Minnesota!

[duluthralphie]

That's so weird Holms, My dogs spend hours with the birds, they kind of hang in the same areas. The birds are not crazy about the butt sniffing habits of the dogs, but other than that they are almost friends.

 

[holm25]

Yeah they were best friends and then something changed and I dont know what.

 

[Scott16475]

Hi all! New to the chicken world and just wanted to pop in and say hello. We bought a hobby farm last November between New Ulm and Mankato. This will be our first year having chickens

You're living your dream, nordicacres! Welcome to the board.

 

[Scott16475]

I got a call earlier today informing me that our new chicks won't be delivered until March 26th instead of the March 12th date they originally told me. They are waiting on more RIR's to hatch and that's the hold up. Instead of shipping our Silver Laced and Barred Rocks one week and the RIR's another, they will wait and ship them together.

I can wait another two weeks....right?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Scott,
Don't hold it against them. I have had to put people off longer than I have wanted for chicks getting hatched. It hasn't been as bad as last year, but this year has been no picnic for hatching so far.


With that....WELCOME NEWBIES!!! If anyone is looking for chicks this Spring or possibly started birds in late Spring or Summer, give me a shout and see what I have!



Ralphie, I worry that Bert is more man-bird than your average hen can handle. He has such a great personality though. I can tell from all the stories you tell about him!

 

[nordicacres]

Thank you for the warm welcome!


We bought a 6 1/2 acre hobby farm. About 2 acres of that is a fenced pasture so we are hoping to repurpose an insulated shed into a coop and let the birds free range in the pasture! There are just too many choices out there. I can't decide which way to go! My husband and I were initially hoping for a flock of Icelandic Chickens, but they have proven difficult to find. So we may be starting our flock with an order from Murray McMurray (within driving distance for us). I'm thinking: 8 Easter Egger females (my boys love the idea of colored eggs), 3 Barred Rock females, 3 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes (my middle son's choice) straight run, and 6 Welsummers straight run. We'll keep a rooster from the straight run and just eat the eggs. I'm not ready to delve into egg hatching just yet

Any tips for a newbie raising her first batch of chicks? TY!

 

[duluthralphie]

Thank you for the warm welcome!


We bought a 6 1/2 acre hobby farm. About 2 acres of that is a fenced pasture so we are hoping to repurpose an insulated shed into a coop and let the birds free range in the pasture! There are just too many choices out there. I can't decide which way to go! My husband and I were initially hoping for a flock of Icelandic Chickens, but they have proven difficult to find. So we may be starting our flock with an order from Murray McMurray (within driving distance for us). I'm thinking: 8 Easter Egger females (my boys love the idea of colored eggs), 3 Barred Rock females, 3 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes (my middle son's choice) straight run, and 6 Welsummers straight run. We'll keep a rooster from the straight run and just eat the eggs. I'm not ready to delve into egg hatching just yet

Any tips for a newbie raising her first batch of chicks? TY!

Please keep in mind "chicken Math" when doing this figgering...... Chicken math has been known to knock asunder the best laid plans of Man, Woman and beast...... 6 1/2 acres as I see it is large enough for 100 chickens, 24 turkeys, 12 guineas 3 pigs and 4 dexters........ and 2 unicorns

 

[nj2wv]

Please keep in mind "chicken Math" when doing this figgering......  Chicken math has been known to knock  asunder the best laid plans of Man, Woman and beast......    6 1/2 acres as I see it is large enough for 100 chickens, 24 turkeys, 12 guineas 3 pigs and 4 dexters........   and 2 unicorns

I was always bad in math. We have 3 acres and about 110 grown chickens outside and about 190 chicks in the house and a cackle surprise due next week. Plus I only went to one of the tsc in our area. I am going to the other one next week.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Please keep in mind "chicken Math" when doing this figgering...... Chicken math has been known to knock asunder the best laid plans of Man, Woman and beast...... 6 1/2 acres as I see it is large enough for 100 chickens, 24 turkeys, 12 guineas 3 pigs and 4 dexters........ and 2 unicorns

My husband never was fond of Math, so he doesn't get it. He keeps asking, "Whatever happened to just a few hens to lay eggs for us?" I keep about 150-200 breeders about and hatch for almost 6-months out of the year. I don't think he will figure out the equation any time soon.

 

[ejb3810]

Nordicacres welcome to the thread. As relates to the chicks, be totally prepared. Read all that is available on BYC, and if you are going to use a heat lamp in an unheated area have two lamps in case one bulb malfunctions.