MARYLAND THREAD!

[Loc20chick]

Welcome!!!! Glad your here! All I can say is build a BIG coop. I stated with only 3 chickens. Perfect size flock for a back yard. Within a year, I had over a dozen chickens, a Tom turkey and 4 Sebastopol geese. Now..... 5 years later....... I have all of that and more plus currently hatching 8 dozen chickens in the two bators I bought in my first year.... It becomes an addiction. A great one in my opinion.... Most of all enjoy!

You are right about that. I just started and my hubby has to keep me in check to stop adding. I started in Feb this year with 6 chicks now I have 14 and 4 rabbits and a list of wants. Its fun,

 

[lismarc]

You are right about that. I just started and my hubby has to keep me in check to stop adding. I started in Feb this year with 6 chicks now I have 14 and 4 rabbits and a list of wants. Its fun,

HAHAHAH got to love the hubbies. I remember having to SNEAK my new chickies into the grow out pen. Now I'm sneaking eggs into the bator. Funny thing is I have the brooders in our bedroom to keep them away from the dogs, but they are on HIS side of the bed. Poor fella. In my defense, I've offered to sleep on that side. hahaha

AAWWWW rabbits are soooooooo cool. I tried them but I must have been doing something wrong. The mommas were eating the babies. I gave up. We only have one now. I think its a lionshead???

Good gracious... It just dawned on me you more than doubled your chickens in 2 MONTHS. Your gonna be adding additions to the coop in a few more months... hahahahah

 

[lismarc]

Second time in one day she has decided to escape the bin. She will be my problem child I think haha

Houdini. Love it. What kind of chicks are they? Its hard to tell with the red of the heat lamp.

 

[farmchix88]

She is a Plymouth white rock. The other white rock is a roo I'm pretty sure. Then I have two black australorps, two golden comets and two aracaunas.

 

[Loc20chick]

Quote:
Ha ha ha if it wasn't for him I would probably now have ducks and 15 more chicks I had to bargain until he compromised to let me have the rabbits so long as I wait a few months before getting ducks n dark Cornish hens that I really really want. Lol the budget is also very tight now. I'll keep myself busy this week with gardening. Ooh by the way I'm getting a new coop delivered next week. Yah! The one I have we build in a hurry cause I got the chicks before planning where they would grow to live. ill use it in future as a grow out Brooder/coop. Its so addicting I have plans for what id like to have by 5years. Lol

 

[maceman121]

Hey everyone. I moved to Maryland about a year and a half ago thanks to the military. Before that I was really interested in having chickens, but I ended up in Harford and not Cecil county and my understanding was you needed two acres to be agriculture and thus be allowed to have livestock. Recently come to learn I can have three chickens on my 1/3 acre of fenced in land, and that got me really excited. I have wanted to go for the Ameraucana breed, but wanted to see if people have experience with it and kids. I have been reading their thread, but wanted to see if I can get some direct answers here.

I have two kids, a 3 year old girl and a 9 month old son. Two dogs, a lab/bull dog mix and a Australian shepherd/husky mix, that are very friendly and mild temperaments. As noted before, my backyard is fenced in and big enough for my two dogs to run around comfortably and tire themselves out in, so my plan is a coop for night and free range for the day. I (attempt to) breed guppies, and my daughter is starting to understand life and death from them (death means they go down the toilette and new babies will be born later), so I thought I would try chickens. I hear they can be great with children as a pet, and I don't mind the idea of getting fresh eggs now and then as well.

If I do go Ameraucana's, does anyone know anywhere I can get them around here? I can order Easter Eggers online, but I am not really sure I want those verses the more pure bloods instead as I don't understand the difference enough.

Thanks for all the help and advice .

 

[lismarc]

Love a new coop!!! Make sure you post some pictures. I converted the kids old play house for my coop. I loved it so much, now that's all I use for coops. Just bought another one for the goose house. Although, I want to build four more coops and I think this time I want to build them from scratch and have them look like an old ghost town. Wouldn't be till fall if we did that. Money is on a budget here too.

What kind of plans you got in your head for a duck pen?? I love the way some people make them look. I could see myself sitting in those pens all day long just relaxing. I can't wait to deck out the goose pen with bushes and a water feature. Not sure yet how exactly I'm going to do it.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Quote:
Whitmore Farm in Emmitsburg sells pure bred ameraucanas but he only sells straight run, so you run the risk of getting a rooster. It may also be a bit far from you, but the quality of his birds is great.

Also, Meyer hatchery has started selling pure bred ameraucanas too. You have a minimum of 3 to order but they may be sold out for the year. I have 4 on order and I can let you know next year how well they do. The advantage of Meyer is that they will sexe the birds with 90% accuracy. If you can wait till next year, and you can't find anyone else, that might be your best bet. I'm assuming you are not allowed any roosters.

ETA The difference between EE and PB Ameraucanas is that you can get brown egg layers with EE because they are a mixed breed and don't always get the right genes to lay a green egg. I must say that the pure bred hen I got from Whitmore lays a green egg instead of a blue one. That was a little bit of a disappointment but I also understand that colors vary and genetic makeup that determines egg color is extremely complex.

Welcome to Maryland! Welcome to BYC. I hope your family will enjoy your chickens.

 

[Loc20chick]

Love a new coop!!! Make sure you post some pictures. I converted the kids old play house for my coop. I loved it so much, now that's all I use for coops. Just bought another one for the goose house. Although, I want to build four more coops and I think this time I want to build them from scratch and have them look like an old ghost town. Wouldn't be till fall if we did that. Money is on a budget here too.

What kind of plans you got in your head for a duck pen?? I love the way some people make them look. I could see myself sitting in those pens all day long just relaxing. I can't wait to deck out the goose pen with bushes and a water feature. Not sure yet how exactly I'm going to do it.

Will do. Can u post your pics of the playhouse coop? Your plans for the ghost town sounds interesting, keep me updated.
For the duck pen, I have a pond next to the house so it will go close to it, haven't thought of how it will look yet, ill search on plans. It has to be pleasant as we sit on the porch and admire the water fountain in the pond, so the duck pen has to compliment the pond.

 

[maceman121]

Whitmore Farm in Emmitsburg sells pure bred ameraucanas but he only sells straight run, so you run the risk of getting a rooster. It may also be a bit far from you, but the quality of his birds is great.

Also, Meyer hatchery has started selling pure bred ameraucanas too. You have a minimum of 3 to order but they may be sold out for the year. I have 4 on order and I can let you know next year how well they do. The advantage of Meyer is that they will sexe the birds with 90% accuracy. If you can wait till next year, and you can't find anyone else, that might be your best bet. I'm assuming you are not allowed any roosters.

ETA The difference between EE and PB Ameraucanas is that you can get brown egg layers with EE because they are a mixed breed and don't always get the right genes to lay a green egg. I must say that the pure bred hen I got from Whitmore lays a green egg instead of a blue one. That was a little bit of a disappointment but I also understand that colors vary and genetic makeup that determines egg color is extremely complex.

Welcome to Maryland! Welcome to BYC. I hope your family will enjoy your chickens.

My fear with the Easter Eggers is more the personality than anything. I imagine it will be like mutt dogs who are a mix of their parents and yet often more docile and healthy, but here you won't have a clue what the other parent is. Granted, I would love a blue egg, if I end up with brown, I don't mind so much. I just think the Ameraucanas are a beautiful bird.

And yes please, let me know how they turn out. Seems I selected a harder to find breed, but such is the way things go .