Relatively New to Farm Life, Completely New to Chickens.

[GodLovesU]

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!

We’re glad you’re here!

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Hello, and welcome to BYC! It's very nice to meet you! Please make yourself at home!

 

[The Apiartist]

Hello! Welcome to BYC! Good luck on your homesteading journey! Having your own apple trees is awesome! We have a small orchard with trees from Stark Bros. Nursery. Highly recommended!

Hello! Welcome to BYC! Good luck on your homesteading journey! Having your own apple trees is awesome! We have a small orchard with trees from Stark Bros. Nursery. Highly recommended!

May I ask what varieties of apples you are growing?

 

[The Apiartist]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
After 7 years in New York and having experienced more than one episode of minor frostbite, I have settled on Ameraucanas as my breed of choice. However Chanteclers would also be an excellent choice. My recommendation is to avoid any breed that has a single comb. The hens would be okay but if you want a rooster of the same breed his comb does not shrink during the winter as the hens do and he will always be subject to potential frostbite. Pick a breed with a pea comb or a rose comb that is tight to the head and he'll do better. I chose the Ameraucana because of their pea combs and their beards and muffs that keep their wattles protected.
Make sure when you build your coop that it has copious amounts of ventilation high overhead. You want to think in terms of square feet not square inches of ventilation. My coop has 23 sq ft of permanently open ventilation in it and the coop itself is not heated or insulated. The windows at roost height can be closed during the winter to protect them from direct drafts while they're roosted. The windows offer many more sq ft of ventilation during the dinner when left open for the season.
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They look adorable and cozy!

 

[Bsmac]

May I ask what varieties of apples you are growing?

Sure! Yellow Delicious, Red Delicious, Macintosh and Arkansas Black. All are great cultivars! Especially the Yellow And Red Delicious! Best apples we have eaten! The Arkansas Black is a later keeping apple that tastes a bit like grapes! Very good!

 

[The Apiartist]

Sure! Yellow Delicious, Red Delicious, Macintosh and Arkansas Black. All are great cultivars! Especially the Yellow And Red Delicious! Best apples we have eaten! The Arkansas Black is a later keeping apple that tastes a bit like grapes! Very good!

Ooh that sounds real nice! I started wirh Honey crisp, Honey gold, pink lady and mcIntoch. I recently learned that Bardsey Island Apple trees are now available in the U.S. and i am so ready to get my hands on a couple of those. I really want to get into heritage apples.

 

[Bsmac]

Ooh that sounds real nice! I started wirh Honey crisp, Honey gold, pink lady and mcIntoch. I recently learned that Bardsey Island Apple trees are now available in the U.S. and i am so ready to get my hands on a couple of those. I really want to get into heritage apples.

Those all sound great! I forgot to mention we have a Johhny Appleseed tree too! It is young and have only gotten a few apples but they were very good!

 

[Jener8or]

Hi! That's a cute story! (I wanted to go pesticide-free so I bought some ducks... ) It's kind of like The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly song (I got the ducks to swallow the flies...) Okay, sorry for that, but I appreciated reading your nice intro!

Best of luck preparing for your new flock! It's perfect you found this site ahead of your chickens! (Except I'm not sure how you are going to narrow down all the breeds you want if you hang out here...)

Thanks for joining and welcome to BackYard Chickens!