The Dim Side
Songster
- Mar 16, 2021
- 334
- 484
- 186
Hi, everyone! Been lurking here for a short while to do research since we decided to get chickens. I mainly just find this website whenever I have questions and search for things online. This site always pops up, haha. My boyfriend and I just moved to the country around our hometown area in rural PA (from Chicago), and we're trying to get into the whole homesteading thing. So we're new to everything about this lifestyle and raising livestock.
We got a dozen baby chicks about two weeks ago (9 are about 3 weeks old, 3 are about 2 weeks old). Three are Leghorns, three are Easter Eggers, three are Plymouth Rocks (we're not sure what kind, they're different shades of gray but don't look like Barred Rocks I've seen, but Tractor Supply said they'd be Barred or Partridge but had a picture of a white chicken, so I was pretty confused), and three are Golden Comets (the youngest). We also just got a 3-week-old Tufted Roman gosling two days ago to become a guard goose, and she's quite the handful (I have questions about her that I'll be posting later!). We're also planning on building the Chickshaw 2.0 by permaculturalist Justin Rhodes.
We want to become more self-sufficient, so we got these chickens for eggs and will be working on gardening and other things, too. My boyfriend really wants to do meat as well, but I'm not ready for that yet. I still am not ready to accept that we'll lose chickens here and there from predators and such, so I'm trying to make sure we can do all we can to keep them protected while also using them to help cultivate our land. They'll be in the mobile coop, essentially acting as a tractor with electric fencing around designated areas. And everyone I talk to keeps saying you just have to get used to some chickens getting taken, but I attach way too easily to animals, lol.
I'm normally a homebody and like to do things indoors, but especially having been in Chicago, there wasn't a ton of opportunity to do as much outdoor activities that didn't cost money or have people all around. So I'm looking forward to having things to do outside and away from people (we have 6 acres of land). My two jobs are both at the computer, so it gives me a good excuse to get away. I've also been into baking for the last few years!
We also have two cats, both nearly 10 years old, the one I've had since he was about 3 months old (followed me home), and the other for about 5 years. And the house we moved to had all kinds of animals here, and the owners left the domestic rabbits that live under the porch, in the barn, and in the pile of rocks (though one might be a cottontail, and two have white tails but don't have the right color or face shape for cottontails, all are big). There were 5 at first, then we noticed 6 from a baby, and now there are 8 with two new babies, haha.
We're looking forward to this new adventure in country life, but I definitely have thousands of questions for everything, lol.
Nice to meet you all!
We got a dozen baby chicks about two weeks ago (9 are about 3 weeks old, 3 are about 2 weeks old). Three are Leghorns, three are Easter Eggers, three are Plymouth Rocks (we're not sure what kind, they're different shades of gray but don't look like Barred Rocks I've seen, but Tractor Supply said they'd be Barred or Partridge but had a picture of a white chicken, so I was pretty confused), and three are Golden Comets (the youngest). We also just got a 3-week-old Tufted Roman gosling two days ago to become a guard goose, and she's quite the handful (I have questions about her that I'll be posting later!). We're also planning on building the Chickshaw 2.0 by permaculturalist Justin Rhodes.
We want to become more self-sufficient, so we got these chickens for eggs and will be working on gardening and other things, too. My boyfriend really wants to do meat as well, but I'm not ready for that yet. I still am not ready to accept that we'll lose chickens here and there from predators and such, so I'm trying to make sure we can do all we can to keep them protected while also using them to help cultivate our land. They'll be in the mobile coop, essentially acting as a tractor with electric fencing around designated areas. And everyone I talk to keeps saying you just have to get used to some chickens getting taken, but I attach way too easily to animals, lol.
I'm normally a homebody and like to do things indoors, but especially having been in Chicago, there wasn't a ton of opportunity to do as much outdoor activities that didn't cost money or have people all around. So I'm looking forward to having things to do outside and away from people (we have 6 acres of land). My two jobs are both at the computer, so it gives me a good excuse to get away. I've also been into baking for the last few years!
We also have two cats, both nearly 10 years old, the one I've had since he was about 3 months old (followed me home), and the other for about 5 years. And the house we moved to had all kinds of animals here, and the owners left the domestic rabbits that live under the porch, in the barn, and in the pile of rocks (though one might be a cottontail, and two have white tails but don't have the right color or face shape for cottontails, all are big). There were 5 at first, then we noticed 6 from a baby, and now there are 8 with two new babies, haha.
We're looking forward to this new adventure in country life, but I definitely have thousands of questions for everything, lol.
Nice to meet you all!
