New to BYC and New Chicken Owner

[Frazzemrat1]

Hello all!! I'm entering the world of chicken owning, in my backyard. :-D We have 2-3wk old chicks; five standard brahmas (2 buffs, 2 whites, and 1 dark) and one BJG. I had to pick them out from our local Agway, and I'm hoping, after doing some reading, that I have more than three girls. Any boys will probably end up in the pot.
We are currently working on converting a dog run into a chicken run and will be building the coop inside the enclosed portion of the run and also enclosing the open area of the run. I'm liking that I have two separate areas, one of which is roofed, so the girls will be able to have cover even in bad weather. If anybody's interested, I'll post pics when its built to show before and after.
I'm also going to end up building a chicken tractor to semi-free range the girls. I won't completely free range them as we do have hawks and eagles in my area, along with the standard ground predators. I figure tractoring them around the yard will give them the ability to peck out some yummy things, keep down the lawn in areas, and keep down the bugs.
So far these little girls are so much fun to watch! Here's our dark brahma in my hand. She (I hope) fell asleep soon after this was taken. :-D

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

I implore you to consider rehousing the Roos instead of killing them, or perhaps give one a chance? Roosters are wonderful flock protectors, I have over 20 roosters, and 30+ hens. I've been doing this for a few years, trust me roosters have a purpose. Ultimately it's your decision of course, but I just wanted to inform you of that. At any rate I wish you all the best at raising these little biddies. Just be prepared for a lot of smiles and laughter, but be forewarned in the midst of the laughter there will also be lots of heartache. Many chicks die sadly, same with adults, healthy one minute, dead the next. Never blame yourself if something happens, just know you did the best you could.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I would love to keep at least one (If I have any), but unfortunately where I live I can't have roos. It was part of the reason I chose the breeds I did, so that at the very least we would have meat birds from any roos.

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

Oh I see.

 

[Chicken Girl1]

Glad you joined us! If you post in the What breed or gender forum when your birds are at least 6 weeks old they will help you out with gender.

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[Frazzemrat1]

For the curious, here is our existing dog run. We have a lot of work to do to get this ready for the girls, but we will have it in time for when they have outgrown the brooder.

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

That looks pretty good from what I can tell. A neat trick I do for the girls in the coop is, I mow the grass with a bagging system that catches the grass, I then throw the grass clippings in there for them to eat. Chickens love having fresh grass.