NEW TO CHICKENS HELP NEEDED WITH LOTS OF BIG DECISIONS!!

[theback40]

You can order 3 chicks from My Pet Chicken. They sex them so you should get all girls. I was very happy with my chicks. Arrived at the post office peeping loudly. The box was made nest like and they had a heat pad to keep them warm. I'm new to chickens but agree that you should get at least three. They really do like to be together and if you loose one the survivor would be lonely. Good luck!

Hi! if i may,, i just ordered from My Pet Chicken--they're great,, very helpful, the hatchery which has the lowest 'minimum' order,, but it's a 15 chick minimum until April...

i went ahead n ordered the 15, bc of how patient i am. i'm trying a mixed flock, n they had breeds that i wanted, that my local feed store didn't carry. i went in with a couple friends n will still have a few more than i set out to have initially.

Chicken Math is true.

 

[aart]

Thank you everyone for helping me! Seems most of you have pointed to Easter Eggers? Interesting, I looked them up and they do seem pretty cute.. May or may not be a possibility. I live in New York, so during winter it does get pretty cold out here. Right now my quail are handling garage temperatures, so shouldn't chickens be fine? I mean it is only the beggining of January, so it will get colder.. Foxes are quite a problem for me. It squeezed my quail through veryyyy thin bars and ate 5 Speaking of which I can order 5 chickens if thats really necessary.. Will it be bad if i get a rooster?? I don't know if I'd want to raise them again or not.. The coldest it can probbably get around here is -60? Thats just a guess. Thanks for all the hatchery suggestions, I'll look into them. I'll look through them right now! Thanks!

That sounds more like a raccoon.

-60F in NY, I doubt it...even with windchill.

 

[duluthralphie]

Welcome to BYC..

Good luck finding chicks in the numbers you want. Check Craigslist they have lots this time of year.

 

[yellowherb]

No one recommended standard cochins or sultans. I would recommend either, although standard cochins are quite large.

Definitely check craigslist. I will often put my chicks up for sale there before I take them elsewhere.

 

[mamabokbok]

Hi so I'm semi new to chickens too and I have just two hens. I was in this situation starting a new flock about 2 years ago and I started with 4 chicks but 2 didn't make it so then got 2 POL hens later on when the chicks were ready to go outside, but then one chick grew up to be a very noisey roo and had to go to a farm and one of my POL hens sadly passed from illness) so twice I ended up with just two

and my experience with just two hens is a bit stressful as I've always been worried about one ending up alone (and you DO lose one here and there

although my luck seemed particularly against me in the beginning) but it has worked out well between them for the time being just the two girls. The other issue is that you get a few and then you kinda just want one more... Then a few more.. Then you are officially a crazy chicken lady

no but seriously you will probably end up wanting to get at least 1 or 2 more in the future if you only have 2, I don't know why but it seems that the majority of chicken keepers seem to feel the need to collect, either it's hard wired into us from birth and surfaces with first chicken contact, or they are just addictive little critters but either way

so it's right to have a minimum of 3 for their best interests if you lose one, even the stress of a new home can trigger them to get sick or tweaking their security in the beginning a predator might fund a weak spot sometimes things happen quite early so best to start off with 3 from the get go, but also as you reaserch or get more experienced you can learn that adding outsiders to your established 'flock' later can be a bit risky, invisible illness can and does come in, or could already be there, some chickens have immunity, some are carriers, some are vulnerable etc I can't explain it all technically but it's a good thing to reaserch too because for us who's chickens are pets it can be heart breaking to lose one from illness, very sad

and horribly stressful, like even now my new chicks are not immunised and I'm worried for them because my hens have been around something at one point. It's also just generally a bit of work to introduce new chickens later on from quarentine to socialising them together So my best advice is planning the definite numbers at the beginning and then starting out with that number for a happy/healthy closed little backyard pet flock. I hope that's not too much info/too heavy but it seems like a good idea to me now and I never considered it in the beginning. And If you want a really adorable and cuddly pet chicken pekins are by far the most adorable I've seen and our pekin absolutely stole our hearts, she was like a lap dog more than a hen, I'm still searching for some more as they are hard to get where I am, but silkies I think are more popular here because they handle the cold better and they are apparently similar in friendly nature, pekins might be a little bit fragile compared to others

our winters do get below -0 with frosts (but no snow) I have a standard (quite large) gold laced wynedotte and a silky x bantam who are both adorable, generally friendly, great personalitys and do well in our extreme heat/cold fluctuations so I reckon they are good, hardly types and both lay almost every day and I'm also now raising 5 'auracana' chicks to try get numbers up, I'm interested in having pretty blue eggs so that's why I chose these, I think for America these are similar to Ameraucana's as ours are different, I haven't found these to be easy to tame, they are only just starting to accept being handled at 6 weeks old

