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Idaho Chicken Bungalow said:
Welcome to the coop! I use the Forums and Articles tabs at the top of the page to do research. You can get lost for hours. It's nice to know you are minutes away from getting help with questions and emergencies! I always check in the "What's New" section as well at the top of this page. This way I can read how I may have a similar question or help give some advice.
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Thank you so much for the tips!
 
Boppo said:
Glad to meet you and your beautiful dogs! Welcome to BYC. Best wishes as you start your chicken keeping! Do you guys train seizure alert dogs?

Here are my favorite beginning articles that helped me as a newbie. All articles are short, and have illustrations, and reviews, which are often worth looking at for the comments.

1. Intro to chicken keeping

2. Common mistakes & how to fix them

3. Ventilation (important to chicken health), with helpful links to coop designs organized by climate (because what is just right for my New England hens won't work for my brother's Arizona chickens)

3(a). Farmers Almanac on Building Coops (Includes size requirements!)

4. Predator protection for new & existing coops

5. Dealing with a muddy coop and run

6. Introducing dogs to chickens

To look for articles on your own:

A. Use the SEARCH button, but use the Advanced Search choice, and select ARTICLES at the top of the box. Just enter your keyword(s) and scroll through your results!

B. I find it helpful to notice the rating and reviews. All articles are by BYC members, and all the reviews/ratings are as well. The ratings help a newbie like me sort the most useful and reliable articles.

C. You can bookmark the articles or posts you think you want to refer to again using that bookmark icon at the top of articles or posts. You can find them again by clicking on your own avatar and looking at the list of bookmarks you have built up!

Notes about where to put a coop:

1. As far as you can, put a coop and run on high ground, that drains well, so you won't have so much muddy coop problems. Chickens need to be dry, dry, dry.

2. As far as you can, put a coop with the ventilation lined up with your prevailing breezes, and away from the direction of your storms. If you are not sure of these (who is these days?), check with your local National Weather Service website.

3. As far as you can, arrange for some sort of shade over your coop and run. Preferably deciduous so the girls will enjoy winter sun, but summer shade.
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Thank you for all the info. My neice has seizures and she is training her pup, Ophelia, for seizure alert. Its going very well, Ophelia is super smart.
 
Mama Brahma said:
My family is new to the world of owning chickens. I have cared for chickens in the past for family members who were out of town but have never raised our own. We will be receiving our first baby chicks on March 31. Very exciting!!

I am an eternal student. Whatever my interest may be, I dive in and have to learn everything I can. For months I have been reading books, watching Youtube channels about raising chickens (two of my favorites are Oak Abode and Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily), pretty much anything I could get my hands on, so I have at least a little knowledge before getting our first chicks. After doing a ton of research on different breeds that would be good for our needs, we have settled on these, 1 Buff Orpington, 1 Black Australorp, 1 Buff Brahma, 1 Blue Plymouth Rock, 1 Olive Egger, 2 Easter Eggers, and last but not least 1 Mystic Maran.

We are looking forward to having farm fresh eggs daily. I do a ton of baking and my family eats a lot of eggs. So, it made sense for us to raise our own chickens. Plus knowing exactly what the chickens are being fed and how they are raised is very important to us. But probably one of the biggest things we are looking forward to is interacting with the chickens daily and raising a happy healthy flock.

I have been raising Chesapeake Bay Retrievers for the past 30 years. My nephew has been raised with them since he was 3 and my niece has been raised with them her whole life. They are my helpers with all the dogs. I have bred a couple of litters. I currently have 4 Chesapeakes, 2 eleven-year-old (brother and sister from my first litter) and 2 five-year-old (sisters from my second litter). The five-year-olds are the daughters of my older girl. Throughout my life I have also raised mice, hamsters, fish and cats. My niece raises snakes, she currently has a Ball Python and a Corn Snake. She is raising and training a Border Collie/Rough Coat Collie mix to be her service dog for seizures.

We have the YouTube channel, Oak Abode, to thank for recommending this site. This morning I was watching another one of her videos about raising chickens and she mentioned this site so before I forgot about it, I jumped online and looked it up, so here I am 😉

A few photos of our dogs.

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Welcome to the best forum on all things poultry. You have some beautiful dogs, and no doubt will have happy chickens, with all your animal husbandry experience.
 

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