Hello! New member 3 yrs raising chickens and turkeys

KraftyPhoenyx

In the Brooder
Aug 7, 2023
4
47
41
Howdy! Husband and I bought our first 6 chickens in early 2020 ... then chicken math happened and by the end of 2020 we had 40.

Only 1 of the first 6 chickens remains. The other 5 were taken by foxes and a random super high wind storm that destroyed our coop earlier this year.
We rebuilt and moved the coop, hatched our first batch or high wind survivors eggs ended up with 10 backyard mix chicks ( Jersey Giant, Light Brahma, Ameraucana and GLW). Ended up getting some RIR and Barred Rocks. Then a racoon and weasel or mink decided to thin out our flock which left 6 of the 10 hatched 3 barred and 2 RIR which we now realize we have 1 hen and 1 roo. So we naturally had to replace all the ones we lost with another 20.

Currently in the coop -
1 Golden Laced Wyandotte
6 Jersey Giants
1 Ameraucana Roo
4 Ameraucana Hens
2 Jersey Giant Light Brahma cross (1 roo, 1 pullet)
2 Ameraucana Jersey Giant cross (both roos)
1 pure light brahma pullet
1 GLW light brahma cross pullet
7 buckeye pullets
1 buckeye roo
8 Bielefelder pullets
1 Bielefelder roo

and just hatching another What looks like 12 of our mixed flock eggs.

we love the personality of each of our tiny raptors. Some have names others dont. The amount of eggs we were getting was beyond what we needed so providing eggs to family is always good.

We also ended up raising our own turkeys the 1st and 2nd years. The only thing I still dislike is defeathering them. We haven't gotten or built our drum but hopefully soon lol. Next year we hope to raise meat chickens as well as Turkeys again.

I have recently gotten into crocheting. Its rather addicting and relaxing. Other than that my time is spent chasing a 20 mo old child, 2 dogs, a new litter of 6 kittens plus 2 older cats. Eventually we hope to add to our homestead some pigs, cows and possibly goats.

I came across BYC after I had gotten our first 6 chicks and realized i was raised in the city and knew nothing of farm life. Husband was raised in country life but had pigs and cows, no chickens. So we were both clueless what we had gotten ourselves into. We just bought our 1st home with 16.5 acres and knew we wanted chickens.

I finally decided to join because my mixed breed chicks were so unique I started looking at cross breed possibilities. The one that has my attention that is confusing is my JGxLB pullet. She is almost pure black with the exception of yellow footpads. While the roo looks exactly like my JG Hens but with feathered feet. Sadly the feathered feet is the only way I can tell the difference between him and my 3 yr old Hens lol. He's only 14 weeks old and is larger than half my JG Hens. Husband and I plan on just hatching our own from this point on and are both excited to see what the newest batch turn out to look like. As well as all the future chicks we will hatch. We may build a breeding coop/tractor and separate certain groups just to get pure or even see what mixes we get.
 

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Welcome to BYC! So sorry for your losses. Have you gotten your coop predator proofed?
Not 100% yet but it's really close to the house. We just barely finished putting up the 6ft fencing a few weeks ago. I've got 1/2" hardware cloth to put around the bottom 2ft and bury 1ft underground. It's been hard to find time due to husband's work and military schedules plus the left and right medical fun stuff We've had going on the last 2 months
 
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.

I've got 1/2" hardware cloth to put around the bottom 2ft and bury 1ft underground
If you spread the well attached to your coop/run framing HC out over the ground about 18-24" from the edge of the fence and pin it down to form a predator apron you don't have to dig straight down.
predator apron.jpg
 

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