San Antonio suburban chick mom here!

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Aegault

Aegault

Hatching
5 Years
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
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Good morning everyone!

I've got a small flock of 5 pullets (fingers crossed, please please please) that are now 4wks old and out in their coop/run (we still have a light in there at night for them).

I have 1 Buff Orpington (Marsala) 2 Plymouth Rocks (Molé and Tikka) and 2 Ameraucana (Nugget and Puff).

The Buff and Rocks and the friendliest/most curious and Puff is the most standoffish with Nugget in the middle.

I don't see a real pecking order yet in the girls. The buff and ameraucanas are the biggest though.

We are having such fun with our chicks- even my 12.5yo son who disdains almost everything not related to computers loves them. Unfortunately- my mini-dachshund identifies them as PREY and spends plenty of time watching the girls- although they pretty much ignore him. I'm wondering once they are full grown (and taller than he is, if not as big since he's about 12lbs) if he will be as interested because I'd love to let them out while I'm gardening or similar.

We have a little coop we got at Sam's because it was easy. If we keep chickens long term I could definitely see building our own (I'm blessed with a super-handy hubby) because it would be great to be able to 'walk into' the run.

We are also keeping them stealthily from our neighbors. Our non-mandatory HOA has some fuzzy wording- no poultry but household pets for non-commercial purposes are okay so as these are pets I say I'm allowed to have them ;) Luckily we have a nice, big pie-shaped back yard and they are over 100' away from a neighbors house and 150' away from their back door/patio area. (and neighbors are old so hopefully they don't hear as well) Truthfully, I doubt they will care anyway, but why stir up trouble, right?

Really excited to be a chicken family- 2 coworkers also have chickens and they are the ones who got us into this.
 
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Welcome to BCY!

I will keep my fingers crossed for you that you do only have pullets!
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I have a friend here on BYC that can't keep roosters either and she just took her cockerels to the vet to have them de crowed! So it is possible to have such things done. Hens are pretty quiet for the most part and you can always win over the neighbors hearts with a dozen eggs once in a while. :-)

As for your dog, even though he is tiny, he still might hurt your birds. So I would be very watchful over him all the time.

If you have any questions about anything feel free to ask! Stop by the learning center here on BYC, post some pics in our Pictures and Stories of My Chickens page and join in on a few contests we have on our Contests page.

Great to have you aboard and welcome to our flock!
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Hoping all your chicks are girls also... and your HOA doesn't cause problems. Your dog is probably always going to be interested in the birds, those dachshunds take their hunting instincts pretty seriously, if you want to do a search, there are a number of good threads on training dogs around chickens ie. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/829562/training-teaching-a-dog-about-chickens
 
I live just outside SA in universal City. I share my eggs with my neighbors and have 1 rooster, George. The neighbors think I am a little different but no one complains because if they do no more free range non gmo fresh eggs for free. The little girls next door like to come over and play with the baby chicks. I have 11 hens and 2 baby chicks plus George.
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. You have some nice breeds. I especially like Buff Orpingtons and have four of them in my flock. They are beautiful, calm, and gentle, and good layers of large, brown eggs. The Ameraucanas are my granddaughter's favorites (actually ours are Easter Eggers as true Ameraucanas lay only blue eggs). My granddaughter loves their different colored eggs. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
 
Doxies and Chihuahuas despite their small size - seem to have done in many chickens, as reported on here by new members. I would keep your doxie away from the chickens period.

When I was 5 we moved to our first home. The next door neighbor had a black & tan doxie-Weinie. She loved kids but, not animals. One afternoon all the kids(me too) watched as she just about dismantled an entire stone patio. She was very determined and could not be persuaded to stop. After making a very deep hole - she exposed a litter of pink mice and bit every one of them.
 

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