Hello

G’Day from down under aimee2776 :frow Welcome!

You might be interested in downloading this free e-book My First Year With Chickens

If you have not decided on a breed, this article may be helpful: Pickin a Chicken

This is also a good article: How Much Room Do Chickens Need

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

As Pork Pie mentioned, BYC has Topic of the Week discussions which I have found to be a great resource, informative and sometimes entertaining; so definitely worth checking out. These two in particular may be of interest to you at this stage:
Topic of the Week - Getting Started, Keeping Chickens
Topic of the Week - Keeping the Flock Safe from Predators

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock when they arrive, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out ;)

Best wishes and good luck!
 
Just saying a quick hello. Just joined the group. We have a small chicken coop and am looking to start raising chickens this spring. I know nothing about them so I'm here to soak up as much info as I can.
Welcome! I joined last year and love it here. I can ask anything and get lots of ideas that are very helpful. I have 15 chickens and they all have different personalities. The one in my Avatar is Cricket. I named her after my miniature Pomeranian that i lost last year :(, she was a little over 15 years old (developed Cushing's disease )and i always had her on my lap, generally everywhere i went. This little Buff Orpington is always near me when im in the coop. She will be the first one on my lap when i sit on a stool i take in the coop sometimes. She has now learned to fly up on my shoulder if im standing in one spot for a while. So, i named her Cricket. I ordered these chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa...i am so happy with them all...great egg layers too. I have 8 Buffs, 4 Barred Rocks and 3 Red Stars. My Reds lay huge brown eggs and most of the time my smallest Red lays double yolkers...a month ago she laid one with 3 yolks in it...wow was it big! They are all friendly because i have handled them alot. Not too much when they are tiny, but i always had my hand in the brooder so they could hop on it if they wanted to...it was fun raising them. I watched videos and read lots of stuff on here before i ordered them, plus I asked around on farms around me what type of birds would be ok in the winter months and summer months and came up with the breeds i have. That is the most important thing to remember. Good luck and have fun. Any questions you have dont hesitate to ask me or anyone on here..I am from north central PA...very cold winter here this year...it got to around 8 below in the coop and my birds did just fine. only one or two got a small amount of frostbite on their combs. (dont worry, the comb will replenish)
For their food in the coop: i hang my feeder from a long chain about head height (the chickens heads, not mine, lol) so they don't step or poop in their food. At night i take the feeder in my garage and place it in a large metal can with a lid. Always take the food in at night, due to rats and mice getting into it...and don't underestimate them..they will..after about 2 months i started noticing large holes dug inside the coop from under the walls...i left it go for another 2 months before putting in a cam (amazon ..imega cam), best 39 dollars i ever spent. I hooked it up and the first night saw 8 large rats and many small ones...i about had a heart attack...so the next day i set out to get them..long story short. you have to bait rat traps, ( i used chicken feed due to that's what they were after), keep putting food on every night for a week without "setting" the trap. once you notice the food disappearing from traps..then "set" them with food on it...you WILL get every one of them and by keeping food out of coop at night, the ones who don't get caught will leave...starving them out is a great way to keep them away.!! Sorry, this is so long but i like to warn others about rats and mice because i did not realize it until i had alot of them. Now i look at the cam (which has night video) every night and sometimes through the night if im awake...NO RATS OR MICE IN SIGHT!!! Yayyyyy! And i notice , no holes being dug!
Good luck and have fun!
Rebecca
 
These are my girls enjoying their nighttime oatmeal!
 

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