Very excitied

Date sort Score sort
squickfall

squickfall

Hatching
5 Years
Mar 21, 2014
8
0
9
Northern BC, Canada
Hello all,

In two weeks I get my chicks. This is my first time raising chickens, so I'm very excited. I'm getting 25 chicks, 7 Black Australorps, 9 Buff Orpingtons and 9 Buff Brahma, all unsexed. I'm hoping to have at least 10 hens to keep over the winter and one rooster.
I'm trying to do this as inexpensive as possible and this site has made it easy.
My biggest concerns are: chick mortality and the harsh winters (-30C for over a month is common) and how to keep water from freezing. I'm in the process of buying horizontal nipples, and i guess my first question is do nipples need to be red? The only place here in Canada I can find them is in NS and they are for mink ranches, they only have blue.
Thank you all in advance for all the help.
 
images


Welcome to BYC!

You have a nice group of chicks ordered! You will love the Australrops and the Orpingtons. Very friendly, docile birds.

First you will want to chat with others that live up north to see how they deal with your brutally cold winters. Chickens can tolerate very cold temps as long as they can stay dry, out of drafts and you have good ventilation in the coop. Here is a Canada thread. There are others if you do a search in the bar at the top of the BYC page. The Alaska thread is always hopping too if you are on that side of the country...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/836363/nova-scotia-canada-any-other-east-coasters

I like to use the heated dog water dishes to keep water from freezing. You don't have to run them at night because the birds aren't drinking water at night. Make sure to set these on cement blocks or brick and not directly on any bedding so you don't have any fires. If you do use heat lamps, make sure to permenently attach them to the wall and not rely on the clamp as they can fail.

You might also want to do some reading in our learning center here on BYC for lots of good tips and hints on raising your new flock and keeping them healthy....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Good luck in your new adventures and welcome to BYC!
 
Thanks everyone,

Just got a call from my supplier and I get my chicks in a week. Tested out my brooding setup yesterday and happily got the temp to 30C. Things are looking up.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom