NY chicken lover!!!!

[Nambroth]

Well, after a decade of 'wanting', months of researching and saving, I placed an order for chicks! If all goes well, I have 7 coming in May, mother nature permitting. I'm trying not to be excited 'till they get here but it's easier said than done!
Now it's coop building time! We checked with our town clerk to be 100% sure before ordering, and we can build up to 12' x 12' without a permit and can keep chickens in our zoning.
Most of my family thinks I'm off the deep end and that chickens are miserable, disgusting, filthy, mean animals. I aim to prove them wrong!

 

[tgrlily]

Quote:
Nice!

We can only have up to 10x10 without a permit here.

My family also thinks I'm nuts! They're probably right...lol. Put it this way --- my Mom thought she wanted to garden - till she realized it involved bugs & dirt!

I never lived in the country till I met my husband 7 years ago. He wanted 6 chickens... six. We have a whole lot more than that!

one 8x10 coop, two 4x8 silkie coops & a 20x20 shed with 5 (soon to be 7) breeding pens.

Build bigger then you think you need!!! Enjoy them!

 

[marquisella]

I just put up a notice on the North East USA Yahoo poultry group for blue laced red wyandottes if anyone is interested. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NorthEastUSApoultry/

This is a group for selling, trading, buying or whatever for the North East of the US.

Sue
http://rarechickensblogspot.com

www.sterlingcenterfarm.com

 

[Fyrekitten]

Ahhhh chicken math is as amazing as the chicken disease. First, you start off with a few chickens, then you get some eggs from some "friends" (I realize now that they are enablers

) No one here on the Site BTW, the people we got our two goats from gave us some because they had so many..... next you hatch the eggs - oh so cuuuuute, you maybe lose one or two or not, then you decide you need to fill the incubator because it was fun and you want to see how the others would come out, then you speak to other people about other breeds and decide they are really cool and you order a mix of eggs, then you get a couple of each of those, then they need a couple more to make a flock so they won't be on their own and maybe you could sell their chicks or eggs too, then you also in this mix exponentially realize that hey maybe you might want to have a few to show at the fairs or maybe (like me) you want to help certain breeds that are on the ALBC and are threatened, critical or on the watch list - so hey it's like saving the whales but this is something YOU can do..... then you get another incubator and now you need to keep that one full.....

Am I getting close everyone?????

Once the incubators start getting empty it's like losing your kids to College and moving out. But at least they don't take as long to raise, talk back (too much) and at least give you love and eggs for breakfast!

Featherz, you and Tgrlily and a few others will be the death of me - I just can't stop it seems - gonna need counseling for this obsession.

I seriously will be PMing you too Featherz for a couple cuties - you can always add a few to the flock - ALWAYS.

Some one please pass me another roll of tinfoil.....

 

[demp4]

I am in CNY near South shore of Oneida Lake (Bridgeport). We have had chickens for 2 yrs now... and this year was our first time incubating/hatching and now am addicted... we have 8 2 yr old hens (all different besides the 3 speckled sussex), hatched 4 blue/black splash orpingtons who are now 4wks old, and 7 silkies and one lav splash orpington (1wk old) I have all I can do to stay out of TSC and/or buy more hatching eggs from a friend...

I had no clue there were so many other chicken families around here!!

I am going to hit the auction in Bridgeport hopefully the next one! I always miss them by a week though.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Fyre--theres not enough tinfoil in the world to protect you from this madness! I am trying so hard not to order eggs, go in feed stores or look at other breeds!!! I have to build another tractor as 6 silkies will not fit in a 3x3 tractor comfortably. Then I was thinking that if I end up with any boys from this silkie hatch that I will have to swap for a different boy(cant breed brother to sister) and get more girls for the other boys. This means another tractor or coop. My dh is going to kill me. I better start looking for more free wood. Made the mistake of looking at bantam silver penciled rocks and now I want them. Looked at auburn javas and now Im not sure if I want black or auburn or both. The sickness is getting worse!!! Someone please stop me before its too late!!!

 

[Fyrekitten]

Please pass the tinfoil this way again... hee hee. Madsenaccord - you my dear are definitely infected - which I had already figured out by your posts! Newbies, if you aren't infected by two weeks then you must have been infected when you joined the Forum!

I got some java eggs recently and they are in the incubator - not sure if they are the blacks or the auburns - there was a great article on the java auburns in Backyard Poultry this past issue. I also received a bantam barred rock egg that I am too excited about not to mention about 6 other breeds (maybe more???

) it was a lot of eggs. You definitely will have to have at least three more tractors for the Silkie split outs (I'm just saying - and enabling

)

Defintely keep checking Craigslist, and I think Freecycle may have some wood occassionally too.

Yes there are definitely a lot of us and it seems that there are bunches and bunches of us popping out of the woodwork here in NY lately - it's a good addiction demp4. Cheaper and more satisfying I think. I'm hoping that Featherz, Tgrlily, Muggsmagee and a couple others will have a few more chicks for me. I just have to sneak them in under the radar now. Or, order eggs and have them delivered when the darling husband isn't home. It's not quite like a new pair of shoes or a dress - they don't make noise and peep like a chick does.....

 

[featherz]

I'd hatch out more eggs if I thought I had someone to take some chicks AND if I could find more neat eggs locally. Had good luck with my shipped eggs last time but MUCH better luck with local eggies. I don't need any more chicks tho.. yet.. LOL. Wait for a few more weeks until I can pick out the roos!

 

[Fyrekitten]

Thanks Featherz - you probably saved me by not having any - yet! Maybe by then I can control myself a bit...

 

[Cass]

Quote:
Chicken math

OMG, I wanted FIVE chickens. I didn't even have my coop finished and somehow I had 16 being hatched for me. I have been saying 14 for 2 weeks now and I just added it up again and it's 16. That's the problem with chicken math. You never can add it up right.

Coop is finished now. 4 banties are down there now making the cat wonder where I disappear to for an hour at a time. LOL

If you hang around here much you will find that the coop you KNEW was perfect for your needs is only HALF the size you ultimately need. You have been warned. Plan accordingly.