New forum member - need egg laying hen advice

[EdmondNative]

Hello,

My wife and i just started some urban chicken keeping. We I've on 2.5 acres in/near Edmond Oklahoma.

I didn't know where to post to try and find a quality seller of egg laying hens in my area. I tried to post in the classifieds area, but since I'm new, we couldn't.

I really don't care so much what breed of hen we get. We just want the joy of collecting some fresh eggs.

We bought three hens at Mary's Swap Meet this weekend, but two have already died (one yesterday and one today).

I was hesitant to buy from this guy at a swap meet, but I didn't know where else to look. A friend pointed me to this forum.

Thank you for any advice.

Looking to buy in the Edmond, Guthrie, Jones areas.

 

[Alaskan]

See if you can figure out why they died
- were they sick?
- enough food and water?
- some animal kill them?

If they died from disease you now have the problem of super cleaning the coop and run before you get any more chickens.

As to buying chickens, I think your local Craigs list is the best bet.


Good luck!


Also, spend a great deal of time on this site reading about chickens, you will learn so much, and have fun!

 

[aart]

Ditto on the cleaning of the coop thoroughly before getting any more chickens and finding out what killed the ones you've got.

Could be a state thread that is active where you might be able to find someone:
advanced search>titles only> Oklahoma

 

[Eggcessive]

You would be safest from bringing in more disease if you cull the remaining chicken, clean your premises thoroughly, and then wait at least a few weeks before getting chickens. I personally think with all of the people out there selling sick chickens who will then infect all of the rest of your healthy chickens, it would be best to get some chicks from a hatchery. At least look for healthy hens from a local well-respected poultry farm. Ask around at the local feedstore--they some times can recommend a local hatchery. Learn some about biosecurity, and learn some of the chicken diseases so that you will be able to recognize sick chickens. Here are 2 links that you might find helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/biosecurity-for-the-rest-of-us
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044