New hobby for a soon to be empty nester

[SamanthaClaire]

Hi, I just bought my first chicks today. I am a mom of 4 and my youngest is leaving for college this year so I decided to start a new hobby. I bought 3 Americauna and 3 Astralorp today and they are safe and sound in my garage with a light, food and water. I am so happy to have found this group through a friend on a Facebook page. I know so little about chickens that I will have a lot of questions moving forward. Any advice will be welcome. I love eggs, animals and baking so this seems like a perfect project for me. My next project will be getting a home together for them. I do want them to be able to roam around my yard but we do have lots of predators so I am thinking more of a protected roaming area....probably where our old swingset used to be.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Welcome to our FUNomenal community!
Make yourself at home and have lots of fun!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello, Samantha, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. Free ranging is great, but make sure you have a secure coop and run for when predation occurs, and it will occur.

 

[drumstick diva]

Nice to meet you Samantha. Hope you will enjoy Backyard Chickens as much as we do.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens enjoy

 

[featherhead007]

Welcome. This is a great place to learn about care and feed of your new pets. Enjoy the forums!

 

[Isaac 0]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Hi and welcome to BYC! We're glad to have you with us!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Here are some helpful links:

• Great go-to resource - Articles
• Insightful feedback on how members manage their flocks - Topic of the Week back-catalogue
• Good link to read before building a coop / run - Space requirements

Best wishes
Pork Pie