Hiya, and welcome to BYC!
Congrats on your new home and baby! How fun!

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Ive purchased so many books on chickens or backyard homesteads. My boyfriend thinks of gone crazy with it all lol! i just want to be prepared for anything and everything that might happen! Thank you!!Hello and welcome to BYC!Glad you joined.
There is so much to know about how to raise chickens. It's not that it's difficult, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong that you can prevent. If I was you I'd spend a lot of time reading through the forums, and reading through articles that are highly rated so that you can learn.
I think one of the biggest mistakes newbies make is inappropriate housing. They believe the the labels on prefab coops that state it can hold so many chickens when in reality it can only hold a quarter of the number.
Chickens also need a huge amount of fresh air. People think in terms of square inches of ventilation when they should be thinking in terms of square feet.
They also think that chicken wire is appropriate for chickens. It will keep a chicken where you want it but it will keep absolutely nothing from killing the chicken. You need hardware cloth.
Ooo Nebraska!! Haha thank you!!Welcome to BackYard Chickens, And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska! The Best of Luck with your Chicks.
Thank you so much!! ill definitely have to look into those!Hello and welcome to BYC!
Nice variety of breeds you keep, I think you will enjoy them!
As with any creature, cleanliness is key in the coop, run, feeders, waterers, ect... Chickens need a lot of room, they don't tolerate over crowding and will turn on esch other ot pass illness around. The recommended amount of room is 5 square feet per bird in the coop, 10 square feet in the run. But if you can offer more, definitely do so! Build a big coop, one you can stand in. Lots of ventilation in the eaves, no matter your climate, air needs to move out from pooping, oxygen needs to come in all year round. Build the coop like fort knox, everything eats chicken.
As for chicks, here is a good article that will help you get started... https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/brooding-chicks-the-first-6-weeks.74640/
And definitely stop by our Learning Center for all kinds of good reads on all the aspects of keeping chickens... https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/brooding-chicks-the-first-6-weeks.74640/
Make yourself at home here and ask as many questions as needed! Welcome to our community!
My boyfriend dosent believe in chicken math... well see whos right next year haha!! Thank you! and calico princesses are so pretty, definitely look into them if your expanding your flock!Welcome! I bet you're going to be a great chicken keeper because you're doing your research. You wouldn't believe how many people get chicks/chickens without doing their research first. It looks like you got a good variety! I've never heard of Calico Princesses. I'll have to look them up!
Also, if you got 18 chicks, by this time next year you'll have 36. That's just chicken math![]()