Raising Chickens to Hens for the first time! (Maryland)

[Bogtown Chick]

I had a silkie mixed with a buckeye. The buckeye was very much a food hog (dual purpose bird). And she pecked the silkie in the head. She had neurological symptoms for 4 days (brain swelling) I learned Silkies have open skulls. I learned that silkies shouldn't be mixed with large fowl. Never saw anything in all my reading on byc. But learned the hard way.

 

[jreardon1918]

We are in or first year. We did a mixed flock. One thing I would suggest is that you out leg bands on to tell similar looking pullets apart. We have two RIR and two white Plymouth rocks. Bands would help figure out who is laying, eating...

 

[Blooie]

And I never had an issue, even knowing ahead of time that Silkies' little skulls are delicate. Total integration of the Silkie chicks within the flock of Standards by the time the chicks were 4 weeks old. Well, like I said, in every flock there are different personalities! Our gentle Brahma Tank was usually the first to welcome the new chicks when we opened up the doors to their brooder to let them start mingling. I may have just had an unusual group of Silkies - mine would go outside the minute the door was opened, even when it was only 9 degrees out there!

 

[driver]

I have one each of 6 different breeds in my MD flock: The California White is 6 years old and no longer lays eggs. The rest are almost 8 months old - Easter Egger, Black Australorp, Cuckoo Marans, Golden Comet, and Golden Laced Wyandotte. They all get along just fine and are doing okay with winter.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Dixie our silkie was with us for 4 years in our mixed flock before that happened blooie. She was very spunky and agile. But Daisy the protein driven buckeye got her in the right spot that day. Anyways I won’t do it again. Mix the silkies in. Not right for our set up anyways.

 

[Blooie]

Dixie our silkie was with us for 4 years in our mixed flock before that happened blooie. She was very spunky and agile. But Daisy the protein driven buckeye got her in the right spot that day. Anyways I won’t do it again. Mix the silkies in. Not right for our set up anyways.

Point well made, and equally well taken!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Lol thanks Blooie. All our experiences giving food for thought. Good stuff.

 

[shawthorne44]

On the question of when they are fully feathered. I just couldn't figure that out. So, I took a representative hen up to the feed store and asked. They were. Although if you do the Mama Heating Pad, it seems like it would come quicker.

Also, people have referenced Chicken Math. This is the best explanation I have found.
https://blog.mypetchicken.com/2014/07/25/chicken-math/

 

[Bogtown Chick]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-raise-chickens.47660/

Mike after researching and getting your coop built, This is the link into the education center on raising healthy birds. (another fun part) I also recommend reading a few articles on chick care. There are some people that do things differently depending on climate etc. You'll need to weigh their opinions with about 4-5 other articles to see if they are oddballs or the general consensus. LOL. This will be true with about everything you do on BYC. There is always a 'strong opinion' person giving their own best advice and sometimes they are giving you the wrong information because of climate or your goals. etc. etc. I have found that the state threads are very helpful because they are your 'own' people that deal with similar climate and breeds. And you'll find alot of the 'old boys' and 'gals' giving good advice.

Good luck in your endeavors! Keep us posted. Ask questions anytime!
~Bogtown Chick
(or as Blooie calls me Boggie -- Hey Blooie I am reminded to make Chislic right now! )

 

[gocgo]

Hope I'm not piling on here, but if you haven't started building yet, I'd definitely check for materials out on Craigslist. One man's trash...a lot of stuff can be had for free. While hardware cloth can be expensive, I got 3 one hundred foot rolls of 4 ft. high galvanized hardware cloth for 50 bucks. I didn't even want 3 rolls, only 1, and I offered the guy 25 bucks for 1 roll. He said I could have all 3 for 50 bucks...just wanted them out of his garage. I wish I lived by you because I have 2 full rolls now sitting in my garage!