Introduction

Date sort Score sort
Mountainmamaof4 said:
Hello

My name is Elise, mother of 4 girls, and I am new to chickens. We received our first flock this past Friday and I am very excited...I have always wanted to raise chickens. We have 16 6 week olds and 4 one week old chicks. The breeds we have include Rhode Island Reds, Cinnamon Queens, Jersey Giant, Leghorns, Easter Egger, Silver Laced Wyandotte, and Barred Rocks. We live in the mountains in Colorado...high elevation. Any advice/suggestions regarding the cold/high elevation, breeds, tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. I am already in love with our chickens and I want to be successful at raising them and making them a happy healthy flock.
Click to expand...
 
:frow Welcome!!

Colorado here too.

You are pretty high up there.
Good ventilation up high in the coop will let moist air escape and help prevent frostbite.
Build the coop much bigger than the often recommended 4 square feet per bird. Mine spend a lot of time inside in the winter and I am only at about 5000 feet up.
Have a way to baffle or block the vents on the side the wind comes from.

You'll do great and so will tour birds. 😉

The only iffy breed for your elevation is the leghorns. They CAN thrive up high but are more susceptible to frostbite with the big combs. Just gotta keep an eye on humidity in the coops. If mine goes more than 5% above outside the coop humidity I make sure to do a cleaning asap in cold weather.
 
Last edited:
Mountainmamaof4 said:
Hello

My name is Elise, mother of 4 girls, and I am new to chickens. We received our first flock this past Friday and I am very excited...I have always wanted to raise chickens. We have 16 6 week olds and 4 one week old chicks. The breeds we have include Rhode Island Reds, Cinnamon Queens, Jersey Giant, Leghorns, Easter Egger, Silver Laced Wyandotte, and Barred Rocks. We live in the mountains in Colorado...high elevation. Any advice/suggestions regarding the cold/high elevation, breeds, tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. I am already in love with our chickens and I want to be successful at raising them and making them a happy healthy flock.
Click to expand...

Hi Elise,

Are you hoping to breed your chickens? I'm also new at high elevation chickens (7200'), but last year we helped out on a nearby small meat & egg chicken farm (8000') and she bought chicks every year because she said she couldn't hatch chicks at that elevation...? I'm also interested in whether we'll be able to breed chickens here.

Here are links I found on other BYC elevation threads:
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/incubating-eggs-at-high-altitudes
Altitude & Hatching

I haven't read them yet (found them just before clicking on your link), and maybe they aren't of interest anyway (if you aren't breeding), but figured I'd pass them along just in case!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom