I've been lurking around here for several weeks now. Thought I'd officially introduce myself. My family and I are new chicken-owners, although I was raised on a farm with chickens all my childhood and youth. We started out a few weeks ago when we inherited 8 Production Red pullets from my brother-in-law because he couldn't keep them in the city limits. They were beautiful birds, but sadly our two German Shepherds killed them all one day while we were away. So....we got rid of the GSs and "Poppa" (my dad) bought my kids 15 baby chicks, 10 RIRs and 5 Araucanas (or Americaunas or EEs, not sure which, but they will lay colored eggs). They lost 5 of them in the first few days, so we brought home 3 colored-egg-layers and 7 RIRs. We gave back 3 RIRs that appeared to be roosters yesterday. So 7 birds about 5-6 weeks old. They are fun. THEN......my mother-in-law had 14 birds that she felt she couldn't care for anymore. So again we inherited some chickens. Along with a very nice dog kennel-turned-chicken coop! Of the 14 there are 4 Buff Orpington pullets, 2 pullets that are either red sex-links or maybe NHReds or Production Reds, I'm not sure which, a smallish red colored Cochin pullet and rooster, 2 silver-laced sebright pullets and a gold-laced sebright pullet and rooster pair, and 2 roosters that were either cochins or brahmas. They were beautiful! We also sent all four roosters with my nephew yesterday. He is the family "chicken man" and sells chickens in a local auction. He is only 13, but very educated in all things "chicken"! So that leaves us with a grand total of 17 (hopefully) pullets. The older bunch (from MIL) are about 4 months old, so we are hoping they will start laying soon! And we are working on our coop (dog-kennel) and fencing in a yard for them to free-range. I must say I was never very interested in chickens, but we are all really enjoying this! I'm hoping to upload some pics soon so maybe someone can help me figure out what breeds I have of the ones I'm unsure about.
