New to chickens , how am I doing ?

[Dblackno]

Im new New to rasing chickens these were Bought at tsc almost 2 weeks ago , i have 4 brown hens and 4 brahama un sexed , they seem to be doing quite well so far, they will be kind of a backyard freerange chicken kept for eggs when they are old enough , i live in michigan so i figure more than likely first of sping till they accualy live outdoors with a coup...i have let them outside a fue times when its sunny and warm n they love it , i feed them a basic chick food , oats ,fruits n veggys ...dewormed with ditomacatous earth and a light dusting on back to keep any pest away

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC.

Here are some links to useful resources:

• List of guides on how to use the site - “How to...” guides
• Great go-to resource - Learning Centre
• Good starting point for browsing the site - Articles
• Insightful feedback on how members manage their flocks - Topic of the Week back-catalogue
• Excellent sources of local information - U.S. States
• http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-chicken-keeping
  http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures
  Topic of the week - Winter chicken keeping

Best wishes

Pork Pie

 

[slordaz]

Hi and welcome to BYC, eggcited to have you, here, DE is a waste of money for internal stuff as it does not kill or prevent worms and outsides stuff, a dust bath area of regular dirt is just as good.

 

[N F C]

Congrats on the new chicks!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Your chicks will do much better if you brood them in their coop with a brooder plate. They will acclimate and easily be ready for winter if you do that. It is not realistic to keep them inside until spring.

 

[ValerieJ]

Hi! Welcome to BYC!

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Hello! Welcome to BYC!! Do you have a secure coop and run ready for them? Don't worry about worming and dusting the chicks just yet. You can put a shallow pan of dirt in their brooder so they can start dust bathing, which they may already be doing in the shavings. Head over to the learning center and read all you can. Good luck!

 

[Dblackno]

Thanks for the input ..the brooder they r in now is 4ftx3ft an I'm going to add another row on to to make it taller, they will b kept in my back yard with privacy fence an working on building a pallet coup within the next fue weeks for them ..just wasn't really sure when they are of age enough to b outside here with Michigan weather an they do dust themselves here n there when they r out free ranging

 

[007Sean]

Howdy and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC, and good luck with your new flock. Get them into their permanent coop as soon as is possible.