New CA desert location military family :-)

Date sort Score sort
Welcome to chickens and back to the states.... are you near Joshua Tree? I used to live in DHS and it is hauntingly pretty there.

Lots of coyotes in the desert.....so you are going to be smart to be aware of predators.

I Know what you mean about seeing the chicks at the feed store.

Japan---what a place... hopefully you missed all the EQuake and Tsunami activity. I was in Tokyo and Toyota City on assignments for my company before I retired out to the desert. Now in humid south TX....even less comfortable than the desert if you can believe that.

Good questions about feed and you have already gotten some good answers. I also have seen topics tonight about fencing for runs and coop ventillation--- search on these--they will definitely help you.

Good luck with your hen rooster ratio... Hope chickens will be a lot of fun for you and your family. And I join the others in thanking your husband for his service to our country~
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome! To the person who asked, yes we are very near Joshua Tree and it is simply beautiful. A big difference from living on a tropical island but we really love it here.

I'm still a bit confused though on the feed question. As mentioned we have two chicks but I'm embarrassed to say we do not know yet if they are hens or roosters. Will we know by the 18-20 week point? Is the layer feed only good for the hens? Will we have to figure out how to feed separately then if we have one of each? We bought a bag of scratch last week because the starter package said feed until 8 weeks, and we looked at all the other options available at our feed store only finding scratch, layer and cracked corn so we made the assumption that it was the next step. Fear not, the bag has not been opened yet, we bought more starter just in case lol. Why is scratch only a treat? Sorry so many questions, lol I can answer a million questions about dog food but the chickens are new to us and we are trying to get it all sorted out.

We don't have a photo host site right now, but as soon as I find and sign up for one, I'll post pictures to share with everyone. We are very proud of our little coop and run (and veggie garden coming up nicely nearby in an chick-free zone lol).

Again thank you everyone for being so helpful!
 
frow.gif
&
welcome-byc.gif
from Louisiana!
 
Quote:
welcome-byc.gif
frow.gif
from the Central Valley.

You just need to be an addicted........mmmmmmmmmmmm.....visit here a lot...Yeah that's what I meant.


You should be able to tell but then. We can even help you out if you post pices. Might need another week ot two at least to tell. Sure determining factor is a crow. LOL

Welcome home. Can always use more military and ex military here.

Scratch doesn't have enough protien. Once your pullets start laying they need lots of protien to make eggs. Chicks need it to thrive.

Scratch is good in winter. It helps the birds put on weight when the cold weather starts. If you have white birds and feed a lot of scratch you'll get yellow chickens.

You'll love this board the more you get into your birds. Don't forget too that the BYC site itself has lots and lots of info. Lots of learning pages and help pages and lots and lots of DIY pages. Plus if you use the search option on the top left you can find any and everything here.

ALSO! There are a lot of us in Califonria. If you go to the Where are you, Where am I section you'll find threads for different areas of the state, but you are welcome on all of them.
 
Last edited:

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom