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Thank u 4 your reply as I only want 4 chickens at most, like u said 2 get my feet wet and c how it goes
 
Lot of work 2 b done b4 I start but my peeps will b more than comfortable and well taken care of once they get here
 
Your concerns are these:
housing:

Depending on your climate and area (are there foxes in the area? Do you have coyotes? Does the neighbor have a really nice strawberry patch? Do you have a really nice strawberry patch?) you might have to provide insulation for your chicken coop and some really good fencing. Chicken wire is highly praised, but it wears out quickly in comparison to chain link.

Air flow in the coop is good, but how bad are your winters? What's the wind direction like? Face your coop away from that. Do you have a place to put the poo they will eventually put on the floor? Have you got a shovel (for three hens, you won't be using it much, but mucking does need done.)

Some people make simple, moveable coops that look very nice, but I've never owned one. Still, it prevents an unsightly bare patch in your yard if you move it every three days or so, and the chickens get to forage a bit.

You want perches off of the ground that are not the nesting box, because they'll poop where they sleep. A two-by-four tacked across the ceiling makes a nice perch. Do not use a metal pipe. Their feet can freeze to it in winter.

Chickens like dust-bathing and it helps clean up external parasites. If you make a dust bath in the corner of your coop or in a convenient location, such as under your porch, you can add medication to it, or lime dust, or wood ash. Any of those things will help cut down on chicken mites.

feed:

You'll need a place to store chicken feed, and a supplier. You may want to grow crops to supplement their diet, or let them range over your yard. Depending on what feed you get, you might want to add oyster shells--but only after they begin laying--or you can crunch up the egg shells and give them back to the hens. Hens do better given at least some fresh greens, and if you've got an "amish lawnmower" or some such, they'll enjoy the greens.

Beware--I've heard and read in multiple places that large amounts of gasoline-powered lawnmower clippings can kill a chicken.

Chickens will destroy tomatoes.

breed

Are you interested in butchering when you're done? A dual purpose breed is what you want. Are your winters harsh? You may want a rose comb, or a pea comb breed that won't get frostbite. If you're interested mainly in pets, you probably still want a dual-purpose breed that will lay fewer eggs-but live for years longer than a production breed.



Ameracaunas are a favorite because they have colored eggs.
Orpingtons are noted for gentleness and also for broodiness--which I love, but you might not.
Barred-rocks are skillful foragers and very pretty, but a little more vicious than other breeds. That's alright if they're in with an Australorp or a Rhode Island Red, but not so good with a Cochin or a Silkie.
Australorps are beautiful and there should be more of them.
Cochins are gentle and slow and friendly and also tend to get eaten by predators.
Silkies aren't good layers, and you have to be careful where you get them (so that they're actually silkies and not, say, third generation crossbreeds), but they are gentle. Some people think they're beautiful. They also have a tendency towards broodiness.
Rhode Island Reds are good layers. You don't want a rooster of this breed. I love my Chester, but he was a vicious little jerk for his first year or so.
Marans have very dark eggs.
Bantams of any breed are awesome--you can keep them on a lot less space than a full sized chicken needs, and they tend to be great at caring for themselves--we only feed ours in the winter--but they usually come straight-run (read: male and female) and in absence of a rooster, I've had hens pick up the slack and start crowing. And fighting. And they can multiply their population by a factor of ten every year. This depends on the breed of course, but my personal experience says that you do not want anything with "game" in its name in any sort of urban setting.

practicality:

Unless you plan on keeping your chickens until they die of old age--some people do, but chickens tend to stop laying entirely after about five years, and egg production drastically drops after three--you're going to have to have a viable option for getting rid of them. I personally favor eating them, but I doubt you're a huge fan of butchering your own meat.

You need to get rid of the poo. It makes good fertiliser, but you should compost it first.

Sites:

Mypetchicken is a little more expensive than most, but it offers great selection and very high-quality breeding. Also, you don't need to buy the standard minimum of six chicks. They'll ship three to you, in an insulated box.
 
sylviethecochin said:
Your concerns are these:
housing:

Depending on your climate and area (are there foxes in the area? Do you have coyotes? Does the neighbor have a really nice strawberry patch? Do you have a really nice strawberry patch?) you might have to provide insulation for your chicken coop and some really good fencing. Chicken wire is highly praised, but it wears out quickly in comparison to chain link.

Air flow in the coop is good, but how bad are your winters? What's the wind direction like? Face your coop away from that. Do you have a place to put the poo they will eventually put on the floor? Have you got a shovel (for three hens, you won't be using it much, but mucking does need done.)

Some people make simple, moveable coops that look very nice, but I've never owned one. Still, it prevents an unsightly bare patch in your yard if you move it every three days or so, and the chickens get to forage a bit.

You want perches off of the ground that are not the nesting box, because they'll poop where they sleep. A two-by-four tacked across the ceiling makes a nice perch. Do not use a metal pipe. Their feet can freeze to it in winter.

Chickens like dust-bathing and it helps clean up external parasites. If you make a dust bath in the corner of your coop or in a convenient location, such as under your porch, you can add medication to it, or lime dust, or wood ash. Any of those things will help cut down on chicken mites.

feed:

You'll need a place to store chicken feed, and a supplier. You may want to grow crops to supplement their diet, or let them range over your yard. Depending on what feed you get, you might want to add oyster shells--but only after they begin laying--or you can crunch up the egg shells and give them back to the hens. Hens do better given at least some fresh greens, and if you've got an "amish lawnmower" or some such, they'll enjoy the greens.

Beware--I've heard and read in multiple places that large amounts of gasoline-powered lawnmower clippings can kill a chicken.

Chickens will destroy tomatoes.

breed

Are you interested in butchering when you're done? A dual purpose breed is what you want. Are your winters harsh? You may want a rose comb, or a pea comb breed that won't get frostbite. If you're interested mainly in pets, you probably still want a dual-purpose breed that will lay fewer eggs-but live for years longer than a production breed.



Ameracaunas are a favorite because they have colored eggs.
Orpingtons are noted for gentleness and also for broodiness--which I love, but you might not.
Barred-rocks are skillful foragers and very pretty, but a little more vicious than other breeds. That's alright if they're in with an Australorp or a Rhode Island Red, but not so good with a Cochin or a Silkie.
Australorps are beautiful and there should be more of them.
Cochins are gentle and slow and friendly and also tend to get eaten by predators.
Silkies aren't good layers, and you have to be careful where you get them (so that they're actually silkies and not, say, third generation crossbreeds), but they are gentle. Some people think they're beautiful. They also have a tendency towards broodiness.
Rhode Island Reds are good layers. You don't want a rooster of this breed. I love my Chester, but he was a vicious little jerk for his first year or so.
Marans have very dark eggs.
Bantams of any breed are awesome--you can keep them on a lot less space than a full sized chicken needs, and they tend to be great at caring for themselves--we only feed ours in the winter--but they usually come straight-run (read: male and female) and in absence of a rooster, I've had hens pick up the slack and start crowing. And fighting. And they can multiply their population by a factor of ten every year. This depends on the breed of course, but my personal experience says that you do not want anything with "game" in its name in any sort of urban setting.

practicality:

Unless you plan on keeping your chickens until they die of old age--some people do, but chickens tend to stop laying entirely after about five years, and egg production drastically drops after three--you're going to have to have a viable option for getting rid of them. I personally favor eating them, but I doubt you're a huge fan of butchering your own meat.

You need to get rid of the poo. It makes good fertiliser, but you should compost it first.

Sites:

Mypetchicken is a little more expensive than most, but it offers great selection and very high-quality breeding. Also, you don't need to buy the standard minimum of six chicks. They'll ship three to you, in an insulated box.
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Extremely helpful...thank u!
 

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