I've just started my research into raising chickens, and found this website.
I'm not totally unfamiliar with raising chickens, my neighbors back in CA had them when I was a little girl and I assisted with their care, even observed the butchering and processing a few times.
Now my husband, kid, and I are in Minnesota, living in an older farmhouse with a chicken coop already on the property that seems like it just needs a bit of minor repair work to make functional. Since my kid is now getting old enough to be, well, if not helpful, then just not an active hindrance, I've been thinking about getting a dozen or so chicks for the coop. It's pretty good sized with a large fenced in area (coop is about 8'x20', divided by an interior door at the 10' mark, and the yard is about 20'x20').
We have a fairly nice garden to provide for plenty of chicken treats, and there are a couple good local feed stores that seem to have all the goodies chickens need easily available.
So now I'm just trying to figure out what kinds of chickens to get, how many would provide for a nice flock without being overwhelming for a beginner, how to provide adequate shelter for chickens during a Minnesota winter. I'm looking for a bred that is a decent layer with good meat quality, and the whole brown vs white thing is a non-issue, you can make good gelato from both.
I'm also looking for a good local hatchery as I've heard a few horror stories about chicks shipped via mail.
So, to sum up: Hello, and I expect to spent some time here over the next month or so
I'm not totally unfamiliar with raising chickens, my neighbors back in CA had them when I was a little girl and I assisted with their care, even observed the butchering and processing a few times.
Now my husband, kid, and I are in Minnesota, living in an older farmhouse with a chicken coop already on the property that seems like it just needs a bit of minor repair work to make functional. Since my kid is now getting old enough to be, well, if not helpful, then just not an active hindrance, I've been thinking about getting a dozen or so chicks for the coop. It's pretty good sized with a large fenced in area (coop is about 8'x20', divided by an interior door at the 10' mark, and the yard is about 20'x20').
We have a fairly nice garden to provide for plenty of chicken treats, and there are a couple good local feed stores that seem to have all the goodies chickens need easily available.
So now I'm just trying to figure out what kinds of chickens to get, how many would provide for a nice flock without being overwhelming for a beginner, how to provide adequate shelter for chickens during a Minnesota winter. I'm looking for a bred that is a decent layer with good meat quality, and the whole brown vs white thing is a non-issue, you can make good gelato from both.
I'm also looking for a good local hatchery as I've heard a few horror stories about chicks shipped via mail.
So, to sum up: Hello, and I expect to spent some time here over the next month or so
