Hi Everybody! My name is Sharon

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labradoodlemama

labradoodlemama

In the Brooder
5 Years
Joined
May 2, 2014
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Location
Cumberland County PA
After a year of BEGGING my husband finally agreed to getting chickens!!!! Happy, happy day! I have found chicks at our local Agway. The ones they have now are 4 or 5 wks old and they are getting 1 day old chicks in about 1 1/2 wks. I don't know which would be the best to get. I also need to get a coop built. I am going to needs some coop plans with a run attached. We have a labradoodle and a bloodhound so I prefer to have a wire run attached. W
We are on ss and by husband is in bad health so it needs to be cheap. I was hoping to get 4 hens and may a rooster. Any suggestions?
 
Hi Sharon...I am new on here as well! From my personal experience I like the chicks to be young. I like them to be willing to let me hold them in my hand and take bread out of my hand. The ones may be a little scared. They could probably settle down but I also like to watch them grow, change their feathers, and get to know their personality. All mine have names. As far as a breed goes there are SO many good ones! Do you want them for the eggs or just for fun? A small budget can sometimes determine that. I have banty silkies and they are fantastic FANTASTIC egg layers. They were great layers all winter without any kind of heat light when my standard hens stopped and they HAD a light. They require very little space for roosting and laying...my do free range all day in summer. I have 3 hens and a rooster. I also have orpingtons. 3 hens and a rooster they require a significant amount more space for roosting. They also free range so summer feeding is not as bad as winter but they also eat a lot more than my silkies. While you have some time before the day old chicks come in do some research on what you like. I had no idea I would love the small little silkies but if I had to choose and could only have one set I would take the silkies over my others. On the flip side of that I AM REALLY GLAD I DONT HAVE TO CHOOSE because I really love them all
 
Hi Sharon, i'm Lee. Glad to see you here, you will learn a lot if you ask and read. The people on here have been really nice to me and have helped me immensely. As for getting your chickens, It really does depend on what you want to do. I can tell you what I did. First, I built my coop and run. I used found material for the coop, mostly some pallets and some vinyl siding I found at a construction site that nobody wanted. I had to buy my fencing. I paid about $70 for 100' of 4' tall 2x4 welded wire (we call it dog wire) and a little less for some 2" poultry fence. I wanted to get hens and then eggs quickly. I purchased a rooster and 4 hens from a farmer that is a friend of my family. I got a good deal on them. Then I hatched eggs in a home made incubator (mostly from found objects. I can tell you how I made it if you want to know) I sold the chicks that year for enough to pay for my fencing. This year I am looking to make back my feed bill and purchase more fence to open up more of my pasture for free ranging.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! One thing with getting older older chicks is you have a better chance of being sure they are hens (always a question at a feed store), won't have to do much so far as a brooder set up since by six weeks they usually don't need heat unless it is unusually cold, and you will get eggs a month or so sooner. If you get them tiny, they do tame easier, but even older chicks will tame quite nicely if you work at it, most chickens are pretty food motivated.

WIth a rooster, unless you want to hatch chicks, you really don't need one, if you don't want to hatch chicks you will probably be better off to get another hen for the extra eggs. As for breeds, do you know what your feed store has and if they have straight run or sexed pullets? Your best layers are usually the Red Sex Links like Golden Buffs or Red Stars (and since they are sexable by color you can be sure you are getting girls) and White Leghorns, most feeds stores carry both those. If you want a rooster you will probably have to get straight run chicks (as hatched so should have about 50/50 males/females).

Be sure to check out the Coops section for ideas on coops www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coop_Designs and X2 on the Pallet Coop idea, they can be any size and as plain for fancy as you want... there are lots of threads on them if you do a search, ie https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/550804/pallet-chicken-coop-ideas

You might like to check out the BYC Learning Center, lots of good articles on all aspects of chicken keeping. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center And it is always fun to check out your state thread for chicken keeping neighbors, they may also have suggestions where you can get coop supplies https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270925/find-your-states-thread
 
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Thanks for all the info. I ended up getting two 4 wk old leghorns. I started out with one leghorn and one buff orphington , but I made the mistake of setting the brooder (lg wire dog crate) in my sunroom. I have a bloodhound and a labradoodle. Left them in, labradoodle was just watching them, bloodhound started howling and that set Bubba (labradoodle) off. They were on all sides of the crate and the little buff stuck his head out of the crate and that was the end of him. Finally got the dogs back outside and the chick in the laundry room in the basement. I went back to Agway on Sun. and bought another leghorn. (the Buffs were gone) Decided the coop cannot be in the yard with the dogs now. So my husband said I could convert one of our sheds at another area away from the dogs into a coop. Waiting for our friend to come and check it out, since my husband can't do the work anymore. Once I get the shed cleaned out this week I will post a picture for some ideas. I think I know what I want. I have six other chicks coming next week. They will be a few days old.
 
You will have to watch mixing the day olds with (what will be) 5 week old chicks. There may be problems.
 
I plan on keeping them apart until they are older. Once the shed is converted and the run is ready I plan on putting them in coop in a separate area where they can at least get used to seeing each other. I hope that will work.
 

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