Hi All!

So my adventure with chickens actually started two years ago. I've picked up things here and there along the way and since finding the facebook page decided to join the actual website. I live in NY and am slowly turning my little property into a farm of sorts! I have 22 chickens all together right now, 17 are from this years order, 5 ducks with 6 more on the way because 4 of those ducks are males and they will be going into the freezer at the end of the month. And then I am getting a pair of ducks from a breeder I found either towards the end of this month or towards the middle of August. Chicken/poultry math at its finest. I am also in the works of hopefully doing turkeys, chickens, and pigs next year for food purposes.

And not only that I am hoping to get an incubator at some point and to start hatching eggs of the breeds that are hard to find around me. While I would love to hatch chickens from my own flock sadly I do not have a rooster though I have been thinking of getting one. I will definitely be looking towards hatching duck eggs though since I plan on keeping the male from the pair I'm getting.

And here is the break down of my birds so far-
7 EEs all which range in color
3 Brahmas, 1 light 2 buff
1 Black Copper Marans
5 Red Sex links
3 New Hampshire Reds
1 Silver Laced Wyandotte
1 Speckled Sussex
1 Buff Orpington
5 Khaki Campbells (will never buy straight run ducks from TSC again )

And shipping out from Metzers on July 18th I have 3 Welsh Harlequin, 1 blue swedish, and 2 of their golden hybrid layers coming.
And then hopefully at the end of this month or mid August I have a pair of Ancona ducks I get to pick up.

I joke I may have a slight addiction as now I want to add a frizzle chicken to the mix along with a couple other breeds I've seen, but I know everyone here wont judge since I'm pretty sure we have all had the same issue.

I look forward to everything I can learn from everyone here and sharing what I have learned by trial and error over the past 2 years. While I cant share too much about ducks since this is my first year with them I can share what I know about chickens!

 

I do have a fun flock. I have always been about trying different breeds to see which ones I like best and so far brahmas and the sex links are an absolute favorite. While brahmas dont lay exceptionally well I love the feathers on the feet!

 

I'm in Columbia County. And yes it does. I have an agreement with the boyfriend not to go over 50 chickens/ducks/turkeys/ any other type of bird. I am a little bit of an addict. They are just so calming to me and I love watching them run around. Even though I'm having predator issues at the moment which i realize comes with free ranging but in the 2 years I've had chickens I've never had the issues in the previous two years that I'm having this year. 2 chickens and a duck gone in 2 days! It was just 1 chicken would end up missing a year. Its frustrating to say the least.

 

I have considered it. Unfortunately where my chicken coop is situated (came with the house didnt have to build one, and it cant be moved) its in a place that doesnt provide a flat surface anywhere for a run. It is more the start of a hill going up into woods. Which is unfortunate but there isnt much else I can do unless I want to spend the money for materials to build another coop. I did have a small run for them built where I could build one but felt awful keeping them closed up all the time even when I had less birds. There werent any over pecking issues or anything I just didnt like seeing them caged up all the time. I knew I was going to lose some to predators here and there and that was part of the reason I ordered so many chicks this year to kind of account for that. But so far no more birds have been lost and I am keeping my eyes out to see what could have taken them.

Thank you for that info. I will have to look that up in the near future.

Thank you to everyone else for welcoming me