Hi,
I am a total chicken newbie. I now have three 4-day-old Easter Egger pullets in a box in my laundry room.
I have always wanted some chickens because they are hilarious to watch and I love eggs. I am vegetarian, as are my young sons (so far), but my wife is vegan (no dairy), but she really loves birds and is very knowledgeable about them and is excited to have them. She worked at the San Antonio Zoo for a few years and helped out with their endangered-species captive-breeding programs for Whooping Cranes, Guam Rails, and Mauritius Pink Pigeons so she has done a bunch of stuff like candling eggs, hatching and taken care of all sorts of birds. She also has worked as a vet tech at a exotic species vet and volunteered as a bird rehabber for Wildlife Rescue.
We live in the city but have a reasonably large yard and I am planning a small coop and secure run to ultimately house about 10 birds. I am pretty handy so I'm gonna make my own plans and I'll post pics.
We have a Black Lab and a Border Collie who are well-behaved who will hopefully get along well with the hens. I introduced them briefly and the dogs weren't very interested. I think they knew they were not for them to eat. Our yard is chainlink extended to about 6' with wire so I plan to keep the chickens out of the run while we are home. We have some red-tailed hawks and red-shouldered hawks around here, so hopefully they will be deterred by the dogs. I don't know if a hawk will go after a full size hen.
I've already read a ton of posts on this huge forum and I really like the wealth of info and that every one is so civil and helpful.
Thanks!
I am a total chicken newbie. I now have three 4-day-old Easter Egger pullets in a box in my laundry room.
I have always wanted some chickens because they are hilarious to watch and I love eggs. I am vegetarian, as are my young sons (so far), but my wife is vegan (no dairy), but she really loves birds and is very knowledgeable about them and is excited to have them. She worked at the San Antonio Zoo for a few years and helped out with their endangered-species captive-breeding programs for Whooping Cranes, Guam Rails, and Mauritius Pink Pigeons so she has done a bunch of stuff like candling eggs, hatching and taken care of all sorts of birds. She also has worked as a vet tech at a exotic species vet and volunteered as a bird rehabber for Wildlife Rescue.
We live in the city but have a reasonably large yard and I am planning a small coop and secure run to ultimately house about 10 birds. I am pretty handy so I'm gonna make my own plans and I'll post pics.
We have a Black Lab and a Border Collie who are well-behaved who will hopefully get along well with the hens. I introduced them briefly and the dogs weren't very interested. I think they knew they were not for them to eat. Our yard is chainlink extended to about 6' with wire so I plan to keep the chickens out of the run while we are home. We have some red-tailed hawks and red-shouldered hawks around here, so hopefully they will be deterred by the dogs. I don't know if a hawk will go after a full size hen.
I've already read a ton of posts on this huge forum and I really like the wealth of info and that every one is so civil and helpful.
Thanks!
