New Member and First time Chicken owner

[karida]

*waves* hey everyone. well, I'm new here I'm an artist and stay at home Farmer's wife. I thought this would be the perfect part to learn from others ( and make friends) on how to Take the best care of my My newest Members of my animal family Most people i meet think when i say We farm for a living. it means we deal with Livestock..But Sadly Nope. My husband and I own a Crop farm.

I've been wanting a few laying hens for years. I've always researched before getting anything But My husband Not so much..lol
He surprised me with 9 baby Chicks today .. of course he got a Nice size pen, heating light, feeder, feed, water.. hay. but For someone that does well at running a farm. he didn't think everything thought. So here I am

He didn't think about getting a book about learning to care for your chickens or babies and The People at Tractor Supply didn't really know anything about them. Nor how to getting him started
I have so Many questions....But really don't know where to start...

 

[NewChickPaula]

Hello! and congratulations on your new chicks! What breed are they?

I am new, too, but we have had our chicks 4 weeks now. This site is awesome for answering questions.
I did a lot of looking online, but I also picked up a magazine or two on Chickens. Right now they have lots of good articles on
chicks because its that time of year. Tractor Supply has a large selection of magazines.

Keeping them warm right now is probably the biggest thing. The temperature needs to be about 95 degrees the first week.
Are you keeping them inside? Watch for drafts depending on where you keep them.
Clean water and food. We use pine wood shavings on the floor and the shavings get in the food and water a lot, so we are constantly cleaning that out.
Try not to handle them too much for a few days.
You have time to read up on things, they don't need too much. Ours are growing like weeds!

Enjoy!
Paula

 

[redsoxs]

Howdy from Kansas, karida, and

! Pleased you joined our community! BYC is a great place top learn. Below are a couple links to help get you started. Have fun and enjoy!!

The Learning Center gives you the knowledge you need to be a responsible chicken keeper:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/

The Raising Baby Chicks forum is a Q & A but reading the old threads will answer a lot of questions:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/11/raising-baby-chicks

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

 

[karida]

Howdy from Kansas, karida, and

! Pleased you joined our community! BYC is a great place top learn. Below are a couple links to help get you started. Have fun and enjoy!!

The Learning Center gives you the knowledge you need to be a responsible chicken keeper:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/

The Raising Baby Chicks forum is a Q & A but reading the old threads will answer a lot of questions:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/11/raising-baby-chicks

Oh thank you I'm reading now , bless you!

 

[karida]

Hello! and congratulations on your new chicks! What breed are they?

I am new, too, but we have had our chicks 4 weeks now. This site is awesome for answering questions.
I did a lot of looking online, but I also picked up a magazine or two on Chickens. Right now they have lots of good articles on
chicks because its that time of year. Tractor Supply has a large selection of magazines.

Keeping them warm right now is probably the biggest thing. The temperature needs to be about 95 degrees the first week.
Are you keeping them inside? Watch for drafts depending on where you keep them.
Clean water and food. We use pine wood shavings on the floor and the shavings get in the food and water a lot, so we are constantly cleaning that out.
Try not to handle them too much for a few days.
You have time to read up on things, they don't need too much. Ours are growing like weeds!

Enjoy!
Paula

i'm excited but scared! while I've had Dogs all my life. NEVER a chick :/ its all whole different field for me. Well, i've been talking about Getting them for 3 years now. The husband was always saying "not until we move." so I didn't think to research about caring and raising chicken because we are still in our current place. He did all this when i was spending the day with my mother. lol its wonderful and I'm happy but still scared.


I have no clue what type they are and the people couldn't tell him and they didn't have the names. All the chicks were for sell for 75cents since they were looking to get rid of them. i got 9 all together. look like the range from 2-3 weeks in age or that is what he told me, all yellow with yellow feet but 3 are yellow with a light brown tone down the back. I'll take picture tomorrow!

I have them outside with a heating lap in ChickenWARE Chick-N-Hutch and I tied a Tarp over the gate front that was opened to weather. It feels warm and they don't seem stressed but i don't have a way to check the temp right now ( store in the morning! ) I live in GA. the days have been warm and sunny but the night still have a chill to them.

My husband set their Hutch and Pen in view from the window near my deck so i can watch them and We placed up a electric fencing around the pens

 

[samygwin9]

WELCOME TO BYC! this site is great for studying up on the chickies! try the learning center. I love reading all the great articles!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC!!

So very glad you joined us!!