New, questions (of course!)

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niter

niter

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Hi all! My family is starting out with a coop and looking for a great way to find chickens. While we'd love to have eggs sooner than later we also have small children. Is it recommended to start with young feathered chicks or pullets? Right now, we cannot have small birds with needs past the coop.

Thanks!
 
Not quite sure what you mean there. If you don't have a way for them to be outdoors, I'd recommend waiting til you do. You can start with them at any age. If you want to try to socialize them, it's best done with day old chicks. But you can train mature birds to come when you call with a bribe of some treat such as scratch ot bird seed.
 
Thanks for the response. I mean that we will soon have a coop and can raise animals that can live in the coop. Tiny chicks that would require a heat lamp or more advanced care are probably not best for us right now.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! After about six weeks chicks usually will not need heat, so if you can find birds older than that you should be able to put them right in the coop. As Judy mentioned, birds you raise as chicks will be tamer than ones you get older, but older birds will also tame down quite well with patience and bribes after you have them awhile. If you are better off getting 6 week olds or older pullets/birds just depends on what you want and what you can find, older birds will lay eggs sooner, how tame they are in both cases will depend on how they were raised. liz9910 gave you the link to the state threads, posting in your state thread is your best chance of finding out where you can get local birds and what might be available. Also check out the BYC Buy-Sell-Trade forum.
 
Thank you all for the warm welcomes and advice! We are very excited!
 


Welcome to BYC!
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SO HAPPY YOU'VE JOINED US!
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Please make yourself at home and we are here to help. As everyone else has been saying, it depends on what you have ready at the time. (In terms of housing.) Chickens hand raised will be much tamer while started pullets will require quite a bit of handling, treats and attention. But, of course, they would lay sooner. I would recommend that if you start with pullets and want tame birds, look for docile breeds.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/category/chicken-breeds
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Good luck in what ever route you take in keeping either chicks or started birds. You will enjoy either one.

Great to have you aboard and enjoy this new adventure you are on!
 

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