’m glad you joined us. Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[Tookie]

Hi and welcome to BYC!

 

[azurbanclucker]

 

[N F C]

Hi, what a pretty view you have! It looks like you're off to a good start with the coop. Thanks for joining!

 

[AZcluckers]

Hello y’all.
I’m Lisa. Completely new to anything chicken.
My husband and I became empty nesters and wanted a change, so we sold all of our suburban life and headed to East Tennessee and bought property on a mountain. We’ve been here for two years and love the rural life so far.
I started my garden last spring and it did pretty well!
The chicken decision was mine! Lol
I’m currently building a 10x10 coop (I should say Tye is building it and I’m assisting) with a food storage area. I’ll get my first ten ladies in March… I’m thinking Easter eggers! What do y’all think? The silkies are so adorable too!
I’ve attached a pic of the coop so far. We are using all extra material from building our a-frame house. So the roof will be metal! We’ve only made it to the floor… it’s raining so we’ll have to get back to it later!
TIA for any advice to want to share!
Oh and Merry ChristmasView attachment 3341467

Welcome to BYC and becoming a chicken owner! I have always had EE's and will always. They are friendly and their personalities are fun!

 

[Grammy60]

Hello Lisa and welcome to BYC We are so happy you have joined us

 

[DobieLover]

Hello Lisa, and welcome to BYC Glad you joined.

 

[FunClucks]

Welcome to BYC! Great coop view!

I'm from North Alabama, close to TN, similar weather, except I'm jealous of your mountains.

As far as recommended chicken type, it all depends on what you want them for. How important are eggs to you? Will these be pets only, or livestock, or both? Do you want dual-purpose birds, meat birds, or eggers, or some mix of the above? The answers drastically change the recommended chicken types.

I bought a mix of dual-purpose/heritage breeds (buff orpingtons and a RIR mix), colored eggers (prairie bluebell and starlight green eggers), and production red eggers (ISA Browns, Golden Comet). First I thought egg production was most important, and then I realized there were such things as colored eggs, and having a colored egg basket became a big deal to me. Now that I'm 7-8 months in, the ISA Browns and Golden Comet are actually my favorites, followed by the Starlight Green Eggers, because of how regularly they lay and their egg size. The ISA Browns and Golden Comet lay me a large/extra-large egg every single morning. I love this. The Starlight Green eggers lay me one medium/large green egg every day. I wish they were larger, but the color is very pretty. Even my Starlight Green egger that lays tan instead of green gives me one medium/large egg every day. The reliable production is a big deal for me. Chickens that lay every day tend to only live for 2-4 years, and tend to die of reproductive issues, but I figure, okay, I'll give those hens the best life ever, regardless of how long it is.

The Prairie Bluebell eggers give me a small to large egg (depending on the chicken's age) every 2-3 days. The one PBB that lays tan only does it every 2 days or so. I don't know how many blue eggs I'll get today, who exactly laid it, or when the next one will be. My six PBBs lay about three blue eggs a day, size small or medium depending on the age of the chicken. Also, some of the PBBs eggs are such a light blue that they're practically white, and I was hoping for more baby blue and darker. My darkest egg is very light blue. Several of them have taken forever to come into lay. They'd probably be great foragers, and great at avoiding/escaping predators, but we don't free range here, so that ability is not super useful in my flock. I wish I'd gotten easter eggers instead of the Prairie Bluebells - if they're going to lay every other day, at least I could have some brighter egg colors, like teal or bright blue or something.

When you get easter eggers, it's worth asking what the parent stock egg production is like, if eggs are your goal. Also, what they look like physically, and temperament, if those are important to you. There's a wide range of easter egger physical appearances, egg production, and egg colors, and it's worth it to look around a bit so you have a much higher chance of being happy with what you end up with.

 

[Blue Raptor]

Hello y’all.
I’m Lisa. Completely new to anything chicken.
My husband and I became empty nesters and wanted a change, so we sold all of our suburban life and headed to East Tennessee and bought property on a mountain. We’ve been here for two years and love the rural life so far.
I started my garden last spring and it did pretty well!
The chicken decision was mine! Lol
I’m currently building a 10x10 coop (I should say Tye is building it and I’m assisting) with a food storage area. I’ll get my first ten ladies in March… I’m thinking Easter eggers! What do y’all think? The silkies are so adorable too!
I’ve attached a pic of the coop so far. We are using all extra material from building our a-frame house. So the roof will be metal! We’ve only made it to the floor… it’s raining so we’ll have to get back to it later!
TIA for any advice to want to share!
Oh and Merry ChristmasView attachment 3341467

Welcome to BYC!! Merry Christmas!