Hello to all of you from Central Illinois.
I'm a new proud papa to 12 Buff Orphington chicks. I've never raised chickens before but I am tossed into the midst of it now. They are 2 weeks old today. I have them in a very big kennel that we used for our dog when he was a pup and using that for our brooder.
They're so fun to watch, they've grown quite a bit in just the few days that I've had them. I've given up trying to keep the brooder clean, they scratch and toss the bedding around as soon as I put them back in. I've got their food & water in there along with a piece of wood serving as a perch, they took to the perch in no time.
I'm feeding them organic chick feed and will only feed organic as long as it's economically feasible to do so. With that, I'd like to mix my own organic feed and have seen some recipes for organic feed on some of the other forums.
I live on 3 acres here but the ordinance here says I have to keep them contained so I'm in the process of getting the coop put together with a nice covered run. There sure are some nice coops posted here, wow!! I have some vegetable gardens so I'm trying to figure out a small type of moveable containment system that I could use to put the chickens in to work their magic in the gardens. Maybe some type of tractor type device but my gardens are raised beds so I'll have to figure that out when the time comes.
I'll feed them the kitchen scraps and things like that but will also feed them organic feed as I'm a firm believer in that entire movement. My question is, how much feed should each of these chicks be getting per day & when they're grown?
I tossed a couple of small worms in there to them yesterday and that was a hoot watching them peck at them. Then they started to play keep away, one would gram the worm and run around and the others would chase it trying to get the worm. Funny to watch.
Sorry this is such a long post for a newbie, guess I'm just a long winded old fart. Glad to be here and look forward to many happy and healthy chickens and learning from all of you here.
I'm a new proud papa to 12 Buff Orphington chicks. I've never raised chickens before but I am tossed into the midst of it now. They are 2 weeks old today. I have them in a very big kennel that we used for our dog when he was a pup and using that for our brooder.
They're so fun to watch, they've grown quite a bit in just the few days that I've had them. I've given up trying to keep the brooder clean, they scratch and toss the bedding around as soon as I put them back in. I've got their food & water in there along with a piece of wood serving as a perch, they took to the perch in no time.
I'm feeding them organic chick feed and will only feed organic as long as it's economically feasible to do so. With that, I'd like to mix my own organic feed and have seen some recipes for organic feed on some of the other forums.
I live on 3 acres here but the ordinance here says I have to keep them contained so I'm in the process of getting the coop put together with a nice covered run. There sure are some nice coops posted here, wow!! I have some vegetable gardens so I'm trying to figure out a small type of moveable containment system that I could use to put the chickens in to work their magic in the gardens. Maybe some type of tractor type device but my gardens are raised beds so I'll have to figure that out when the time comes.
I'll feed them the kitchen scraps and things like that but will also feed them organic feed as I'm a firm believer in that entire movement. My question is, how much feed should each of these chicks be getting per day & when they're grown?
I tossed a couple of small worms in there to them yesterday and that was a hoot watching them peck at them. Then they started to play keep away, one would gram the worm and run around and the others would chase it trying to get the worm. Funny to watch.
Sorry this is such a long post for a newbie, guess I'm just a long winded old fart. Glad to be here and look forward to many happy and healthy chickens and learning from all of you here.
! Pleased you joined our community! Good luck with those chicks and thanks for joining BYC! 
