Hi!
My name is Christy. My husband and I are very new to raising chickens and have found this website to be a valuable resource in doing so. We had been talking about raising chicks for quite a while and purchased our babies on March 30th, 2012. They were a day old and were just adorable. We had done quite a bit of research on line and had read several books on the subject. My husband also has a co-worker with a lot of experience raising chickens. He has been able to glean a lot of info from him while chatting at work. Anyway, we have 11 chicks: 5 silver laced wyandottes, 3 americaunas, 2 americauna bantams, and one golden seabright bantam.
My husband quickly designed and built a spacious and gorgeous coop for them. I am very proud of his coop! You can see pics here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6226308/user_id/133143
We kept the babies contained in a huge rubbermaid container in our kitchen for the first week and a half or so. It was an under bed storage container and we made a covered wired roof for it, giving them a taller space. Next we used a large utility wagon to keep them in until they were grown enough to go into their outdoor coop. It stayed in our kitchen and on warm days, I would wheel them outside onto the deck. It was covered so they could not get out. But, I also stayed outdoors with them so predators could not get in.
It was a grand day when we were finally able to get them into their new coop. They had plenty of space and seem very happy in it. We are free ranging them in our backyard and we close them inside their coop every night. They are hilarious to watch. They parade out of the coop every morning as soon as we raise the door. Just before dusk, they all parade back inside like clockwork. They each seem to have their own personality and their antics bring a smile to our face most every day.
To all other new members here ...Welcome! This is a great community of folks!
Christy
My name is Christy. My husband and I are very new to raising chickens and have found this website to be a valuable resource in doing so. We had been talking about raising chicks for quite a while and purchased our babies on March 30th, 2012. They were a day old and were just adorable. We had done quite a bit of research on line and had read several books on the subject. My husband also has a co-worker with a lot of experience raising chickens. He has been able to glean a lot of info from him while chatting at work. Anyway, we have 11 chicks: 5 silver laced wyandottes, 3 americaunas, 2 americauna bantams, and one golden seabright bantam.
My husband quickly designed and built a spacious and gorgeous coop for them. I am very proud of his coop! You can see pics here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6226308/user_id/133143
We kept the babies contained in a huge rubbermaid container in our kitchen for the first week and a half or so. It was an under bed storage container and we made a covered wired roof for it, giving them a taller space. Next we used a large utility wagon to keep them in until they were grown enough to go into their outdoor coop. It stayed in our kitchen and on warm days, I would wheel them outside onto the deck. It was covered so they could not get out. But, I also stayed outdoors with them so predators could not get in.
It was a grand day when we were finally able to get them into their new coop. They had plenty of space and seem very happy in it. We are free ranging them in our backyard and we close them inside their coop every night. They are hilarious to watch. They parade out of the coop every morning as soon as we raise the door. Just before dusk, they all parade back inside like clockwork. They each seem to have their own personality and their antics bring a smile to our face most every day.
To all other new members here ...Welcome! This is a great community of folks!
Christy
