Starting from the beginning

[fldiver97]

Welcome! Glad you decided to join! Sheds are fairly easy to convert if you want to do that. Check out the coop section for some ideas, you’ll find anything from small to large, recycled and converted from a variety of - sometimes unusual- items. Give climate a lot of thought. Plan bigger! Most prefab coops can barely hold half of the chickens advertised!

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens. You may want to join the Alabama state thread... Bycers there can advise you on what breeds handle the climate best. Best breeds for eggs and those that are meat birds. Where the best feed stores are, and much more.

 

[feathermaid]

Nope, Nope, and Nope.
I was thinking maybe 5 or 6 to start. Looking for eggs mainly at the start. Just reading and studying but there’s so much out there how do you know?

It's really easy to overthink and get confused about what is the exact perfect thing to do and what exact breeds are the best. Truth be told, it's all variable. Everyone has different goals and situations, and it usually takes some time actually being WITH chickens to figure out what works best for YOU.

The simplest way to start is with a variety of chicks from your local feed/farm store. Ordering from hatcheries will definitely offer more specialty breeds, but the shipping alone can cost as much as a dozen chicks from the feed store. An assortment of dual-purpose breeds will let you enjoy different feather patterns, temperaments and egg colors. From there you can decide what you like best. Many folks (like me) decide to just keep adding more variety. They're just way too fun and addicting!

So here are some articles that I found to be the most fundamental and helpful for me, and hopefully you too:
Kick The Heat Lamp: Better, Safer And Healthier Options To Heat Your Brooder
Brooding Chicks: The First 6 Weeks
How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Chicken Coop Ventilation - Go Out There And Cut More Holes In Your Coop!
Predator Proofing

Good luck starting your new chicken adventure!!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

We have a contest going on right now just for new folks like you. In order to enter you'll need to copy the link from your first post in this thread and post it in the contest thread.

To copy your link address, right click on the link to your thread and click copy or copy link

then click on the following URL
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...t-new-byc-members-win-a-byc-calendar.1287752/
Go down to where it says "write your reply..." tell us this is your entry and then click on the link button

Paste your URL into the box and click "insert", then click "Post Reply".

That's all there is to it. Once you've finished this, you're eligible to win a nice BYC

 

[007Sean]

Howdy

Thanks for joining us!