Newbie in Colorado springs

Pics
Date sort Score sort
Priest1979 said:
Hey everyone! My wife and I are researching backyard chickens and planning to start in the spring. Any advice would be awesome!!
Click to expand...
FARMER-CONNIE-WELCOME-100X1-2.gif
 
Welcome to BYC
The best advice I can give you is build your coop before you get your chicks. Brood them in the coop with a heat plate or heating pad stay away from heat lights. build the coop twice as big as you think you need. Start now it will take twice as long as you think it will and likely cost twice as much as you thought it would.... I see people post on here all the time about how stressed they are with brooding chicks in the house, they are getting big they are making a mess...

Best of luck


Gary
 
Priest1979 said:
Hey everyone! My wife and I are researching backyard chickens and planning to start in the spring. Any advice would be awesome!!
Click to expand...

Congrats! That is cool that you plan on getting chickens! As for advice... I have summed up a few of the most important that I can think of at the top of my head below:

1: Dust supply. Chickens need to dust bathe to keep their feathers free of external parasites. If they do not have a fairly light dirt/dust to roll in, they will get lice and other nasty bugs on their skin and will have to get bathed. :p

2:Pick your breed: Different breeds have different traits, personalities and functions. Some breeds are mellow while others are generally flighty. Some breeds are bred for eggs while others are bred for dual purpose or meat... many are even bred for showing! Some breeds do not tolerate being cooped up very well while others don't mind being restricted much. To top that, different breeds thrive in different climates (different heat and cold hardiness levels). Some breeds also require more maintenance than others... I have kept many different breeds over the years and would be happy to share what I know about them if you are not sure yet or have questions about certain breeds. :) :D

3: Nutrition: different feeds are formulated for chickens' different growth stages. For Chicks, you'll need chick starter. When the chickens are old enough to eat pellets, I would switch them to layer pellets (you can get layer crumble but it is messier). Cracked corn and most chicken scratch is low in nutritive value so I would keep the scratch and cracked corn cunsumption to a minimum if any. For an occasional treat, chickens love wild birdseed... which is much healthier. Chickens also love table scraps and there is nothing wrong with feeding them some. However, I would advise on keeping the scraps generally healthy (vegetables, whole grains and seeds, etc...).

4: Space: Chickens are foraging omnivores (originally called jungle fowl)... and are built to hunt for their food. Even domestic chickens still have that drive... even if they don't need to find their food. Some breeds have this drive more strongly than others. I would advise making sure that you have a run set up that allows them space to occupy themselves and scratch... without tearing up any flower beds or landscaping. (You don't need to really regard this if your chickens will be running around free all over the yard and just sleep in a coop at night). If you have a small yard, chicken tractors are awesome (a chicken tractor is a portable run that you can move when the chickens have messed up the ground beneath it... The manure will decompose and nourish the soil while the chickens get fresh ground to scratch in). However, the set up depends mostly on your yard and your preferences. :D

That is most of what I can think of now... but goodness, I wrote a lot here... I hope that this information is helpful to you! :)
For more information on chickens and chicken-keeping, please feel free to ask and/or visit my website: http://thewayofthechicken.com :D
 
Hi and welcome to BYC :frow You've gotten great advice so far. I'll add a couple of tid bits, when it comes to treats no more than 10% of their diet. Also, different breeds can have different nutritional requirements. I'm also a big fan of nest boxes that have a movable perch so you can close them at night and I really love my roll out boxes. Again welcome and so glad you joined us:ya
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom