new here and new to "keeping chickens"

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StrayMagnet

StrayMagnet

Songster
8 Years
Jul 10, 2011
355
11
101
W. Georgia
Hello My name is Ann and I am ever bit of the word "STRAYMAGNET!"

Strays love me, Why? mabey I have some sorta "Dr. Doolittle" to me, but In my life I"ve have had Mostly Stray Cats find me.
now that i'm living in the "country" In Western GA, Cats still find me, but now a Stray Puppy found me almost 1 month ago, and before him
Yup a chicken!. She started to show up one afternoon and Although I was not home hubby didnt think I'd believe him and he recorded her visit,
but she indeed kept comming back, and I am a sucker for animals So of course i grabbed a slice of bread and toss some to her, and some oats.
and she visits faithfuly ever morning. even when the dog showed up she still visits and will fallow me around looking to eat.

well Saturday morning I walked our dog as normal at 8am. I go down our side porch so I do not disturb our sleepin children, and when I do.. "chick chick" comes tearing out from under the porch n attacks the poor puppy!. and he jumps back like. HUH? he was just as shocked as me. well I brush it off as we woke her up or startled her.

around 10 I go back out to take stuff to hubby's work truck and I'm shocked to see 10 baby chicks with "Chick chick" I ran back inside n alerted my family who all came running
and we are all quite giddy over them. even my hubby who's not to big on animals,
he suggested to find a way to Keep them all contained so they are safe
so I went out today and got chicken wire and wrapped the porch up to keep them all contained and tomarrow i'll buy feed, for now I'm just feeding them oats, bread and some other grains I got at the store

I"m still not sure what we are going to do with our 10 new baby's. I'd love to keep them. but Lke i told my kids they don't stay lil chicks forever. I dont even know anthing about them. and how long baby's stay with mom. ect. Guess that's why I'm here
 
Hello and
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Congratulations on the chicks!
 
Awh, sounds she's a good mother! Congrats on the new chicken family. If you do decide to keep them you could build a coop and run for them for relatively cheap (one time investment after all). It doesn't have to be fancy, the chickens wont care. Remember that some of those little ones are eventually going to turn out to be roosters, and you'd probably want to get rid of most of them, save one maybe if you wanted to try to raise some more or keep him for protecting the hens if you free range.

One thing I can tell you is raising chickens is fun, it could be a good learning experience and teach responsibility to your kids too!
 
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&
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from Alabama. We get strays dropped off on our property, too; usually cats & every so often dogs. A dropped off chicken. . . that would be awesome. Congrats on your new additions & good luck
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Thanks for the welcome, Yes it was nice to have a chicken show up. I often use to joke with hubby how it be nice to have a few chickens. to get fresh eggs. lol. but i never expected to come upon one like this!!!. and my friends all joked to fallow her to her nest that she has eggs.. snatch em up before they hatch lol. but I just thought she came from a neibors house got loose.. never heard of Free range till I looked up info on the baby's. so she most likely Ranged herself to my yard n liked what she found and decided to stay. you'd think if she has a home she'd have came here for her free food then went back to her coop.

I am going to get a large cat carrier. for now. I have one somewhere just gotta find it. and Ill fill it with hay. so when I decide what to do.. I can unwrap the porch of the chicken wire we put around it to keep baby' chicklets safe. so she can continue to be free run. and I have no clue how to tell if I have roosters or hens!. Id love to keep a hen and a rooster. can offspring mate with the mom n sibling?!! i know NOTHING about chickens LOL! I'd not raise em for food that's for sure. I like NOT KNOWING what or how my Chicken looked before it hits my plate!. but I may once in a while snatch up some eggs.

how do you keep them in winter? do i need a special house? and what is the best "organic" mix. like stuff I can buy in the store to mix to feed them... rite now I got them a varity of grains From the bulk section of my store.. oats and I give them a slice of bread each day. and now that i know she's stayin I put out fresh water.
 
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FROM ALABAMA. FOR THE BABY CHICKS YOU NEED TO HAVE THEM ON CHICK STARTER FOR ALL THE NUTRIANTS IN IT. AND EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE I HEAT UP A FROZEN CORN COB AND HANG IT ON A THING YOU CAN GET FOR RABBITS FOR THEIR CARROTS. THEY WILL PICK IT CLEAN OR ATLEAST MINE DID. ALL THEY REALLY NEED IS A COOP EVEN IF THEIR FREE RANGING MY MOM JUST HAS NESTING BOXES WITH HEY (I THINK ) IN THEM SO THEY HAVE A GOOD PLACE TO LAY EGGS AND TO STAY WARM. IM STILL KINDA NEW AT THIS TO. I HAVE 5 CHICKS THAT ARE ONLY ABOUT 6-7 WEEKS OLD AND THE GET BIG FAST. SO GOOD LUCK
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HAVE ANY ?'S JUST POST THEM YOU WILL GET PLENTY OF ANSWERS BEFORE YOU KNOW IT.
 
Here's just what's going through my mind...yes, chickens can mate to their parents/siblings. It's not preferred but it's not that bad, as long as you eventually add some new genes, which you no doubt will if you decide to keep them and have them long enough. A cat carrier is pretty small, are you talking about putting them in it after dark? They can get dirty really fast in a carrier. I had to keep two little miniature bantam chickens in one for a day while I fixed the holes in my chicken run and they will poop inside it and then it will get all over them. NOT cool to have to deal with. If they are ok with the stuff wrapped around under the porch you could let them stay there with an opening so they can come out during the day. I mean, until you can get something better.

It will be cool to see them grow and find out what they are as far as breed/gender!
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You probably wont be able to tell which ones are hens vs which are roosters until they get older. You can always post pictures and ask what people think
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I'm not sure where you live, but basically everywhere you are going to need a coop for them to stay in at night and during the winter, especially if you live somewhere cold. There are tons of idea for coops on here too! Just check out the forum. I have a run for my chickens so they don't free range. Here's a pic of the run with the coop attached at the far end.

Something like this is very cheap and anyone could build it:

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee168/reynoldsstacie/IMG_0007.jpg
the dog kennel is leftover from when we got our first two chicks and needed somewhere to keep them while we built the run.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee168/reynoldsstacie/IMG_0003-1.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee168/reynoldsstacie/IMG_0134.jpg
the back door to the coop

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee168/reynoldsstacie/IMG_0132.jpg
view from the front
 

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