Hello

Egglynette

Chirping
Apr 22, 2019
21
43
79
Hello, my name is Emily and me and my husband Stephen just got our first chickens. We are very excited but have already learned our first lesson. But let's get started with the questions.
1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
We are new and just got them on friday.

(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
We had 9 but this morning we are down to 8.
This was our first lesson in raising chicks. Yesterday, we went to Easter dinner, when we left there were 9, when we got back there was only 8. So one of our chicks had jumped out! Even though we had been reassured they shouldn't be able to. Unfortunately we couldn't find the missing chick that day. This morning she must have returned to the tub and we had covered it so as not to loss anymore. I don't think she would have been able to jump back in anyway, but it is cold in our garage so she got too cold and passed away. It's sad but we have learned.

(3) What breeds do you have?
We have black Australorps.
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
We are still new to this but I think we are most excited about the eggs they will produce.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
I enjoy Crocheting, Drawing, Anime and gaming.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
We got married in October 2018 and bought house on 3.(something) acers. We are basically just starting out on our country living adventure. We have an inside cat named Frodo (was my husbands before I met him). We adopted a tree walker coonhound from a friend who thought he'd like it much better if he could run around a big yard. Magnus does indeed enjoy that but he also loves being indoors with us. We have a bearded dragon named Dakota (also my husbands before we met) and recently got two Axolotls from a friend who breeds them. Their names are Phobos and Deimos.
I work in a purchasing department in a hospital and he is a welder. There isn't too much else to share other then our addition to our family, that being the eight remaining chicks that have no names as of yet, unless you count the names my husband gave them which is eggs 1-8.

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community? :D
A friend of mine said she really liked this one and has used it to help her raise her own chickens.She told me about it today and I have browsed about it a bit and I think this will be a great help to us in the future for all poultry related questions.

This is currently the only picture I have of our new babies
IMG_20190419_214416.jpg
 
Hi! I just joined too...and learned a hard lesson. Read your bags carefully, especially when you have different feeds for different birds!
I notice a piece of wood shaving in your brooder, just wanted to double check to make sure you have some sort of litter covering the bottom so your chicks don't slip and develop splayed legs. A trick I also learned from someone is to cover the bottom of the brooder with a piece of that shelf lining stuff with the texture on the back. It gives them something to grip! Then you can put some shavings on top of that.
Good luck and great idea joining this group, lots of very smart people with lots of experience, and I've learned lots!
Also, are they in the galvanized bin all the time, or just for photo ops? I ask because that will reflect heat...and may get too warm. They are so cute!!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC and congrats on your new hobby.

Here are some links to key resources:
Best wishes

Pork Pie
 
Hi! I just joined too...and learned a hard lesson. Read your bags carefully, especially when you have different feeds for different birds!
I notice a piece of wood shaving in your brooder, just wanted to double check to make sure you have some sort of litter covering the bottom so your chicks don't slip and develop splayed legs. A trick I also learned from someone is to cover the bottom of the brooder with a piece of that shelf lining stuff with the texture on the back. It gives them something to grip! Then you can put some shavings on top of that.
Good luck and great idea joining this group, lots of very smart people with lots of experience, and I've learned lots!
Also, are they in the galvanized bin all the time, or just for photo ops? I ask because that will reflect heat...and may get too warm. They are so cute!!

We do have bedding for them now, we just hading put it in at the time of the picture. They are in the galvanized bin all the time though, the heat lamp is clipped to it only on one side. The garage they are in is cold however (we live in minnesota) so I think the other side is cool enough if they want to get out of the heat. I will get a thermometer though and check it out. Thanks for the helpful hints.
 
Me too! I mean, I live in MN...ours are in a heated garage though, so it's not quite as much of a concern. And I'm guessing as long as yours have enough room to get out of the heat, they're just fine...we don't use our thermometer much, watching what the chicks are doing is easier. If they're moving around and happy, temp is good!
Do you have a coop in the making?? We're working on ours, and I can't believe how fast the chicks are outgrowing brooders and making feathers!
Good luck, have fun, and hopefully no more snow until next winter!
 

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