What is financial amount going to be?

[boxers1997]

How mutch a week do chicks/chickens eat, how many times a week should i clean the pen if i have 4 chicks/chickens and a guinie, what types of chick starter and chicken feed does anyone recemend, what chicken breeds would you recemend for ''starters'' and what type of fencing would do best.

thanks boxers1997

 

[Karlachix]

Welcome!

As far as cleaning the pen there's different ways to do it. Some people only clean out the pen once or twice a year and just keep adding new wood chips. (search "deep litter method"). Others clean out weekly or so.

Which kind of bird depends a lot on where you live and why you want them (eggs or meat). Here's a couple of websites that I consulted when I was picking my chickens.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/breedQuestions.aspx
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

My advice based on my experience this year would be to avoid Leghorns (unfriendly, skittish, flighty) and Polish (picked on by all the others and then she died).

 

[Mahonri]

WELCOME to BYC.

I believe that there are answers to all of your questions if you just do a little searching here.

I would start with the pages that have coops.

I also recommend the My Pet Chicken site that helps you pick "your chickens"

Good luck and remember, it's addicting.

 

[boxers1997]

well i have heard the bantams and cochins are good but i would also like to a silkie and what about white rocks and a want a guinie so i will have something to protect them.
(cause my dogs might try eat them but i could b wrong, it just depends on what THEY want to do)

 

[swampyankee]

I enclose my birds in an electric poultry net. I have a boxerand do not trust him with the chickens. He has a high chase/prey drive. If you want pets bantams/cochins/silkies are a good choice. Bantams eat much less feed than large ("standard") chickens do. Just pick breeds like cochins, rocks, brahmas. A guinea will not be much help for protection, I don't know who told you that. Best protection is a solid coop and a good fence.

 

[boxers1997]

then what are guinies good for and could your give me a little list is ''friendly breeds''.

 

[boxers1997]

i have also heard that Orpingtons or docile and friendly

 

[swampyankee]

Guineas are good for insect control(some say they are good to keep tick population down). They are also good for making alot of noise if they see anything out of the ordinary. Friendly breeds are, in my experience, silkies, cochins, orpingtons, turkens, sussex. There are more, but you need to do a little research.

 

[peeplessinNC]

I have read that the Delawares are generally calm and friendly. They are also considered a lesser known breed whose status is on the "critical" list.

 

[shelleyd2008]

The thing about guineas that has probably made you think they will protect them is the fact that they are very good alarms. If they see anything out of the ordinary they will screech their heads off! But they will run just as fast if not faster than the chickens looking for cover.