Heyyy Everybody!

[AmyB923]

Hi!

We live in MA and our family will be receiving our first 5 baby chicks next week. We have a lot to learn, but are very excited about it. I'm looking forward to learning and laughing with you all!

Amy

 

[whitey61]

Welcome Amy ! good luck on only five ! lol it is very fun but very additive at the same time !

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[AmyB923]

So I am gathering! A good friend of mine (whom I plan to eventually either thank or blame for talking me into this) gave me a brief but important lesson in "Chicken Math", so we purchased a coop that houses up to 16 birds, just in case. Here we goooo!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi Amy and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us and congrats on your impending arrivals.

These links may help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-your-baby-chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...ks-the-first-60-days-of-raising-baby-chickens

You'll find lots of info in the Learning Centre - https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center and if you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.

You may wish to consider joining your state thread as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area - https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270925/find-your-states-thread#post_3239224

All the best
CT

 

[AmyB923]

Thank you!!

 

[AmyB923]

…of course we also realize that coop sellers like to inflate the number of chickens that will actually fit in their coop, so we are starting with 5 and we'll see what our actual limit is as we go along!

 

[Pork Pie]

…of course we also realize that coop sellers like to inflate the number of chickens that will actually fit in their coop, so we are starting with 5 and we'll see what our actual limit is as we go along!

That's a sound approach IMO. General rules of thumb for coop space is 4sqft per bird, 1ft roost space and if you are using a run, then 10sqft per bird. These are minimums though - generally speaking, the more space your flock has, the happier and more contented it will be (and so will you).