New to Chickens and looking for advice!

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epcherie

epcherie

In the Brooder
Apr 18, 2015
21
4
24
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
I'm just steps away from taking the leap and becoming a chicken mom, im excited but have lots of questions. Any advice is welcome!

First question, what do you do when you go on vacation? we typically only do long weekends;3 days gone then back.

Im looking to only have about six girls, are there certain breeds you should not mix and match?

How often do you trim their wings so that they dont fly out of their fenced in yard? we do get car traffic on our roads so id like to keep them safe at home

I want to be sure i only have girls (no offense fellas) so will juvenile pullets bond and be loving as chicks would be? I want them to enjoy being handled as all my animals are my babies.

and lastly for now, I'm converting a small single horse barn into my chicken coop. The floor is hard packed dirt and gravel so whats the best material to cover the floor with for easy cleaning and how often do most of you clean your floors?

Thanks so much for all your wisdom
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Cherie from Lancaster, PA
 
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Hi :welcome

Glad you could join the flock! How exciting for you to be starting out on your chicken adventure :celebrate
To be quite honest I don't go on holiday/vacation. Or if we do manage to get away for a night I have very helpful neighbour who will look after my flock for me. We have foxes so the birds are locked in their coops on a night and let out first thing so having someone I can totally trust is paramount.

I tried wing clipping with mine but as the run was not high enough they still managed to fly out so I moved to covered runs so they could not escape at all. Here is an article on wing clipping https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-clip-trim-the-wings-of-your-chicken-to-prevent-flight

Some poop in your converted horse barn should be able to be just picked up from under your roost. I've not had gravel in a coop before but have had it in runs and I just hosed it down. Here are some great articles on housing your birds https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/housing-and-feeding-your-chickens

Good luck on this new adventure. Be sure to ask all the questions you need to around the forums, everyone here to help and very friendly.

Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat :frow
 
Thank you so much for the articles, they will definitely come in handy. Any advice on how to encourage that they only lay in their nesting boxes vs going there to sleep? We are planning to run branches or boards in one corner of the barn for them to roost.
 
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I am very happy you joined the community! Generally juvenile pullets won't be attached to you as if you raised them from chicks. There are sites such as mypetchicken.com that offers sexing of chicks, and send them to your post office, I have used them and have not had any dead on arrival. A recommendation for very friendly breeds from me are cochins and silkies, but most breeds if handled tons as chicks will be friendly. For the vacation thing, we have a family friend who comes, or you could hire somebody while you are gone. Another idea could be to get big food/water feeders and leave that for them, so they won't run out until you get back. I don't know if you are free ranging or have a run jutting out of the barn, if you have a run and the food dispensers you should be ok. Welcome again!!!!!!
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Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC!
X3, most people wind up finding someone to come once a day to check on the birds and collect eggs, you can set it up so they don't actually need to do anything (big food/waterers, roll away nests etc) but it is good to have someone at least look to be sure everybody is OK.
Generally breeds that are the same general type will get along fine if they are raised together, you may want to watch size (bantams can be bullied by large birds), crested birds (ie polish/silkies) can get crests plucked by other birds, and some people don't like to mix the the light breed high energy more active birds (many white egg layers) with quieter heavy breeds (mostly brown egg layers).
It is best to have a predator proof coop and covered run for most of the time, if you let them free range in the yard you'll need to trim wings every time they molt, generally once a year though some will more often. How high is your fence, if it is under 6 foot you may still have problems with them getting out, especially if there are things near the fence they can use to get over the fence... the bigger heavier breeds don't fly as well as the light breeds, so you may want to consider that also when picking breeds.
It is easier to tame chickens if you start with chicks, but even adult birds will get quite tame if you work with them...while they certainly do come to like people (or at least all those treats you come with!) most chickens don't like to be handled very much, some of the more pet breeds like Silkies and Cochins are better at that.
Sand or wood shavings are popular floor coverings, sand is nice especially in hot climates and if you can get it free in your area... wood shavings are nice in the winter and available at most feed stores... how often you need to clean will depend on the number of chickens and the size of the area and if you are doing something like the deep litter method... using stall dry / Sweet PDZ type materials will help.
 
Thanks so much! We do plan to have a run coming off the barn so that makes me feel so much better! Im super excited because i just got a call from a hobbyist breeder and i just may have some chicks by tonight
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