RedwoodCoastChick
Free Ranging
Hi, I'm Linda, recently retired from my job and escaped from urban life! We fell in love with the rural redwood coast when our daughter started college up here in 2008; plotted & planned and studied the area until we could both retire and make our escape from the LA-area to Humboldt County where we now live on a 5-acre homestead (mostly redwood/Doug-fir woods) across the road from pastured cattle and goats and with neighbors on both sides buffered by woods whose roosters we hear crowing daily. Heaven, after too many years of freeways and pavement (but that's where our work & families were for a long time).
Both of us have cherished memories of growing up in or spending summers in rural areas -- northwest Georgia woods for me, time on a cousin's working ranch for him -- and wanted to retire to that kind of environment; also want to have a place where our urban grandkids can come and immerse themselves in nature and critters. Toddler grandson loves being able to run loose in our deer-fenced yard and mini-orchards, his new little sister will join us in late fall. I loved hanging out with our Georgia neighbors' chickens and guineas, piglets, goats, motley crew of dogs, etc. and they let me board my horse (cheaply) in their pasture. It broke my heart when Dad's new job took us back to my parents' native Los Angeles when I was 14; I'd been longing to get back to the woods for decades and now at last here we are, and I'm starting my first flock of chickens.
I currently have 4 chicks in a brooder box in the bathtub, a 2-week-old Rhode Island Red (the other 2 chicks I bought with her quickly died so she was solo for several days before the next batch of chicks went on sale locally - probably cold stress in shipping? No signs of disease, no pasty butts, seemed fine for a day then just went lethargic and faded away) and week-old Easter Eggers (2) and a Blue Australorp. Everyone seems to be thriving and getting along fine. Hoping our wet, cold weather gives way to pleasant spring temps by the time they're old enough for the outdoor coop & run. I have 5 started pullets on order, due to arrive mid-June: Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Delaware, Silver-Laced Wyandotte and a Whiting's Blue Egg Layer. [Demand for chicks is so high, I wasn't able to get the other breeds we wanted as chicks, so ordered the pullets online; when the time comes, I'll be seeking advice about integrating the two cohorts in the coop & run.]
We have lots of serious predators around us, caught on wildlife trail cameras as well as seen going about their business: black bears, gray foxes, raccoons, skunks, coyotes, possums, hawks & owls, rats & other rodents. We already had to electrify the deer fence to keep the bears out of our fruit trees & berry patches. The coop & run are built to withstand anything but a bear, but it's well-inside the electrified fencing and has hardwire cloth over the top & bottom of the run. Here's hoping all that will be enough to keep the chooks safe when they move outside!
I joined BYC because of all the excellent, wide-ranging information and the help I've already found in the forums (about raising a solo chick - the mirror trick saved her! ) and what's OK and when to put in with young chicks for nourishment and play-stimulation. Don't want bored chicks turning on each other! They're already enjoying the little "beginner's perch" in their brooder and pecking at their reflections in the mirror. I'm enthralled by "chick-vision", spending lots of time just watching them do their chick-things, holding & stroking them after doing "clean-butt checks". The 2 dogs are fascinated by the cheeping they hear through the door but there'll be no introductions for a very long time! I hope the chickens will be able to free-range our orchard areas under supervision when they're mature but will have fenced areas outside the coop & run they can explore during the day when we're around (and being retired, we're mostly around, enjoying our country life!)
So happy to be here and much appreciate the community spirit and experience-sharing in the forums!
Both of us have cherished memories of growing up in or spending summers in rural areas -- northwest Georgia woods for me, time on a cousin's working ranch for him -- and wanted to retire to that kind of environment; also want to have a place where our urban grandkids can come and immerse themselves in nature and critters. Toddler grandson loves being able to run loose in our deer-fenced yard and mini-orchards, his new little sister will join us in late fall. I loved hanging out with our Georgia neighbors' chickens and guineas, piglets, goats, motley crew of dogs, etc. and they let me board my horse (cheaply) in their pasture. It broke my heart when Dad's new job took us back to my parents' native Los Angeles when I was 14; I'd been longing to get back to the woods for decades and now at last here we are, and I'm starting my first flock of chickens.
I currently have 4 chicks in a brooder box in the bathtub, a 2-week-old Rhode Island Red (the other 2 chicks I bought with her quickly died so she was solo for several days before the next batch of chicks went on sale locally - probably cold stress in shipping? No signs of disease, no pasty butts, seemed fine for a day then just went lethargic and faded away) and week-old Easter Eggers (2) and a Blue Australorp. Everyone seems to be thriving and getting along fine. Hoping our wet, cold weather gives way to pleasant spring temps by the time they're old enough for the outdoor coop & run. I have 5 started pullets on order, due to arrive mid-June: Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Delaware, Silver-Laced Wyandotte and a Whiting's Blue Egg Layer. [Demand for chicks is so high, I wasn't able to get the other breeds we wanted as chicks, so ordered the pullets online; when the time comes, I'll be seeking advice about integrating the two cohorts in the coop & run.]
We have lots of serious predators around us, caught on wildlife trail cameras as well as seen going about their business: black bears, gray foxes, raccoons, skunks, coyotes, possums, hawks & owls, rats & other rodents. We already had to electrify the deer fence to keep the bears out of our fruit trees & berry patches. The coop & run are built to withstand anything but a bear, but it's well-inside the electrified fencing and has hardwire cloth over the top & bottom of the run. Here's hoping all that will be enough to keep the chooks safe when they move outside!
I joined BYC because of all the excellent, wide-ranging information and the help I've already found in the forums (about raising a solo chick - the mirror trick saved her! ) and what's OK and when to put in with young chicks for nourishment and play-stimulation. Don't want bored chicks turning on each other! They're already enjoying the little "beginner's perch" in their brooder and pecking at their reflections in the mirror. I'm enthralled by "chick-vision", spending lots of time just watching them do their chick-things, holding & stroking them after doing "clean-butt checks". The 2 dogs are fascinated by the cheeping they hear through the door but there'll be no introductions for a very long time! I hope the chickens will be able to free-range our orchard areas under supervision when they're mature but will have fenced areas outside the coop & run they can explore during the day when we're around (and being retired, we're mostly around, enjoying our country life!)
So happy to be here and much appreciate the community spirit and experience-sharing in the forums!
