New member Big Chicken

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bigchicken19

bigchicken19

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Sep 29, 2016
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Hi!
I am the new mother of 6 chicks: 4 Buff Orpingtons and 2 Ameraucanas. I've never owned chickens before, but we moved into a house that has a beautifully constructed chicken coop all ready for use. Plus, my email address for over 15 years has been "bigchicken19". So it was time. I have one dog, Sandy (king charles cavalier mix), and one 10 year old daughter, Lily (defiant/angel mix). I thought the experience of tending chickens would be a good mother/daughter adventure.

Our chicks are one week and 2 weeks old, respectively. The orpingtons have not been sexed (they were only a couple of days old we bought from someone's farm). But the Ameraucanas are definitely hens (or so I was told...they came from a hatchery). They are currently under a heat lamp in my garage and I turn on the fluorescent lights during the day to simulate sunlight. But I'm anxious to take them out in the yard for a field trip. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and learning the next steps in raising my chickens right!

I'd love to stay "organic", but since I'm pretty sure my chicks did not originate from organic sources, I'd like to keep them as "clean" as possible. I appreciate any input on that topic.

See you round the coop!
Susan
 
Greetings from Kansas, Susan, and :welcome. Great to have you in our community! Love the defiant/angel mix reference. :lau
Sounds like you have some nice chickens...those are both friendly breeds. If you're a newbie to the chicken game you might want to read up in the Learning Center here https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center It's chock full of information that will help you raise happy and healthy chicks!
Then, type 'organic' into the BYC search box, pour yourself a tall drink of something and be prepared to read. :caf
You'll find tons of old threads on the topic. Best wishes and thanks for joining BYC!! :)
 
Hi Susan and welcome to BYC. Redsox has given you a great link (and excellent advice about the drink
wink.png
). This link may be useful in the short term - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-your-baby-chicks

All the best
CT
 
Hi :welcome Susan

Glad you could join us here! Please do check out the great links left for you above. Wishing you the very best of luck for the future and be sure to ask any questions, everyone here to help and very friendly.

Enjoy your time here on BYC :frow
 
Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you.

"Ameraucanas" from hatcheries are really always Easter Eggers. And sexing from hatcheries as about 95% accurate, so they SHOULD be hens... but occasionally a male slips through.

Buff Orps are good birds... if you're allowed to have roosters and end up getting one you like, you might even consider keeping him. Great rooster breed for beginners.

Organic feed is great, but moreso, make sure to get quality feed. Even a conventional but very good quality feed would be better than a crappy organic. So make sure you source carefully and find something that's really worth feeding your birds.
 

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