O-Town Birds
Hatching
- Mar 13, 2015
- 1
- 0
- 6
We live in Southern Wisconsin and have 2 Easter Eggers, 2 Black Australorps, and 3 Golden Comets. We are getting 3 more Easter Eggers and 3 Buff Orpintons next week. We (and friends that also raise) have never had any issues mixing breeds, however I would stay away from a large size difference. The birds are great with us and our two kids.
Depending on where you live there are some nice local hatcheries. Our newest chicks are coming from Abendroth's Hatchery in Waterloo. Good prices and decent selection.
We start our chicks in a homemade brooder in our house, transfer to the garage and then when big enough to the coop in our backyard. We have heat lamps in the coop in the winter and they stay warm, even with the extreme cold the last two winters.
We let them free range most of the time, only locking them in when we're gone overnight or once the weather got colder. They're itching to get out of their pen now that we've had some warmer temps. The main issue we've found is that it depends on predators in your area. W occasionally have a hawk that sits in our trees but the birds stay together most of the time and we haven't had an issue. We have two large dogs and they keep most predators out of our yard. When they are locked in the have about 40 square feet of run area.
Depending on where you live there are some nice local hatcheries. Our newest chicks are coming from Abendroth's Hatchery in Waterloo. Good prices and decent selection.
We start our chicks in a homemade brooder in our house, transfer to the garage and then when big enough to the coop in our backyard. We have heat lamps in the coop in the winter and they stay warm, even with the extreme cold the last two winters.
We let them free range most of the time, only locking them in when we're gone overnight or once the weather got colder. They're itching to get out of their pen now that we've had some warmer temps. The main issue we've found is that it depends on predators in your area. W occasionally have a hawk that sits in our trees but the birds stay together most of the time and we haven't had an issue. We have two large dogs and they keep most predators out of our yard. When they are locked in the have about 40 square feet of run area.
