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Hello from the White Mountains of NH

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Glad to meet you, and welcome to BYC. You have a very beautiful flock there!

I am not a gender ID specialist, but Tookie has spotted that 7 birds in your very beautiful flock have early combs, which is often a sign that it's a rooster. You can send pictures of suspects to the What Breed/What Gender forum to get more help identifying the boys.

Some folks just send extra roosters to the soup pot. BUT, If you need to rehome some of the boys, many folks have good experience with posting on their local Craigslist, or if you have a local Facebook poultry interest group, that can be a good place to post. You can also post here in the rehome section. To get the best results, in all posts include:

1. Your town/county so folks know how far it will be to pick up a rooster
2. the best photo you can get of each boy
3. All the info you would want to know if you were adopting a bird:
* Breed
* Where you got him from
* Temperament - how does he get along with other birds, people, and children
* Health and age

If you are keeping one or more roosters, you might do yourself and your birds a favor to read this article on rooster behavior, to help you understand why that darned bird does what he does.

Here are my favorite beginning articles that helped me as a newbie. I hope you will find them helpful as well. All articles are short, have illustrations, and reviews, which are often worth looking at for the comments.

1. Intro to chicken keeping

2. Common mistakes & how to fix them

3. Ventilation (important to chicken health), with helpful links to coop designs organized by climate (because what is just right for my New England hens won't work for my brother's Arizona chickens)

3(a). Farmers Almanac on Building Coops (Includes size requirements!) Allowing plenty of space for chickens is really important because, even as chicks, they will start pecking each other or plucking their own feathers, or become unhealthy if they are overcrowded. Here is a link to Colorado State Extension's publication on space and temperature requirements for chicks as they age.

4. Predator protection for new & existing coops

5. Dealing with a muddy coop and run

6. Gardening for chickens

7. BYC Lists of Chicken Ailments and Cures

To look for articles on your own:

A. Use the SEARCH button, but use the Advanced Search choice, and select ARTICLES at the top of the box. Just enter your keyword(s) and scroll through your results!

B. I find it helpful to notice the rating and reviews. All articles are by BYC members, and all the reviews/ratings are as well. The ratings help a newbie like me sort the most useful and reliable articles.

C. You can bookmark the articles or posts you think you want to refer to again using that bookmark icon at the top of articles or posts. You can find them again by clicking on your own avatar and looking at the list of bookmarks you have built up!
 

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