Hello All - I've been lurking for a while and have learned a lot. Now I have a problem so I'm ready to join! I live in a tiny community in the N. Ga mountains and got my first hens back in October, already grown-ups - 2 New Hamps, 1 Auraucana, 1 Buff Orp and 1 bantam ??. I built my coop starting in April and by September it was done. I did most of it myself, thus the extended building time. But it's just what I wanted. I now have 4 month-old chicks - 3 Ameraucanas and 1 Silver-Laced Wyandotte. I also have 2 new cotton balls - a Maran and a Welsummer. A question: Is Maran pronounced as it would be in French, or as Maran or Maran (with the ran like I ran a race)? I have a husband who likes the chickens and indulges my animal time and expenses pretty well, 2 horses, a dog and 2 cats. We have a big garden and want more and more to provide as much food for ourselves as possible. My husband is an arborist so we always have lots of wood for building projects and firewood so we're pretty self-sustaining in many ways. I plan to sell some eggs to offset the feed costs, though the girls free-roam all around our yard, which is pretty big. I'm trying to coax them down to the manure pile but they're not willing to venture there yet. They don't realize that Nirvana awaits.... This looks like a fun and knowledgeable group and I'm happy to be a part. Please see my post in Raising Baby Chicks to help solve my little SLW's problem!
