New To Backyard Chickens

[chickadeeterri]

Good Evening Peeps! I am new here and husband decided since he is fluent on farming that we needed to add chickens to our lives. So we started out with 17. One smothered under the other ones over night. But, I am slowly naming them as the days progress. Here is Orpington Annie and Fryer Cluck. I am already in love with them.

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[chickadeeterri]

 

[newkfarm]

Welcome! I'm new here as well. We are starting out with a total of 41! I had 15 pullets, 1 rooster, and 12 meat chicks until my husband came home with 13 free baby chicks, a free bag of feed, and a free waterer after stopping by the local feed barn to pick up a waterer my daughter had won in a facebook contest. Here are some of our older chicks when we put them in the new coop for a few hours today.

 

[chickadeeterri]

We are doing the coop made out of a garden metal shed starting next weekend. By then they should start the coop a little. We are chicken wiring the whole thing back to front with a good size yard for them to enjoy. And he is wanting to cement a mote around to prevent and stray cats and unwanted guests aka the owl in the trees from bothering my dears.

 

[newkfarm]

We built a small portable coop today that will eventually become the meat chicken coop. We're working on the coop for the layers, they'll have a larger section of yard to run. The main concern we have with protecting them is from our dogs, as you can see they're quite interested
in the new critters.
.

 

[NeonMoonlight]

Hi! I'm new to this experience as well. We don't have our chicks yet but we bought our brooder today. I am very excited and can't wait to get started! But a good friend of mine who has had chicken for awhile is starting to get me nervous as she is telling me all about the predation in our area and how many girls she's lost. I'm trying to stay positive, but really don't want to lose them first try!! Still going to get our chicks sometime this week.
Best of luck to us all!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! Chickens are cute and fun, and the eggs and meat are great. I am concerned about your pictures showing chicken wire, though. MANY predators will go right through it! Upgrade to hardware cloth, well secured, before you loose those nice birds. Mary

 

[chickadeeterri]

We haven't started the coop yet or yard. We are reinforcing it with wire fence and then adding chicken wire with a cement mote around the entire base of coop/yard. Should be good to go.

 

[newkfarm]

Welcome! Chickens are cute and fun, and the eggs and meat are great. I am concerned about your pictures showing chicken wire, though. MANY predators will go right through it! Upgrade to hardware cloth, well secured, before you loose those nice birds. Mary

Thanks for that advice. Right now the babies are inside the barn at night. They'll be in the coop outside during the day while we are home and the dogs will be around the yard. I'm not too worried at this point since the dogs get rid of ANYTHING that moves in the yard. The bigger coop area will be fenced in with a welded wire fence lined with chicken wire and another wire fence laid on the ground to prevent anything from digging into them.