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FremontFarmer

FremontFarmer

Hatching
10 Years
Sep 13, 2009
2
0
7
Hi there,

Just found your site and eager to dive in. I got started with this chicken thing by mistake. My son received two chicks as 'gifts' and after some consternation, decided to make lemonade! This journey has been quite rewarding as we have learned a lot about what makes chickens 'tick' or should I say 'cluck', or now-silly questions like 'do you need a rooster in order to get eggs from the hens'. We have two chickens (hens, one small white and one large brown) now as two have up and died on us and learned a lot about what food produces eggs.

I live in Fremont CA, and don't really have a farm, but do have 7 kinds of fruit trees and plant lost of food bearing plants in the summer and although our city does allow 'one cloven-toed animal' I think we'll stop here!

My two questions are:

1. What advice for reducing deaths and can you help a sick chicken
2. What is the best (convenience and money) way to get more chickens to replace the ones the die. I only have hens.

Thanks and look forward to participating
 
Greetings and welcome to BYC from another Newbie and late nighter
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Good news, you don't need a rooster to get eggs from your chickens. That is, unless you want fertile ones that can be hatched either under a hen or in an incubator. If you decide to get a rooster, be sure and check city/county/whatever ordinances apply, or your neighbors may rat you out. As for sickly chickens, you've discovered the best source here at BYC. There are thousands of caring people here who will answer your questions and there is also a wealth of information in the links. As for your third question, I'm old
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and forgot what it was so I have to go back and look
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Oh yea, replacing chickens. Well, there are neighbors, Craigslist isn't bad, fellow BYCers have eggs and chicks, hatcheries that will send as few as three or as many as you might ever want. Unfortunately, smaller orders have premium prices. You can possibly split an order with fellow chicken lovers in your town. Finally, I'm far from an expert, but I would be willing to bet you will be "flocked" with answers by morning. Good luck and once again, WELCOME TO BYC !!!
 
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from WI. For any health issues/injuries you can always check/post in the 'Emergencies......' section. Check the top of that section too for some stickies as they may have some info. Also check the section on 'Raising chicks'. You can replace your hens several ways.....check petfinders.com for rescues, check craigslist, check feedstores (mostly spring chickens), check the forum's BST chickens section or post there, neighbor farms, chicken swaps and meets. You can mail order as few as 3 chickens from mypetchicken.com or Meyers in OH but tht can be expensive due to shipping such a small number. You can get fertilized eggs and hatch your own if you have an incubator but then you get unknown sex chickens.
I only have a small backyard flock and got my first chicks searching LocalHarvest.com (list CSA's for produce, wool, livestock etc) and found a heritage livestock guy that had a variety of chickens for sale. Close enough to drive and if I somehow ended up with rooster he would take them back and give me girl(s) instead....Today I am going to check out some 4 week old chickens from a guy a found on craigslist. So I never had to deal with shipping. Cheaper and easier.....Good luck
 
Thanks for all of your responses, I'll take a look at the resources given to replace the fallen one.

Thanks for the warm welcome
 

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