New in Vancouver, WA

[M To The Maxx]

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Welcome to BYC from Cape Cod. If I were you, I'd get four or five. If you get three and lose one, your flock will be awful sparse.
I have four now but I started with five...

 

[texasgal]

A big Texas size

 

[typercy]

Quote:
I have definitely thought about that. My biggest concern is the noise and odor that will increase with each bird. I don't want to do anything that will cause my neighbors to be annoyed and give me grief. Maybe they will be more tolerant if I give them free eggs....

Any suggestions on the noise/odor issues?

Thanks,

 

[fldiver97]

from WI. I would also start with 4.....even if you do not have any losses. If you loose 1 out of 3 that leaves you with a sad pair. If you accidentally get a roo in the group, you may have to count that as a loss.....I can have chickens but no roos in town (noise issue....). I got 5 3 weeks old chickens from a guy a few towns over, he was pretty sure they were all girls but he would have taken any roos back in exchange for a girl I lost one of the 5 original chickens, added 2 later. Got those two as 6 week old pullets. Ha - turns out that one looks suspiciously like a cockerel at 17 weeks. I had to find a new home for him and he will 'move' next week. Not all that easy to find a pet home for a rooster....But it depends on a few other things such as space. As far as odor goes....Sweet PDZ or Stall Dri are my best friends!! I have no odor problems in my 8x12 converted gardenshed. Using deep litter for the winter, spotclean but also have a poop board under the roost. The poop board is filled an inch high with Stall Dri and I scoop it just like a cat litter box. I framed the board in with 2x2's so the Stall Dri (or PDZ) stays in place. Keep the coop dry and the humidity on the lower side in the coop. Check out the coop designs for ideas, check the breed pages and Henderson's Chicken Breed chart and maybe Feathersite forinfo on breeds so you can decide what sounds good to you. Good luck!!! Sorry about the long post

 

[al6517]

 

[Georgiapea]

We are happy you joined our group, Ty. Choosing a breed or breeds can be complex. I've changed my mind several times as to which breeds I want to raise, so right now there are a couple of this, a couple of that and a few odds and ends in my chicken house.