Raising Chicks

[Vickischics]

^ 2X

I was up until 0340 last night going over his questions. He needs to do some homework.

 

[Vickischics]

Your Homework: Deep bedding
Read and take notes. This is on the BYC home page:

 

[chickenn00b11]

Remember, we discussed the sq footage..
It doesn't matter what breed of chicken. The sq ft is the same..
I told you for your area where you will have weather variances of hot and cold, 5-6 sq ft per chicken for Inside the coop.
7-10 sq ft for Outside run.
When the weather is bad, they won't want to go outside much. So you need to have more space than 4 sq ft per bird. The smaller the sq ft, the more fighting and pecking at eachother. If I put you and your sibling in a small room all day, you will fight too!
More space the better.
So for your coop for 7 birds.
Coop:
5 sq ft per chicken × 7 birds= 35sq ft.
Outside Run:
10sq ft each x 7 birds=
70 sq feet.

Lol right. I'll probably build extra just so that they have more room. How tall should it be 6 feet? No one in my immediate family is over 6 feet unless you count my 6' 6" cousin, but I don't see him much.

I found this today and thought about you.
You can look into this for your chicks. It was $15.00

Do you think that would be better than a tub? Is it tall enough so that chicks won't get out? How many chicks in a pen like that?

1.Your chicks will begin to try out a roost after they are fully feathered out and ready for the coop without heat.
2. Read about Deep bedding on BYC. With this method, you change it out if it gets wet or every one to 2 mos.
3. Your chicks can become use to loud noices. I had mine outside in their pens when we built the coop. The drills, circular saw, hammering, staple gun never bothered them.
4. Buff Orpingtons can be sexed young BUT, you will ALWAYS run the roulette game of getting a rooster. Neither except sex links and auto sex links are fool proof. I gave you that list last night.
5. YOU need to do some research too about your questions.
Here are my Pros and Cons of chicken husbandry.
Its a personal choice.
Pros:
A. Eggs
B. Funny things they do
C. Company
D. Topic of conversation
E. Having pets
Cons:
A. Time
B. Costs
C. Illness
D. Supplies
E. Feeding & watering
F. Never can just "leave" them for vacations
G. Need someone to care for them when you can't.
H. Vet bills if you need one
I. Poop smell
J. Preditor fears
K. Injuries to eachother
L. Tearing up the yard
M. Noise from clucking loudly
N. Neighbors complaining to the police.
M. Being fined by the city.
N. Getting up early Everyday to let them out, feeding n watering them. Never get to sleep in. Unless you have an automatic door.
P. What if your evacuated, where do your chickens go?
Q. What if you get a rooster?
R. Where will the rooster go?
S. Need a large dog crate or two for isolation of a sick chicken.
The Con List goes on....
Chicken keeping is a personal hobby.
It takes a lot of time to learn to care for them.
YOU need to do some of your own research.
The BYC peeps don't have all the answers for you. We give you the basics to help you and you have to DO all the homework to
learn.
Like we talked last night,
Make your list of questions.
Do some searching on BYC for your own answers in the search section.
Good night and good luck
Where is your new Avatar?

Thanks for the pros and cons. Are black star, gold comet, or black sex link chickens friendly? I'm looking for a friendly species that will lay eggs most of the year. Lol. Forgot about the avatar. Will do.

I'm also in NorCal and we don't have mongooses here so you are safe

I agree. I read that post about the mongoose and thought "I barely even know what a mongoose is" and then I decided we probably don't have any since I've never seen or much about them.

 

[Vickischics]

A puppy play pen could easily hold 10 chicks will room to run.
Since it gets cold where u are, consider the brooder & heater at Tractor Supply over a heat lamp.
Re: increase in a fire hazard.
You can also make one out of hardware cloth wire and zip tie it in a circle.
Plus you will need the wire for the coop ventilation.
Be creative! Save money where you can.
Chickens are not cheap to get started.
You don't have to buy New expensive plastic bins either.
BE Creative. This hobby is suppose to be fun.

 

[chickenn00b11]

A puppy play pen could easily hold 10 chicks will room to run.
Since it gets cold where u are, consider the brooder & heater at Tractor Supply over a heat lamp.
Re: increase in a fire hazard.
You can also make one out of hardware cloth wire and zip tie it in a circle.
Plus you will need the wire for the coop ventilation.
Be creative! Save money where you can.
Chickens are not cheap to get started.
You don't have to buy New expensive plastic bins either.
BE Creative. This hobby is suppose to be fun.

Ok. Thanks. I'll check all that stuff out.

 

[chickenn00b11]

A puppy play pen could easily hold 10 chicks will room to run.
Since it gets cold where u are, consider the brooder & heater at Tractor Supply over a heat lamp.
Re: increase in a fire hazard.
You can also make one out of hardware cloth wire and zip tie it in a circle.
Plus you will need the wire for the coop ventilation.
Be creative! Save money where you can.
Chickens are not cheap to get started.
You don't have to buy New expensive plastic bins either.
BE Creative. This hobby is suppose to be fun.

Would this pen work? https://www.amazon.com/GABraden-Ani...ncoding=UTF8&refRID=WZBF06QHAQ6911Q34C0T&th=1

A puppy play pen could easily hold 10 chicks will room to run.
Since it gets cold where u are, consider the brooder & heater at Tractor Supply over a heat lamp.
Re: increase in a fire hazard.
You can also make one out of hardware cloth wire and zip tie it in a circle.
Plus you will need the wire for the coop ventilation.
Be creative! Save money where you can.
Chickens are not cheap to get started.
You don't have to buy New expensive plastic bins either.
BE Creative. This hobby is suppose to be fun.

Would I use the brooder to heat the chicks when they are in the playpen and the heater to heat the coop?

 

[chickenn00b11]

Question:
Which out of these types of chickens it the friendliest? Which lays the most eggs? Which is the best beginner friendly? Thanks!

 

[CNJ]

Question:
Which out of these types of chickens it the friendliest? Which lays the most eggs? Which is the best beginner friendly? Thanks!
View attachment 2374554

Leghorns lay the most eggs, but they are flighty. If you let them run around the yard, they may go to the neighbor's side. I have Jersey Giants (3 males/1 female), 3 Austrolorps (all females), 4 buff Orpingtons (3 males/1 female), and one white Rhode island rooster. The males start to go nuts at 4 1/2 months, but not all of them crow. I had no crow rooster collars on 1 Jersey Giant, 1 Buff Orpington, and 1 White Rhode island. I say had because I butchered the dominant Buff Orpington Rooster and his Buff brother, they were too mean. They were raping the females and chasing around the other males. But as soon as I take them out, another bunch of hooligans take their place. I notice that the different breeds tend to stick together.
Anyway, I let my chickens run around my fenced yard, they never go over the fence, and they go back to their coop at night. I am planning on switching to Breese chickens as I am more into meat and eggs. This is a link I used often, some chickens mature way faster than others. http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/chickenbreedcomparison.pdf

 

[CNJ]

Two 41/2 month old buff orpington roosters turned into corn floured fried chicken.

 

[CNJ]

Roosters will challenge you until you set them straight. I had to grab them by their legs and slap their head a few times before they got the message, "This is what happens if you bite the hand that feeds you."