New to Raising Chickens

[chloezoebob101]

advantages are that u get to enjoy little fluffies and know how they were fed and treated when they were young, and you have more time to build a coop. disadvantageous is you have to pay for more feed for the rest of their lives. in this case, i think the advantageous win me over!

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

My Buff Orph & Barred Rocks are my noisiest hens, my Easter Eggers are my most quiet.
Easter Eggers are a smaller hen, so if you get a large rabbit hutch made out of redwood, and just expand on the run area, you might get away with 3 hens. (Russel's Feed has the hutches out in front of their store.) Or you can get Bantam hens, which are a smaller hen, but I do not know how vocal they are.
Like others have posted, I would hate for you to invest in time & money in getting them, just to have your HOA come & tell you to get rid of them.

If you get the chicks, Russel's Feed Stores are getting chicks in the next few weeks, Tractor Supply is getting theirs in late March. They will have to be in a brooder, until they feather out & the outside temp is stable (day & night), but then with a day like today, when the temp was upper 70's, it was like the beginning of summer.
With raising chicks, you are not looking at eggs til 5 - 8 months, depending on the breed. Pullets will take longer to adjust to handling, unless they were handled by the grower. Young pullets 2 - 3 months old, you will still have to wait a few months before you see eggs.

You may want to talk to your neighbors, and feel them out about your plan, just so you don't have one looking over your fence & seeing your brood & contacting the HOA.

 

[Bredwine]

Thanks for the suggestions. Does anyone know about histoplasmosis?