HI!
I am a new chicken keeper from the great state of Alaska. I had a little exposure to raising chickens over the year’s thorough friends but this will be my first time with my OWN flock. I jumped in (maybe over my head?) this spring and bought a bunch of chicks of a variety of breeds from the local feed store. Ended up with a total of 20! The plan is to raise all 20 till late fall and then pick the breeds we want to keep as layers and slaughter the rest for the freezer. Here is the breed break down: 4 Speckled Sussex, 4 Jersey Giants, 3 Buff Orpingtons, 3 Rhode Island Reds, 3 Barr Rock and 3 Silver Wyandottes. I started with a shorter list of breeds but friends kept recommending other ones and I ended up trying more than originally intended. So far the Sussex are my favorite, they are so friendly and not nearly as spooky as the others. A friend directed me to Backyardchickens.com and it has been a wealth of information! I did a bunch of my breed, brooder and coop research here and decided it was time to join the community.
I am not alone in this adventure; luckily my significant other is willingly along for the ride. (Ok, it was mostly his idea) He is currently building the chickens a mansion so we can soon move them out of the shed and into their own digs. He did add even more birds to our little flock, 5 runner ducks! They came as a straight run so we are hoping most are females so we can have eggs.
Watching the chickens is my new favorite reality show. If I can’t be found around the house it’s a fairly good bet I am in the shed. They are so darn addictive!
In addition to the chickens and ducks we have 3 horses, 3 dogs and a cat. It’s a busy little farm this spring. J
I am a new chicken keeper from the great state of Alaska. I had a little exposure to raising chickens over the year’s thorough friends but this will be my first time with my OWN flock. I jumped in (maybe over my head?) this spring and bought a bunch of chicks of a variety of breeds from the local feed store. Ended up with a total of 20! The plan is to raise all 20 till late fall and then pick the breeds we want to keep as layers and slaughter the rest for the freezer. Here is the breed break down: 4 Speckled Sussex, 4 Jersey Giants, 3 Buff Orpingtons, 3 Rhode Island Reds, 3 Barr Rock and 3 Silver Wyandottes. I started with a shorter list of breeds but friends kept recommending other ones and I ended up trying more than originally intended. So far the Sussex are my favorite, they are so friendly and not nearly as spooky as the others. A friend directed me to Backyardchickens.com and it has been a wealth of information! I did a bunch of my breed, brooder and coop research here and decided it was time to join the community.
I am not alone in this adventure; luckily my significant other is willingly along for the ride. (Ok, it was mostly his idea) He is currently building the chickens a mansion so we can soon move them out of the shed and into their own digs. He did add even more birds to our little flock, 5 runner ducks! They came as a straight run so we are hoping most are females so we can have eggs.
Watching the chickens is my new favorite reality show. If I can’t be found around the house it’s a fairly good bet I am in the shed. They are so darn addictive!
In addition to the chickens and ducks we have 3 horses, 3 dogs and a cat. It’s a busy little farm this spring. J
