Hi Everyone,
I've been reading threads and posts here for months and we finally have our new backyard chickens. Already this site has been incredibly helpful.
We have 12 chicks in the brooder right now. 2 Black Australorps, 3 Speckled Sussex, 1 Partridge Rock, 2 Barred Rock, and 4 Easter Eggers
They are all between 4-5 weeks old right now and we just increased their cardboard box brooder from 8 sq ft to 20 sq ft to give them a bit more room to run around. Also just switched successfully from mason jar chick waterers to horizontal nipples. Lots of great tips from members here about how to do that - and SO thankful that I don't have to change the icky water out multiple times a day anymore!
We've also already had a couple chicky mishaps that the forums here have really helped with. Our standing heat plate had become a roosting spot and before we had a chance to really secure it better, it fell over on our Partridge Rock chick. Thankfully we noticed right away and were able to get her electrolytes, and separate her from the group while she recovered from the shock. She may end up blind in the one eye that got scorched, but she's back with the others now (if only we could get her to quit scratching and drawing mild pecking attention to it). One of our Easter Eggers also ended up with some broken tail feathers - right as she was feathering out. Not quite sure how that happened, but with a stypic pen to stop the bleeding and a little blue food coloring to hide the blood color (great suggestions by BYC members) we were able to put her back in with the flock right away.
We are still working on the backyard chicken yard (going to be about 450sq ft) - man putting up fences and hardware cloth is much more challenging than I anticipated based on how many great examples I've seen. Glad I read the posts about this though and armed myself with thick gloves, googles and long sleeves! And we've yet to start building the coop! Hoping to put some serious work into that in the coming couple of weeks so that we can start acclimating the ladies (still can't tell if they're all ladies) to the autumn weather soon.
Thanks for all the great forums, ideas, and posts so far. Looking forward to this first year with chickens and all the interactions here on BYC!
I've been reading threads and posts here for months and we finally have our new backyard chickens. Already this site has been incredibly helpful.
We have 12 chicks in the brooder right now. 2 Black Australorps, 3 Speckled Sussex, 1 Partridge Rock, 2 Barred Rock, and 4 Easter Eggers
They are all between 4-5 weeks old right now and we just increased their cardboard box brooder from 8 sq ft to 20 sq ft to give them a bit more room to run around. Also just switched successfully from mason jar chick waterers to horizontal nipples. Lots of great tips from members here about how to do that - and SO thankful that I don't have to change the icky water out multiple times a day anymore!
We've also already had a couple chicky mishaps that the forums here have really helped with. Our standing heat plate had become a roosting spot and before we had a chance to really secure it better, it fell over on our Partridge Rock chick. Thankfully we noticed right away and were able to get her electrolytes, and separate her from the group while she recovered from the shock. She may end up blind in the one eye that got scorched, but she's back with the others now (if only we could get her to quit scratching and drawing mild pecking attention to it). One of our Easter Eggers also ended up with some broken tail feathers - right as she was feathering out. Not quite sure how that happened, but with a stypic pen to stop the bleeding and a little blue food coloring to hide the blood color (great suggestions by BYC members) we were able to put her back in with the flock right away.
We are still working on the backyard chicken yard (going to be about 450sq ft) - man putting up fences and hardware cloth is much more challenging than I anticipated based on how many great examples I've seen. Glad I read the posts about this though and armed myself with thick gloves, googles and long sleeves! And we've yet to start building the coop! Hoping to put some serious work into that in the coming couple of weeks so that we can start acclimating the ladies (still can't tell if they're all ladies) to the autumn weather soon.
Thanks for all the great forums, ideas, and posts so far. Looking forward to this first year with chickens and all the interactions here on BYC!
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Nice introduction. Sounds like you've been doing your research!
thanks for sharing! If you have any more questions about anything along the way, be sure to ask. Welcome aboard!
