Hi! I'm a new member from Lancaster county, PA raising chickens for the very first time. My name is Lisa. Decided with some friends to raise chickens in our backyards for eggs. We live in a small town in the country, so kind of suburbs, but with a country lean. Next door neighbors had chickens so we figured, why not us? We've used this website extensively -- it is a terrific source for newbies!
Hubby and friend built coops -- wanted the chickens to be contained for their own safety -- many red-tailed hawks, owls, foxes, possums, dogs, cats, mean little boys, etc. in our area. Went in on an order of chicks this spring with our friend and SIL. We got Speckled Sussex, Australorp, and Easter Eggers. Got off to a rough start -- order shipped over the hottest weekend of the spring (temps in 90's) and chicks arrived Monday dehyrdated and some dead.
Since then, we've raised 19 healthy chickens.
I'd like to say hens since that is what we ordered, but I'm pretty sure one is a roo.
We kept five for ourselves and split the rest with our friend and SIL. We are now at 22 weeks and eagerly awaiting our first eggs. Our friend has one hen that started laying last week, so our kids are pretty excited now and checking daily.
We have two Speckled Sussex hens (Goldie and Sweetheart), one black Australorp (Shine), and two Easter Eggers (Uniquea and Mrs. Stripes). Mrs. Stripes has turned out to be more unique than Uniquea since growing some beautiful pointy feathers and beginning to crow last week for the first time. Probably need to change his name to just Stripes!
Hubby and friend built coops -- wanted the chickens to be contained for their own safety -- many red-tailed hawks, owls, foxes, possums, dogs, cats, mean little boys, etc. in our area. Went in on an order of chicks this spring with our friend and SIL. We got Speckled Sussex, Australorp, and Easter Eggers. Got off to a rough start -- order shipped over the hottest weekend of the spring (temps in 90's) and chicks arrived Monday dehyrdated and some dead.
We have two Speckled Sussex hens (Goldie and Sweetheart), one black Australorp (Shine), and two Easter Eggers (Uniquea and Mrs. Stripes). Mrs. Stripes has turned out to be more unique than Uniquea since growing some beautiful pointy feathers and beginning to crow last week for the first time. Probably need to change his name to just Stripes!
