Hello, everyone! I know there're a ton of these but didn't want to poke in on someone else's thread and be rude by introducing myself. So I figured I'd make a new thread. Lol, so. I'm gonna answer the questionnaire on the sticky! (1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? I'm super new to chickens. XD So new in fact that I do not (yet!!) own any. I've only actually handled them a few times. My friend had a setup with a dozen or so, and some turkeys, and she let me pet them and cuddle some fluffy feathery birds. <3 Prior to that I was actually afraid of them because as a kid I had a rooster attack me and make me fall off of my bike and into a barbed-wire fence, lol. XD Lame, right? (2) How many chickens do you have right now? 0. Trying to figure out how to convince my father (I'm in college but live at home since it's cheaper) that chickens are not dirty, disgusting, or smelly (unless poorly kept), which he insists they are. (3) What breeds do you have? I want to get some silver-laced polish, golden laced polish, and some buff silkies, though I'm tempted by aracaunas too. I'm pretty sure I misspelled aracaunas. Lol. I also thought about a pair of phoenixes, since my friend had a few of those and they were sweet. I thought about a guinea fowl, too. (4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com? I was researching chicken keeping a few months ago (well, about a year, actually) and looked into this site. (5) What are some of your other hobbies? I own snakes, and eventually want to breed them. They're so sweet. At the moment though I have only girls, so there's a tiny problem with making babies, LOL! I also do all sorts of artsy stuff. Sculpting, painting, woodburning, sewing, drawing, some digital art, and photography. I'll probably start a thread for some pictures that you guys might like seeing of some of the birds at the local zoo. Since you folks seem to be avian-friendly. (6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. 1 female german shepherd named Amy, 1 male maine coon cat named Osiris, 4 female ball pythons named Matika, Lara Croft, Draccy, and Basilica. 1 mother, 1 father, 1 brother, 1 sister, 1 nephiew (age 3!). XD Too many extended family to mention, lol. Anyhow, I do hope to talk with everyone here frequently and make some friends! It's a pleasure to meet you all. :3 Sincerely, Sen
I like your potential choices for chickies. I raise polish, silkies, cochins, and frizzle/sizzles. I usually do sell eggs for hatching (when and if I have any). I also sell eggs to eat to my friends/neighbors. I simply love Cochins, Silkies and Polish. And of course Frizzles/Sizzles as well. But I think for first chickens it would be nice to start off with bantam silkies. I also do a lot of artsy things including making small quilts, sewing etc., I am a mom of 5 adult children (3 boys, 2 girls), 8 grandchildren and a foster to adopt mom of three children, ages 11, 9 and 6. Two girls and a boy. And I am a Chicken Freak!!!!! They are like Lays Potato Chips, you can't just have a few, you have to have a collection.
Thank you!! JusAChickenLittle&More (can I call you ChickenLittle? LOL! That's a long name!!) I'm excited to hear you raise them!! How are the polish? I've heard they're quiet, but on this site there're two pages on the Polish. One says 'noisy' and the other says 'quiet', so I'm not sure what to think. The golden-laced polish hen my friend had was gorgeous, and super sweet and quiet. She charmed me! I'd thought about ordering chicks from McMurray Hatchery since they seem to get good reviews. The min order is 25, and I thought to get 10 silver polish, 10 golden polish, and 5 silkies, since I'm a little more interested in the polish. Could I safely keep the bantams with the standard polish? Lol, too many questions. XD Sorry to inundate you with questions! I'd love to see some of your crafts and especially the quilts!!
Yes, you may call me chicken little. You have a great idea for an order from MacMurrays. As far as quiet or noisy Polish, it really depends on the individual chicken. Of course the roos are gonna be noiser. But I really think all in all the Polish are pretty quiet. I actually have had a louder one or two silkie roos. You can certainly keep banties with standard size. I'm not sure if you gonna have roos as well. My rule of thumb is usually one roo to 8 hens. That seems to be a great combination, at least for me. Ask any questions you would like too. Thats what we are here for. If I don't know the answer I am sure someone else will. PS: If you are ordering from MacMurrays, and you are going to order silkies and polish, I would definitely wait until the weather warms up (I didn't notice where you were), but shipping in the cold can cause a few dead chicks when you receive them.
Thanks Suebee! I like your screenname, by the way. XD It's cute. Chicken Little, I'm glad to hear that!! I'm fairly rural, but don't want to annoy the neighbors, though another neighbor has a macaw that CONSTANTLY honks out back...sounds like it's dying half the time, but it's been there doing it for like 10 years now, LOL! The stupid thing will probably outlive us all...anyways, nobody's complained much about that so...maybe chickens will be fine. I'd probably want a rooster of each breed/color, and might consider building separate enclosures to ensure color breeding true when I want eggs for hatching. Would that work? To let them free range together in the day and live together most of the time, but keep a smaller pen to put a pair/trio into when you want them to make babies, and just collect the eggs laid in the normal pen/hutch? That was the idea, but nobody's ever mentioned doing it, lol. I live in Florida, and right now we seem to be having good weather. High is 68 tomorrow, low is 41. But I doubt I'd be ordering until March at the earliest, since I've still got to get my dad on board with this whole thing. Mom was easy; I just had to show her a picture of a polish chicken and she was excited! He'll be a bit more difficult. Thanks for the tip though!!
