New to the chicken thing in Maine

[woods79]

Hello everyone,

My name is Daniel, our family has decided to get a few hens, 6 - 8, no rooster as we live in town and do not want to bother the neighbors. We have a little experience with helping a friends with his flock of 12 when they take vacations and long weekends. My kids and I will be building a coop and pen in the spring after the snow is gone, early to mid May. We are looking to get Orpington breed as that is what we have been dealing with, my friend said they winter well with Maine's climate and are a docile breed that would be good with the kids.

 

[pa2chitown]

Sounds like a good plan!
6-8 is a lot for starters, though? Do you want that many eggs?

Keep everyone posted, and we all try to answer questions that arise...

Good luck!

 

[MelissaEm]

Hi Daniel,
Also in Maine and we started this past spring with what we thought were 6 girls, but ended up with five girls and a rooster lol. Three barred rock and three Rhode Island Red. With the exception of the roo all are pretty socile, but we've been handling them all along. The roo will let me hold him, but I have to watch him around my kids. I'll let you know how winter goes as we're still learning too!

 

[N F C]

Hi Daniel,

If you haven't checked it out already, the Learning Center has a lot of very good articles in it that will help you get off on the right foot:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

And here is a link to the Maine state thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1370/maine
You might find it helpful to chat with other members from your state (like @MelissaEm ).

Thanks for joining us, it's nice to have you here!

 

[woods79]

Thanks for the welcome and links to the Maine thread, luckily for the # of chickens we wish to have and the amount of eggs we may get I have family that is willing to by feed in return for eggs, plus we do a lot of baking and cooking with eggs, I cook most things from scratch, my eggnog recipe alone uses 6 eggs and only last 3 days in our house and we make it all year long.

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Orpingtons should be an ideal breed for you. They are cold hardy and great with kids as they are typically calm and gentle (good lap pets), and they are good layers of browm eggs. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard chickens - sounds like a good breed for your family and egg plans.

 

[trailrider330]

Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!

Orpingtons are great and they come in so many varieties.