mentallygone
Chirping
Hi everyone!
I'm a total newbie at this and am both excited and nervous being a new chick-mom. I followed a friend who raises bantam silkies to a chicken show a few years ago and since then have been fascinated by and really wanting to incorporate chickens into our homestead. Not having raised them before, I'm naturally really cautious, my animals are my 'kids' so to speak. My husband decided to take the plunge for my birthday and picked up a few chicks (2 silver laced wyandottes and a buff orpington, breeds that I've been pining after, and a leghorn for himself). My dad really wanted us to have polish chicks, so he picked up a golden lace polish and a mottled houdan. The first four are currently 4 weeks old and others are 3 weeks old.
We just brought them home this past sunday and they all seem to be pretty healthy so far. My friend was taking care of them up until my birthday, so the older ones drink water from your fingertips no problem. I've just got a few of them comfortable perching on my arm the other day. They are starting to stretch their wings and flutter around the cage, so we're hoping in a few days to start to take them outside and give them a chance to stretch their legs. We have an old barn dividing our property in half, with a horse corral that backs up to the inside pen. I'm working on converting it to their new home, the coop will be inside the barn and during the day when I'm at work they'll have access to the horse corral that is partially covered 10' high with deer netting to keep hawks away. My biggest challenge so far is to train my 3 year old dog to not care when they flutter and squabble. They won't ever share the same part of the yard, but we dont' want to take our chances if she finds her way into the back half.
I have Storey's Raising Chickens, another called Keeping Chickens and Carla Emery's notes in the Country Living Encyclopedia (she's suuch a hoot!). I'm on the lookout for other recommended reads, and this forum is part of that. My friend recommended this forum as one of her main resources when she started out. I look forward to reading the past articles and getting to know some of you!
Thanks,
-Beth
I'm a total newbie at this and am both excited and nervous being a new chick-mom. I followed a friend who raises bantam silkies to a chicken show a few years ago and since then have been fascinated by and really wanting to incorporate chickens into our homestead. Not having raised them before, I'm naturally really cautious, my animals are my 'kids' so to speak. My husband decided to take the plunge for my birthday and picked up a few chicks (2 silver laced wyandottes and a buff orpington, breeds that I've been pining after, and a leghorn for himself). My dad really wanted us to have polish chicks, so he picked up a golden lace polish and a mottled houdan. The first four are currently 4 weeks old and others are 3 weeks old.
We just brought them home this past sunday and they all seem to be pretty healthy so far. My friend was taking care of them up until my birthday, so the older ones drink water from your fingertips no problem. I've just got a few of them comfortable perching on my arm the other day. They are starting to stretch their wings and flutter around the cage, so we're hoping in a few days to start to take them outside and give them a chance to stretch their legs. We have an old barn dividing our property in half, with a horse corral that backs up to the inside pen. I'm working on converting it to their new home, the coop will be inside the barn and during the day when I'm at work they'll have access to the horse corral that is partially covered 10' high with deer netting to keep hawks away. My biggest challenge so far is to train my 3 year old dog to not care when they flutter and squabble. They won't ever share the same part of the yard, but we dont' want to take our chances if she finds her way into the back half.
I have Storey's Raising Chickens, another called Keeping Chickens and Carla Emery's notes in the Country Living Encyclopedia (she's suuch a hoot!). I'm on the lookout for other recommended reads, and this forum is part of that. My friend recommended this forum as one of her main resources when she started out. I look forward to reading the past articles and getting to know some of you!
Thanks,
-Beth
