I am a fairly new chicken owner and I am looking for some input and thoughts. I've been reading here a good bit and decided to join. My name is Crissi. I am a SAHM with 8 kids (6 still home full time, one in college and one who is truly an adult and on her own) and my hubby is a school teacher. We started with chickens as we wanted a healthy way to provide our family with eggs. We brought home 5 French Maran youngsters (10-12 weeks in age) and had 4 slaughtered by something the 2nd night. After recovering from that trauma, we reinforced the chicken tractor and brought home 5 more, giving us 6. We feed a homemade organic feed and have been really looking forward to having some eggs here soon... they are about 16-18 weeks old now. Unfortunately, I would swear that up to 4 of our "girls" are actually roos! Roosters are not allowed where we live, and they aren't too good at laying eggs, neither. The only thing that has not happened yet is that no one has crowed, though the biggest of them is starting to make a weird noise that is decided different from the peeps and clucks we usually hear. Is it possible that they are just all very pretty girls? I am hoping the breeder will indeed switch them out, as they had said, but it also means starting way back with the smaller ones again or taking older birds that were probably not fed to our preferred standards. I really want to raise our hens on organic feeds and am not sure how close to POL is an issue/ non-issue when it comes to what they are eating. Anyways, HELLO everyone!
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. X2 on posting photos (full body profiles showing combs and tails would be best for identify their gender. Also, you might want to post them on our What Breed or Gender is This? section at https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
Hello and Welcome To BYC! X3 on post pictures in the What Breed/Gender forum. The main thing with feed is you do not want to feed young birds Layer type foods because of the high calcium levels...most people with a flock of mixed ages will feed an All Ages/Flock Raiser or Starter type food (if you are making your own you could just keep the calcium levels low where the younger birds should have it) and have oyster shell on the side for the Layers.
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help. X3 on the breed and gender link.
Hello there and welcome to BYC! Oh, I hope they are not roosters! Definitely post pics in our What Gender section for more help. Enjoy your wonderful flock and welcome to ours!