newbie with some questions

[ohiogoatgirl]

hello!

i'm planning to get chickens and i would like everyone's opinions on my ideas.
*i want to mix my own feed and eventually grow it all too. anyone have a recipe?
*i want to get a breed that will get broody so i don't gotta keep buying chicks. any suggestions?
*should i plant anything in the area that will be their run? right now it's weeds.
*go through about a dozen eggs a week, how many chickens should i get?
*should i get a dual-breed or one breed for meat and one breed for eggs?
*if i get two breeds would i need to have seperate coops and runs for them?
*can i plant peas along their fence or will they eat them before they can grow?

that's all for now...

 

[theoldchick]

 

[sklr112]

If you're looking for broodiness, Silkies are the way to go.

Getting a dual breed depends on if you want to eat them too, or not. If not, you still can get a dual breed... an egg laying breed is fine.
I have a dual breed but don't plan on eating them anytime soon.

The run you shouldnt have to worry about the weeds. No matter what you plant it seems like they would just rip it up anyway.

 

[Wild Trapper]

Hi, I'm new here too, but not new to keeping chickens. I live in Ross county and have ordered chicks from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries at least twice and have also bought chicks from TSC. Being Mt Healthy is in Ohio, the shipping is basically over night for me. I've been satisfied with them. Also, Tractor supply sells chicks sometimes in store but by order. Our local store has 25 min order, where as Mt Healthy has 15 min order. If TSC has chicks in store you can buy as many as you want, you just may luck out that way and find the breed you want.

Unless you have a local breeder that will sell you just the number you want 15 is a good place to start. You can buy straight run chicks and cull the males after a few months, keeping the most friendly rooster for breeding. Don't keep a mean one or you'll have a time trying to keep him from attacking you or small children. I had one that even attacked me, just too stupid I guess.

I like the Easter Egg chickens (Ameraucanas) best for personal reasons, and they are a friendly breed - duel purpose bird. They usually lay a colored egg, blue, green, pink, and some almost white. They are not brown egg layers.

As for how many hens you can always sell extra eggs or adjust the number down by culling.

I personally buy all my chicken feed from TSC. What I call free food is field corn I grow for them, any garden stuff that they like in season of course, even give mine grass clippings. If you dare to let them free range, they will eat very little feed and still produce eggs without getting fat. Hawks are a problem for me. A small feed store, will sometimes have their own mix for chickens. I have gone that route before but found they waste more than the pellets from TSC. They are like birds at a bird feeder with mixed feed, they just peck out what they don't like looking for the pieces they like.

Well, that's all I have time for now, gotta run, hope that is a help. It is really hard to go totally wrong with whatever natural breed you select, just don't go with sex-linked birds if you want to raise your own chicks.

 

[swimmer]

As for the peas. If they can get to them, they will eat them. That goes for most garden veggies.

 

[PepsNick]

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