Soon to be New Colorado Springs Backyarder

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You've received some good advice already!
 
Hey everyone thank you for all the great responses! We will build our own coop... and have dwindled down on breeds between orpington and austrolorp... my husband thinks we should stick to one breed as opposed to mixing two breeds up. Would sticking to one breed be easier and safer? (Chickens not getting along)
 
Welcome. The Colorado board is fairly active and there are a few regulars from the COS area. They should be able to point you in the right direction on the south side. I totally agree that Big R is a sorry excuse for a farm store. I think the one in Elizabeth is better. All the stores, Big R, Murdochs, Wendells and Jax all have their shortcomings. It's impossible to be a farm store in an urban setting but they work in a pinch.

I don't know how people only have one breed unless they are doing heritage breeding. It's impossible to know what will work and what you will like until you get your feet wet. Most people will start with a mix of breeds as a way of determining what they like and which direction to go in. I started with 6 different breeds and have expanded to 15. If you have kids, they will want to name them all and being able to tell them all apart is important. 10 black or 10 buff hens kindof all look the same. Some breeds will go away with time as I start some breeding projects but I will always have a mix. I love my colorful egg basket. Chickens generally get along fine when they are brooded together. Providing adequate room and feed are the other 2 major keys.

If you are going to garden and raise chickens, a compost system is inevitable. You will generate around 100# of garden waste a year (vines, rotten vegetables, weeds...) plus add the grass clippings, leaves, chicken coop waste and kitchen waste. You will keep all of that out of the landfill and once it is broken down, it is a valuable source of nutrients and humus. Our soil is crap and anything you can add to it will make it more productive. An active compost pile is also a valuable food source for your chickens. Grubs, worms, larvae, seeds, sprouts.... They love it all. Chickens scratching in your pile will also help break it down faster. Having chickens have reduced my use of pesticides in the garden to 0. I am also not loosing my garden late in the season to grasshoppers.
 
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Great find! And good to know about composting. I always remember my dad having one when I was little but I made no effort of learning from him. I think I'll include him on this venture. Also have a friend who loves to garden but just moved and can't maybe she'll help me get things figured out. Also glad to hear that about having multiple breeds. I'd like that better anyways. Anyone on this thread hatch baby chick's? ... i like orpington, australorp, barred rocks, brahmas, silkies.
 
It seems like everyone on the CO boards hatches eggs. Problem is they will all be straight run so you have to figure 50% will be roosters. You probably have a choice of 25+ breeds including mixes just on the board. If you want to hatch eggs (great kid project), most will have eggs available in about a month. There seems to be a severe shortage of laying right now.

Most of the feed stores start getting in chicks end of Feb, first of March. CL will have a ton of chicks ($4-10) and started pullets ($10-30). Not a bad way to go with the pullets. You know what you are getting right from the start. If you are willing to do the drive to FC, NoCo Feeder Supply will do a chicken workshop and grand opening (they are building a new store) around the end of March. They will have 1000's of chicks. Maybe 25-30 breeds. Both egg, dual purpose, bantam and meat chicks. Backed to the mixed flock, with kids you need some green egg layers (EEs).

This is a group of my pullets from a year ago. L to R, gold laced wyandotte, barred rock, russian orloff, buff brahma and welsummer. Of the group the BR and orloff have the most outgoing personalities. I do not have any sexlink or plain Jane hens. I add 6+ pullets a year to the older group without problems.
 
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