North Carolina

[doubleatraining]

I'm just north of Raleigh. I'm getting ready to build my first chicken coop/tractor. I'm going to be shopping for pullets in the next few weeks. Any suggestions??

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I second that

or is it 3rd? and

to all the newbies too!!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Depends on what you want, all purpose? egg laying only bantam? Theres plenty on her who have if you post what your looking for. and

 

[doubleatraining]

Miss Lydia, Thanks for the reply. I know I still have a lot to learn because I'm not sure I know the difference between all purpose and egg laying only. I don't plan on eating them at any time.

Ideally 2 Light Brahmas and 1 egg laying bantam. I know the silkies are popular but they don't really do anything for me.

Thanks for your help!

 

[sjmarshall87]

Quote:
All Purpose would be meat and eggs.. If you plan to use them for meat as well as egg you want an all purpose bird.. Egg laying only is a bird that is only good for laying and not eating.

 

[doubleatraining]

Thank you for clarifying!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
All Purpose would be meat and eggs.. If you plan to use them for meat as well as egg you want an all purpose bird.. Egg laying only is a bird that is only good for laying and not eating.

Thats true about egg laying versus all purpose. But any chicken can be eaten. we have game/bantam and we process our extra roosters. There not as much meat as say a Brahma which is consider all purpose but it's still good eating. I have brahmas and they are great birds, lay nice large eggs, have only eaten 1 and it was a roo that was mean. My girls are just egg layers and very friendly birds. As for bantams great also I have cochin bantams and they are good egg layers [small] but make wonderful broodys and great mamas. The larger breeds eat more than the bantams, so if your on a tight budget you might want to go with bantam. What ever you decide just remember chickens are addicting and you'll probably end up with more than you intended to get. But totally worth it. Very rewarding to sit out side and enjoy all your birds. Great Therapy

forgot to say Hi sj where have ya been? haven't seen you on in a while.

 

[stcroixusvi]

Hi doubleatraining, I am new to this forum as well.

We thought we would have a chicken tractor and maybe 3 or 4 chickens, but ended up getting 22. Maybe if we bought them locally we could have held back, but we bought them online where the minimum order was 15, and a minimum 5 per breed, and then there was this Top Hat Special, and THEN they threw in a couple of extra chicks. So we build a coop and tossed our plans for a tractor

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
See what I mean about being addicting?

 

[doubleatraining]

Well for right now the size of my yard and patience of my neighbors is going to keep my numbers in check. I really want to ease into the hobby. I have seen a few tractors on craigslist but they are so expensive I'm convinced I can make one cheaper....cross your fingers I'm actually right about that. LOL Hopefully I can start shopping for hens in a week or 2.