Newbie from Brownsville, TX

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RebelChief

RebelChief

Songster
6 Years
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
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Location
Brownsville, TX
Good morning all:

My chicks arrive this week and I'm busy getting set up for their arrival. The coop is half built and the brooder is almost ready. I am way new to this life so I am sure I will be asking a lot of questions. Here's my basics:

(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? Very new. My chicks are enroute and will arrive Wed or Thurs.

(2) How many chickens do you have right now? I have 8 on order

(3) What breeds do you have? Three Easter Eggers, three Black copper marans and two olive eggers,

(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? I can't really say yet but I am looking forward to caring for the flock. Right now I live on a lake and I feed the local duck population (along with some pesky raccoons that haven't gotten the hint, a lot of wild birds and a nutria) and I love it. I've wanted chickens for almost 10 years but we lived in Hawaii and it just wasn't feasible. Now we are on 2 acres and I have plenty of room and time (newly retired) so it's time to do it.

(5) What are some of your other hobbies? Photography, crafting of all kinds, travel and gardening.

(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. I am married, two adult kids of my own, two step kids with my hubby, three grand kids. I am fully retired after 22 years in the Navy and 10 years of Federal service. My husband is also retired Navy. We have finally settled into our forever home. I am about to start working on my masters in Social Work and plan to volunteer some of my time at a local women's shelter. Hope to have lots of fresh eggs to share with the kitchen :). Oh and I have three dogs...Chloe is a 15 yo rescue mini chihuahua, Zack is 13 and also a Chihuahua and Brutus a 9 month old Yorkie.

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community? :D I think I found BYC when I was doing my initial research on having chickens a few years ago....now it's happening so I'm back.
 
Welcome to BYC. I served 22 years in the Navy and 8 years Federal service. That and chickens, we have something in common, mainly a lot of sea stories lol.

A word of advice; since you have raccoons nearby, I highly recommend putting hardware cloth on the bottom half of your pen backed with chicken wire all the way around. This will prevent predators from reaching through chicken wire to get your chickens. Also put about 15" (width) field fence laid flat on the ground all the way around the outside base of the pen, this is called an "apron". Tie it to the hardware cloth or use fencing nails to hammer it into wood posts. This will prevent predators from digging under into your pen to get at chickens.
Grass and roots will grow through the field fence making it impossible to be lifted or torn out by a predator.
It's best to put 1/4" hardware cloth on coop vents and flexible screen to keep flies and mosquitos out of the coop.
 
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Good luck!
BYC pic (1).jpg
 
Pork Pie said:
Hi and welcome to BYC.

Here are some links to useful resources:

Best wishes

Pork Pie
Click to expand...
Thank you. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on. The frustrating thing is the varied opinions on some things.
 
I have a lot of shore duty stories...I was a CT when women couldn't go on combatants and then when they could I was too senior to get a billet. :)

So many things to think about...makes my head hurt! They have a coop, an enclosed run and a fenced in play yard under a huge tree. I have a door that I can close off the play yard from the run at night and the chickens will be kept in the coop at night. Thanks for the info on the vents. The flies and mosquitos can be bad.

As for the raccoons....I'm about to get a 22 and take care of them. They keep getting into thing and are leaving dirty paw prints all over my newly painted white fence GGGRRRRR.

dawg53 said:
Welcome to BYC. I served 22 years in the Navy and 8 years Federal service. That and chickens, we have something in common, mainly a lot of sea stories lol.

A word of advice; since you have raccoons nearby, I highly recommend putting hardware cloth on the bottom half of your pen backed with chicken wire all the way around. This will prevent predators from reaching through chicken wire to get your chickens. Also put about 15" (width) field fence laid flat on the ground all the way around the outside base of the pen, this is called an "apron". Tie it to the hardware cloth or use fencing nails to hammer it into wood posts. This will prevent predators from digging under into your pen to get at chickens.
Grass and roots will grow through the field fence making it impossible to be lifted or torn out by a predator.
It's best to put 1/4" hardware cloth on coop vents and flexible screen to keep flies and mosquitos out of the coop.
Click to expand...
 
N F C said:
:welcome

Hi, it's nice to have you here with us! You'll find different opinions on lots of topics, just go with what works best for you.

Thanks for joining us!
Click to expand...

Thank you. I have noticed the varied opinions piece. Makes it hard for a newbie sometimes. I am loving learning about caring from them.
 

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