Hello from Western NY!

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BrockportChick

BrockportChick

Chirping
Dec 29, 2019
12
48
69
Western NY
Total chicken newbie here!

We just moved to Western NY this past summer, and I'm using the winter months to get ready for my first backyard flock. I've been reading, planning, and dreaming for years, but never lived in a place where we were allowed to have chickens.

I'm planning to have chickens as part of an integrated mini-homestead (chickens, canning garden, bunnies, compost, etc...) on our well-laid-out third of an acre lot right in the village.

I am a priest in the Episcopal Church, married with two children and three cats, and super excited to finally get chickens this coming spring!
 
:welcome
It’s great that you want to get into homesteading! In addition to the sister sites (links in your introduction message, and at the bottom of the page), we have several threads here that you might find interesting. Here is one I’m currently active in.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/canning-and-home-preserving.1343016/

I hope you find time to share photos of your cats, future animals
and projects!
 
:welcome

The more planning and consideration that goes into growing a flock, the better prepared you'll be for the day you bring home those chicks or full grown chickens. One word of advice, get your coop built before you get birds!

Best of luck, thanks for joining us!
 
Congratulations!
Since you've got kids in the house, I'd like to recommend naming your animals after various types of menu (food) items. It will make it much easier to broach the subject of 'where the meat comes from' and serve as a gentle reminder that eventually they are destined for the table.
Omelet, A La King, Dumplings, Over Easy, or even various seasonings such as Cinnamon, Paprika, could make attractive yet meaningful names.
Which rabbit would you rather eat? Peter Cottontail, or Wild Fricassee?
You can raise livestock, love them and treat them as pets, and eat them too... if you keep in mind the reason that you are getting them in the first place.
It sounds as if you're looking to control at least some of how your food gets to your table so...
I also wanted to suggest adding Japanese Coturnix Quail to your homestead. They need to live in predator proof cages and your quail would be happiest if they didn't see your cats. They take very little room, eat very little high quality game bird feed (just under one ounce daily, each), and are sexually mature and mating or laying by two months of age. With an incubator, you can realistically and without much effort fill your freezer while eating half of the eggs your flock produces and incubating the other half for meat and/or fresh breeding/laying stock. New York has two types of licensing for those that want domestic game birds, personal is $40 for a 5-year license (Class B), or a commercial license is $200 for a 5-year license (Class A). The commercial license includes All the same activities as Class B, plus: Selling and transporting captive-bred game birds, dead or alive, and their eggs to other licensed domestic game bird breeders. Website for more information on that https://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/25010.html
 

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