Hello everyone, I am an arraviste to this site. My name is Kbella.I am interested in hatching peeps, preferably Rhode Island Reds (my cousin in Tennessee says they are wonderful in temperament and for egg laying and very beautiful). My goal is to have about 10 females in my backyard, for friendship and eggs. Cocks are prohibited here in Rockville, Md., a suburban city of Wash., DC. We are allowed 1 female chicken for every 1,000 square feet. I have 19,000 square feet. If anyone can sell me some eggs for hatching, please contact me. I d like to begin planning for the spring. Thanks!
If you aren't allowed roosters, then you may want to consider getting started pullets (over 12 weeks old) from a breeder. Eggs can't be sexed prior to hatching. If you hatch eggs, there will be cockerels to deal with. Most breeders don't vent sex chicks, so again, there will be cockerels to rehome. You can order vent sexed Rhode Island Reds from just about any hatchery in the country, but they rarely are the proper shade of deep red, and they aren't bred with temperament in mind.
Hi Glad you could join the flock! I agree that if you don't want to run the risk of having a lot of boys you could get pullets so you would be sure then. But if your set on incubating hatching do you have a plan for the unwanted boys? This is always something to consider before hatching. You could drop by your state thread, maybe members in your area could point you in the right direction. State threads can be found here ~https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you There is also the buy sell trade section ~https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/67/buy-sell-trade Good luck and enjoy BYC
Welcome to BYC, Kbella. Glad you decided to join our flock. If you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in getting your hatching eggs.
