when to buy chicks???

[Happy Chooks]

I got my chicks the last week of February and I had eggs in August.

If you have a place to put them, then get chicks. It's a lot of fun watching them grow and you know how they are raised. (unless you can't wait for eggs) Either get ALL chicks or ALL hens, don't combine as older ones will pick on younger ones.

Make your coop bigger than you think you'll need. You WILL want more chickens.


And you know you want some EE's for those pretty blue or green eggs.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I live in vermont, and got my chicks the 3rd of may (it was too cold to mail them before then).. I just got my first egg like a week ago... EE started laying, the other ees, Chanteclers, B.O. and spitzhauben are still holding out.

 

[HBuehler]

Never a bad time to have chicks

we just hatched 18 this past week and have 25 more in the bator now.We are also having an early winter so now I have chicks in my basement and not my outside brooders

Oh we started with 6 you know for your own fresh eggs only...GET A BIG COOP then 1 bator then 4 bators then another coop then a chicken hotel oh wait that's us but we now have somewhere near 200
They are an addiction you have been warned

 

[newchickmom09]

If you only want 6 chicks then order from MyPetChicken.com that is where I got my 7 from (3 EE, 2 black australorps, 1 silver laced wyandotte, and 1 golden laced wyandotte) mine are all happy and healthy now 19 weeks old and so far no roos

Mypetchicken will sex and vaccinate them for a little extra a chick. Or you can check out craiglist or your local feed stores. Our feed stores here get there chicks right before Easter every year.

I would get chicks instead of adults and just put them in a brooder in your house until they are old enough (5-8 weeks old depends on your weather). Like PandoraTaylor said "chicks are fun to raise and adults already have there habits" They grow so fast I think it is worth it just to raise them yourself.

Here is the link to the brooder thread : https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6233
It is located as a sticky at the top of the Raising Baby Chicks section. Great thread with lots of info and ideas on making and using brooders.

 

[MissAnnieFrannie]

I was dead set on getting my hens as young adults because I was worried that a.) my "pullets" would turn out to be roos and b.) I was afraid I wouldnt be able to handle chicks (I dont want my learning or lack there of hurt a living creature

). After reading several things here on BYC, I have been swayed to getting chicks instead. That way you know exactly how old they are, and you are able to develop them into habits more to your preferences, you know everything they bhave ever been fed, exactly what there living conditions have been, etc. Of course, this is just my very naive opinion

Either way, good luck!

 

[1/2DozenWings]

From what I've seen, order asap especially if you want different breeds. if you order small amounts of day-old chicks (ie from MPC or Meyer, which is where MPC gets many of theirs), they have to ship together for health and $ reasons. I ordered 1 or 2 of 10 different breeds, and can't get them until mid-March.
mid-March + 6 months for standards (except maybe sex links, I'm learning) = mid September before you will see any eggs, and then you have to provide supplemental lighting beyond the 23rd of Sept. And then in October of the next year, they all molt together and stop laying! and still aren't laying, even with supplemental lighting, ok, lighting just recently provided. AHHH! It's a lot of scratch!
I'm in PA, similar to NJ, probably.