MASSACHUSETTS -- haha hope i spelled that right .. Question though?

[valmom]

I didn't heat my coop (my first year with chickens) mostly because I didn't trust the power grid. If the power went out and the girls and boys were dependant on electric heat they'd be goners. I wanted them to be hardened off to the cold. We did make a nice small area inside the henhouse with hay bales and piled hay so they could snuggle in together and keep warmer. They never really seemed cold. They fluffed up to an amazing extent at night when they roosted. We joked they looked like chicken balloons

 

[lurky]

Quote:
Well it really is amazing when they are all puffed up, if you put your hand under them to get eggs they are soooo warm. I wish i was like that

 

[galxox]

Hahah i know itd be nice to be warm like that

.. But so If i get one Rooster and only like 3 pullets it will be stress full for them?? Do i need a rooster to lay eggs? Lol that might be silly question but im not 100% sure so ill ask!!

 

[lurky]

No you dont need a rooster to have eggs. But the eggs would never hatch if you dont have a rooster.
The rooster is great for protecting the girls. Mine guard them so well......always looking for hawks and such.

 

[galxox]

I do want to get a rooster, but i don't plan on getting more than 5 pullets at the moment, and i just want them to be happy and healthy and not stressed. So should i not get a rooster? If the eggs are fertile like is it better tasting when you eat them hahah another silly question.

 

[galxox]

Also for my coop i want to make a place where they can go out side but it will be caged in. And i was thinking of putting like you could say a doggy door for them to go through, but i was thinking what happens when the winter comes how do they go out side. Do they ever go outside in the winter? or should i board the doggy door up?? If they do go outside wouldn't that doggy door put a draft in there coop at night

 

[lurky]

The door does have a draft.....but they do go out in the winter. Mine hated snow at first.....but they got used to it. The eggs all taste the same. There is really nothing different about them. The eggs just wont be fertile so you cannot hatch them if you wanted to.

 

[galxox]

Okay so i have been reading alot of post and what not and ive been seeing alot of stuff about predators. When i get my chicks!!! Is there going to be alot more like wild animals coming around my house?? Lurky what part in Mass do you live in, or around??

 

[lurky]

Quote:
I live in Greenfield

 

[galxox]

Ohh your about 3 hours away. Well i have tons more questions still but i'm just going to get a BOOK. haha Can't wait till i get this coop up. I have been just looking at so many designs