New Mexico

[FridayYet]

How many chickens are you planning on? Most of those really cute coops overestimate how many chickens will fit in them and stay healthy. If you are going to free-range them in the yard part time, then those adorable little coops could work.

 

[navajoRN]

This little coop says 3-4 large breed, more if you go with bantams. So, I'm thinking 4. And, yeah, I'm planning to let them free-range when I'm home in the late afternoon/early evening. Looking at the pictures and seeing actual hens in the coop, I think that's reasonable.

 

[emmyeagle]

We are in south Belen. Love it here aside from the wind!

 

[csaiz100]

In Albuquerque's South Valley and yes, don't like the wind either

 

[navajoRN]

Welcome emmyeagle and csaiz100! What kind of peeps do you have? How long have you been chicken folk?

 

[emmyeagle]

We have 11 chickens; a variety of breeds, a pair of runner ducks, 3 baby guineas, 5 dogs, 4 cats, 1 corn snake & a horse. Full house here! We were given 4 teenagers last fall, but dogs got 2 of them. Darn dogs! So we just started with babies in march. Loving our little farm!!!

 

[csaiz100]

We have 7 - 1 1/2 year old hens, 7 that are 6 month, 3 that are about 2 month and 4 that are in the brooder at 3 weeks. As far as the breed, I am not really sure about the breeds, when I bought them I told the feed store I wanted the best egg-layers they had. When I got the 7 older hens last year, being totally new to Chickens I bought "Straight Run" and ended up with 7 hens and 5 roosters. The roosters ended up in the stewpot last month, they basically plucked 1/2 the feathers off my 7 hens, so I now have basically 7 naked chickens

. But I noticed the feathers are staring to grow back. A couple of month ago I bought chicks and put them in my brooder in my "bunkhouse" (my den). Hubby did not pay attention one night and my GSD managed to get the cover of the brooder and ate the now 3 month old chicks

. So I had to start all over again.

 

[navajoRN]

WOW! Definitely a full house. How fun!

 

[navajoRN]

Oh, wow. When I used to have chickens back in Washington state, my kids and I received fertile eggs from a friend, placed them in an incubator and watched the process. It was fantastic! Our first little chick (who we called Pip since he pipped out of his shell first) was a rooster, the rest were hens. Pip became really aggressive too as he got older and he, sadly, ended up in the pot. The girls were such a kick in the pants to watch. Hens are so fun, full of personality! I have missed them for the past 15 years since we had to rehome them when we moved closer into town. I can't wait to move into my new house next weekend that has a perfect backyard set up and get started again! I will be ordering a small little cluck of chicks: Golden Buffs, Australorps, and Barred Rocks - all purported to be good layers and heat tolerate.

 

[csaiz100]

Living in the South Valley on over an acre has its perks

. Last night we got 6 eggs

. As you can probably tell, we eat a lot of eggs, plus my dogs get at least 2 eggs a week each