Looking to be a beginner! Questions!!

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sunnie7

sunnie7

Crowing
8 Years
Oct 24, 2016
1,016
1,110
306
Southern Indiana
We are looking into getting a few chicks! We have 3 kids that have been begging for chickens and I'd love to have fresh eggs! We live in a small neighborhood type setting so only looking for at the most 3 and we have a coup a friend is giving us. Which we will eventually all a run to. which breed/ breeds do you recommend for good with kids, decent egg layers, more on the small size and will do OK with having dogs as neighbors. The dogs will be in offense away from the chickens I just don't know how much they will bark at them. Also, I'd rather not pay $30-40 for shipping but not really sure where or how to find somewhere close by to get some from. I googled and the two places I found close to us don't have any available. I do have a friend that has some silkies though.
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Greetings from Kansas, sunnie7, and
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! Pleased you joined our community! It is getting toward the end of the season and most hatcheries except for the really biggies have shut down in order to prepare for spring hatching season. There are still a a couple that have some chicks to offer. Not sure how you get past the shipping $$ however. Most have minimums but you end up paying extra in the form of what they call a small order charge.
Something about space requirements....hard to tell the size of your coop but chickens need about 4 sq. ft. per bird in the coop and 10 sq. ft. per bird in the run. You can learn lots about chicken keeping reading the various articles in the Learning Center here https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
Also, you may be able to secure some chickens from someone local and thus avoid shipping costs. Find your state thread in the link below and introduce yourself https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you
Best wishes on your chicken adventure - so great that you are involving the kids! Good luck!
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Hello there, and welcome to Backyard Chickens! If you are new, I can think of no better place to start than the .:) center! It is a great spot for newbies to read up on chickens! Here is a link to it!https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. Also, a member recently wrote an article on calm breeds of chickens, you might like to check it out! Here is the link to it,https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/looking-for-calm-breeds-of-chickens-click-here. I hope you enjoy BYC as much as I have!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC - you have some great advice and links already so I'll just say hello!

All the best
CT
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Chickens are so much fun to keep! Yes, you have been given some great advice here so I will just say welcome to our flock!

And if you do have any more questions, be sure to ask us! :)
 
Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you.

That's a cute little coop - mind, most coops like that won't hold many birds. Looking at yours, I would guess it'll hold about three birds and not much more.

It can be hard to find chicks this time of year. I know of very few feed stores still selling them, and even hatcheries themselves tend to be running low. Plus, hatchery minimums are usually 15-25 chicks; a few will do small orders, but it definitely costs more.

There's lots of good breeds out there. Any common backyard breed you see (Sex Links, Barred Rocks, Wyandottes, New Hampshires, Delawares, Sussex, Australorps, and plenty more) will likely make a good choice. Don't be afraid to mix and match, in fact I highly recommend it! My only other suggestions would be to avoid Production Reds (aka "Rhode Island Reds") due to aggression issues, and any white egg laying breeds, as they are often high strung.
 

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