Good Morning and happy Wednesday all! My name is Nicole and I am from a small town about 45 mins s/sw of SLC, UT. A Quick backstory, I recently moved out onto 400 acres of property and we are slowly getting started in realizing our dreams of a more natural GMO-free, sustainable living way of life. My husband is a gardening wizard and I am an animal whisperer. So on my end I will be raising dairy/meat goats and of course chickens!! I joined Backyard Chickens back in January when researching chicken breeds and raising them and immediately found it to be my favorite resource. I love there is somewhere I can share my chicken-raising journey and people won't think Im completely nuts.
After all my researching I had decided I wanted 4 Buff Orpington chicks to start with. Everything I read on them was positive. I wanted a hardy breed. One I could use for eggs and meat. Ones that I might possibly be able to use sustain my own flock eventually so they needed to have good potential to be broody/setters. And I have a 3-yr old crazy diva child who is my shadow so they have to be of a non-flighty/too excitable temperament so they can be around her. So Buff Orpingtons. But everytime I went to the feed stores to buy them, they were sold out. I was getting my mom excited for the chicks too. (hence the title lol). My husband and daughter were excited. We wanted chicks!!! We went back to the feed store and all they had left as far as layers, were 3 little Black Star girls. ADORABLE. I wanted them. So we talked and decided I'd have 6 chicks instead. I got the 3 Black Stars and would get 3 Buff Orps the next day when they came in. But the next day when they came in someone got there before us and bought all 25 buff orp chicks. RUDE!!! So my mom and I, along with her best friend and my Lil Diva traveled the 45 mins to SLC to the 2nd closest feed store. And they had HUNDREDS of chicks. Still no Buff Orps. But somehow...I ended up leaving with 3 Red Star little girls and my Mom's best friend bought 2 Easter Eggers that I will be keeping for her.
So my 4 Buff Orps have turned into 8 "others". Now when I got the newbies home I did worry that with them being a liitle older and bigger than the original 3 Black Stars, that they may get pecked at and I might have to separate them. Nope. This is day 3 home and everybody seems happy together. I seem to already have a queen of the flock and a total sweet lover.
Now I know chickens are fairly easy to care for, but I haven't gotten anything done in 3 days because I keep sitting by the brooder just watching them and talking to them. Lol
I still want my Buff Orps. I put some money on a gift card for the feed store so no excuses next time. And I'm calling them daily. Lol. I'm sure I'll have to set up a second brooder box, but oh well. I'll suffer through it. Lol And my wonderful husband will just smile at the realization my 4 chickens somehow turned into 12 without ever laying an egg!
Thanks for your time and I look forward to sharing the fun with you other chicken crazies!!
After all my researching I had decided I wanted 4 Buff Orpington chicks to start with. Everything I read on them was positive. I wanted a hardy breed. One I could use for eggs and meat. Ones that I might possibly be able to use sustain my own flock eventually so they needed to have good potential to be broody/setters. And I have a 3-yr old crazy diva child who is my shadow so they have to be of a non-flighty/too excitable temperament so they can be around her. So Buff Orpingtons. But everytime I went to the feed stores to buy them, they were sold out. I was getting my mom excited for the chicks too. (hence the title lol). My husband and daughter were excited. We wanted chicks!!! We went back to the feed store and all they had left as far as layers, were 3 little Black Star girls. ADORABLE. I wanted them. So we talked and decided I'd have 6 chicks instead. I got the 3 Black Stars and would get 3 Buff Orps the next day when they came in. But the next day when they came in someone got there before us and bought all 25 buff orp chicks. RUDE!!! So my mom and I, along with her best friend and my Lil Diva traveled the 45 mins to SLC to the 2nd closest feed store. And they had HUNDREDS of chicks. Still no Buff Orps. But somehow...I ended up leaving with 3 Red Star little girls and my Mom's best friend bought 2 Easter Eggers that I will be keeping for her.
So my 4 Buff Orps have turned into 8 "others". Now when I got the newbies home I did worry that with them being a liitle older and bigger than the original 3 Black Stars, that they may get pecked at and I might have to separate them. Nope. This is day 3 home and everybody seems happy together. I seem to already have a queen of the flock and a total sweet lover.
Now I know chickens are fairly easy to care for, but I haven't gotten anything done in 3 days because I keep sitting by the brooder just watching them and talking to them. Lol
I still want my Buff Orps. I put some money on a gift card for the feed store so no excuses next time. And I'm calling them daily. Lol. I'm sure I'll have to set up a second brooder box, but oh well. I'll suffer through it. Lol And my wonderful husband will just smile at the realization my 4 chickens somehow turned into 12 without ever laying an egg!
Thanks for your time and I look forward to sharing the fun with you other chicken crazies!!
and Welcome To BYC! Chicken Math strikes again and you've already gotten hooked on Chicken TV! Hope you are able to get your Buff Orpingtons soon, they are a really nice breed. The Stars are great layers and they should keep you supplied with eggs soon! In case you haven't seen it, the BYC sister site, BackYard Herds has a whole section on goats 
