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[sdm111]

I'm my experience chickens can handle the cold better than the heat. And at least have corid on hand for any cocci outbreaks and you'll definately have extra eggs before long you'll be selling or giving them away.

 

[drumstick diva]

Young females are pullets, and young males are cockerels I believe until they are a year old. Most people don't care because if it's a male they want it gone. So many areas will allow hens but NOT roosters.

I think chicks are best because they grow up used to your schedule and housing. Whereas adult birds will have to re-learn all that at your place, and some habits are hard to change.

Chicks can go outside once they are fully feathered out - about 6-8 weeks. They would probably be laying by October or so depending on breed, and look and act like grown birds. Chickens adapt easier to cold than heat.

As to having enough chickens to produce a surplus of eggs to sell, I'm sure someone else will have knowledge of that. You might want to check out ordinances where you live, to see what is required if you decide to sell eggs to the public.

 

[SRoSnow]

Good morning all. Its a chilly frosty but very beautiful morning here in Nova Scotia. Thanks for all the tid bits of information. I'm glad that chickens adapt better to cool temperatures, now I wont feel so bad next year when I have to set them out in their coop just as flurries begin to fall lol. I just read someones thread on coyotes destroying their whole flock! That's rather nerve wrecking. I'm sure everyone who begins owning chickens have to worry about some sort of predator. I'm literally in the middle of the forest. I often hear coyotes, I know raccoons frequently meander through our yard. Feral felines are spotted everywhere, and overhead the hawks, eagles, and owls arent too far away. I am realizing I do have alot to worry about. I do plan on having the run and coop area covered with the hardware cloth, so the sky dont worry me so much as the digging underneath. Ive also made the assumption that burying your hardware cloth down a couple feet would be a good idea. But will that be enough I wonder. Anybody else here live in the middle of the woods that may have to contend with a wide array of wildlife hungry for chicken.