I am new at raising chickens and have already reached out to BYC for help. I’ve pretty much stopped reading anything else as your articles, conversations etc. are addictive ! I’m learning so much and love hearing other people’s stories etc. We’ve lived on the gulf side of south Florida for 8 years with a recent move from a planned community to a more rural feeling area. We have 2.5 acres which we left natural for the most part and added our fav plants, bushes etc. . The boss of our clan is Tullulah , a 12 yr old hairless Chinese Crested.No one bosses mother( that would be me) so Fontaine, our other hairless crested took the second to last position. Fortunately my husband doesn’t mind the bottom of the pecking order. And now we have 13 4 mo old chicks. I wanted 10 but when I saw White sultans become available last minute I added 2 to my list. I received a substitute for one (darn) plus an extra chick ( darn again) so 13 it was! We have a roomy coop so numbers are ok.how do I keep this intro short?! Seems so much to tell. I intended to free range the girls. We have lots of wooded “ cover” and Mike &I spending most of the day outside gardening etc. I felt it was a safe great option. Then I started reading the lists of all the toxic wild plants. I think I have just about all of them growing in my woods. we ended up fencing a large area around the coop and cleared the nasties. After reading BYC treads re bears we ended up adding electric fence around that fence. Anyway all was well until recently Abigail ( a hefty barred rock for heaven sakes) has decided she likes daily field trips and over the fence she goes. . I expect my 2 silver spangledHamburgs will get the travel bug but the rock surprised me. We have 2 barred rocks, 3 Dominiques 1 sultan 1 white Cochin 1 columbian Wyandotte 1 silver laced Wyandotte 1 Rhode Island Red and 1 white rock. I can tell who won’t be top hen but the position is yet to be decided. Thankfully all get along most of the time! I haven’t quite figured out the threads, where to put info etc. I will add some pictures Next post. What post do I put them under? thanks for reading and I look forward to more BYC content. Love there are such experts willing to give their time to us newbies.
