New to chickens

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Mrshacollins

In the Brooder
Mar 2, 2022
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Hello! My name is Heather and I am new to this whole chicken thing! We homeschool and at a homeschool meetup/Valentine's party one of my 4 year olds friends was talking about how she was going to get chickens, and my daughter got hooked on the idea. A couple of days later my father-in-law came over and she rushed to tell Grandpa about chickens and he told her he would buy her a chicken house. I told him to wait and see if she was still just excited when the chicks started coming in.

Well then on Monday my mother-in-law passed away and I knew that Grandpa was going to need a project to help keep him active and give him a direction so I started researching breeds and thinking about what we might like. When the first chicks arrived at the store Grandpa was sure to let me know and had already picked out the coop by the time I told him we were ready to go get some chicks.

We got 6 little Rhode Island Reds and have my fingers crossed that they will all be hens. My father-in-law and the kids are all over the moon which is really sweet to see after this week of big and hard emotions.

Who wants to place bets my father-in-law will be over to assemble the coop tomorrow 😅

I reached out to a friend who has been raising chickens for years now for help and guidance and she pointed me to BYC. I have already gotten some great info here and can't wait to learn more as we start our chicken journey!
 
Mrshacollins said:
Hello! My name is Heather and I am new to this whole chicken thing! We homeschool and at a homeschool meetup/Valentine's party one of my 4 year olds friends was talking about how she was going to get chickens, and my daughter got hooked on the idea. A couple of days later my father-in-law came over and she rushed to tell Grandpa about chickens and he told her he would buy her a chicken house. I told him to wait and see if she was still just excited when the chicks started coming in.

Well then on Monday my mother-in-law passed away and I knew that Grandpa was going to need a project to help keep him active and give him a direction so I started researching breeds and thinking about what we might like. When the first chicks arrived at the store Grandpa was sure to let me know and had already picked out the coop by the time I told him we were ready to go get some chicks.

We got 6 little Rhode Island Reds and have my fingers crossed that they will all be hens. My father-in-law and the kids are all over the moon which is really sweet to see after this week of big and hard emotions.

Who wants to place bets my father-in-law will be over to assemble the coop tomorrow 😅

I reached out to a friend who has been raising chickens for years now for help and guidance and she pointed me to BYC. I have already gotten some great info here and can't wait to learn more as we start our chicken journey!
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Sorry about your MIL. :hugs

Welcome to BYC, Heather!:frow Sounds like you have a great setup going.

I will give one tip though: Chickens NEED 4 square feet in the coop and 10 square feet in their run. This is a MINIMUM. A lot of pre-fab coops will list that they can fit 3-6 hens, when in reality, 2 is a max.

Make sure to do coop research and predator proof it before any chickens move out. Pretty much any predator will love some chicken dinner. Other than that, I wish you the best of luck!
 
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My condolences on the passing of your mother-in-law. Having a project/purpose won't take away all the grief, but it is wonderful to have something else to focus on. Kids and chicks sound like a good distraction.

What a good friend you have for introducing you to BYC! This is a great community of knowledgeable and generous folks. It's unlikely anything you encounter won't have already been faced and/or solved by someone here.

Welcome to BYC! And, how's that coop construction coming along?
 

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