I find they are flighty/skittish. In my experience bantams eat less, make less mess and take up way less coop room so having 3-5 bantams would = 2 larger breed chickens as far as food/mess/space goes, in oppinion/experience anyway. By the sounds of it you would love pekins or silkies they are actually too adorable, to the point you kinda wanna take them inside and cuddle them to sleep like teddy bears

and both mine layed pretty much every day to second day. my wynedotte bantam roo was pretty and super cuddly too, these are all generally popular choices I think they are good with kids and being handled. I've chosen a little bit larger chicks now because I have a bigger yard now and my chickens free range and having the colourful little fluff balls waddling around (pekins kind of waddle omg

) out in the open is more stressful with prey birds in mind, so lots of factors come into it depending on how you plan to keep them and how much space you have. I also tried hard to find pullets/hens this time rather than chicks just because appart from the last 4-6 weeks of them being in the house not being so cute anymore, I find the roosters are really hard to part with

I have a soft spot for them and if I keep one it's ok by law for me, but my neighbours might not be too impressed

so I got 6 chicks now hoping at least 2 are girls, so is it a possibility to consider finding 3 pullets rather than chicks, you then would have 3 definite girls? Anyway which ever breed and how many you chose or however you go about it will definitely bring you that personal experience and learning curbs that you just have to pretty much go through to acquire, hopefully a smooth and wonderful experience because you are planning so well in advance, Having chickens is absolutely the best I love mine, I've had dogs and cats, other small pets throughout my childhood and I reckon chickens are hands down the best!

 

[Coturnix Quail]

Thank you all so much! SO, since the minimum right now is 15 chicks, would it be good if i would get one silkie, one ameraucana, and the others other breeds you guys suggest? Can chicken live with quail or would I have to make a seperate coop? Can different breed of chicken live together? It seems to be that my pet chicken would be the best place to get them.. Alrighty, now I just need some other friendly breeds, a little bit of how they are to humans, how they stand the cold, and how they get along with other chicken breeds or quail if possible. Thanks!

 

[jazzyb]

My Barred Rock, Rosie is beautiful, very friendly, easy to handle and a good layer. Love my Black Silkie Bantam,she is sweet as pie, will sit on my lap and always makes me laugh. No eggs yet but my grown White Silkie lays an egg every other day small but delish. EE not to friendly but can't wait for her eggs. Foggie,the Leghorn, egg machine! Got them from My Pet Chicken, very happy with their customer service. Good luck with you flock.

 

[dekel18042]

Thank you all so much! SO, since the minimum right now is 15 chicks, would it be good if i would get one silkie, one ameraucana, and the others other breeds you guys suggest? Can chicken live with quail or would I have to make a seperate coop? Can different breed of chicken live together? It seems to be that my pet chicken would be the best place to get them.. Alrighty, now I just need some other friendly breeds, a little bit of how they are to humans, how they stand the cold, and how they get along with other chicken breeds or quail if possible. Thanks!

There are so many friendly breeds. Over half my flock are now Easter eggers (Can you guess my favorite breed?) but I have and like Jersey giants, several types of marans, buckeyes, California greys, English game, D'uccle bantams, mixes and a host of others. The only thing I would say is since you're in NY, stick with the cold hardy breeds and away from the Mediterranean breeds and you should do fine.

 

[olsenfamily]

At what age do you know for sure that you have no roosters in your group of chicks? In my neighborhood we cannot have roosters.

 

[duluthralphie]

At what age do you know for sure that you have no roosters in your group of chicks? In my neighborhood we cannot have roosters.

Welcome to BYC..

For sure is when they start to crow, (most of the time) Maybe is as they grow and the legs get thicker and combs are larger than the rest.. Good Luck

and Welcome to BYC