New to chickens.

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BKerr

BKerr

Hatching
Joined
Feb 6, 2015
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Location
Georgia
Hi All!

My name is Ben and I'm new to chickens. My family eats more than a couple dozen eggs a week and we decided to build a coop and stop paying the store for the eggs. I'm a licensed egg candler and work full time for a church. I'm looking forward to gleaning all of the knowledge I can to keep my chickens healthy and productive.

I'm going to be producing in an urban environment with a lot of inner city kids "helping" me. My coop and run will be right next to my garden and I'll move the run to get some extra help with fertilizer twice a year in the lulls between my winter and spring gardens. I'm probably going to start hatching in the summer and am trying to get prepared before then. I have a German shepherd, neighborhood cats and raccoons to deal with.

I really don't know what else to put here. So, like Nick News used to say, if you want to know ask.

Ben
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to our flock. If you're really wanting to save money on eggs, then I would recommend buying high yield layers such as White Leghorns (for white eggs) or Black or Red Sex Links (for brown eggs). These are the hens used by commercial laying houses as they are egg laying machines, consistently churning out more than 300 eggs per hen per year. If temperament is a consideration, I would go with the Black Sex Links. White Leghorns are flighty and high strung. Mine screamed bloody murder whenever I handled them (which is why I don't have Leghorns any more). If you don't want Sex Links or Leghorns, then I would forget the idea of saving money by not buying eggs at the store, and instead just raise chickens for the fun of it, with the eggs you get from them being a bonus. :o) Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in getting your flock.
 
Hi :welcome
Glad you could join the flock! X2 with Michael on the sex links for eggs. I had red sexlinks (warrens as we call them over here) They were excellent egg layers and my first introduction into chicken keeping. They were an excellent starter bird, easy to care for and quite straight forward.
The learning centre is a great place to start for lots of helpful articles on getting started raising chickens https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/

Wishing you the very best of luck, enjoy BYC :frow
 
Welcome to BYC!
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I'm glad you joined the "flock."
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What breeds do you plan on getting?
 
I have no idea about breeds yet. The sex links might be best with the kids around. When you said if temperatures where a concern what type of temperatures are we talking about? I know I can keep them cool enough in the summer, but in winter what's too cold? We hit below freezing a few times a year, but seldom have more than a week that'll stay below 40F.

Thanks for the warm welcome! Cheers!
 
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I'm glad you joined the BYC "flock!"

Chickens can easily withstand temperatures below freezing--even into negative digits. Approx. 40F is a fine temperature, even for the larger combed or lighter feathered breeds.
 

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