Where do I Start?

[rjohns39]

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

It's a bit of a drive but reach out to polyface farms for adult hens

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Welcome to BYC! So glad you could join us!

 

[Isadora]

Hello, and welcome to BYC! I'm so glad you decided to join our friendly and helpful community.

 

[CatLoverLu]

Hi, and welcome to BYC! We're so glad you joined our awesome community

 

[WIchickMama]

WELCOME! Glad you joined us and excited to hear more about your journey in the future

 

[Boppo]

Glad to meet you, Andy. Best wishes with your birds and all your plans. You will find other folks here in various forums who are interested in gardening, in homesteading and self-sufficiency, as well as lots of different poultry and other livestock and domestic animals.

You have been given lots of links to look at, and very good advice. It really does pay to spend some time ahead of chicken-day thinking out what you want from those birds. There are breeds that are good for both meat and eggs. There are breeds that are calmer, but they are not quite as safe free-ranging as the more skittish breeds like leghorns because - well, skittish notices hawks and other predators first. And you are in a location where you have some cold winters, some hot summers, but nothing as extreme as, say, Maine or Arizona, so most breeds are going to be fine for your climate.

Free ranging can improve your chickens' health and the taste of eggs, and reduce your feed bill. But it also carries a risk that you will lose some of your birds to hawks or other predators. Read some articles about it and consider how you want to proceed. You can grow flats of greens and add those to your enclosure for the birds. And you can protect them from total chicken annihilation, by building a little frame for the flats, with some chicken wire cover to keep the chickens from eating them down to the roots. Or you can use the tractor in spring, summer and fall, and move them into winter quarters before winter snows.

Be careful about where you get the chickens from. If you can contact other BYC members in your area and ask if they sell chickens or if they recommend a local hatchery, that would be a way to get pullets locally from somebody you could trust a bit more. The big hatcheries are very good as well, and ship amazingly well.

First question though, are you allowed to keep chickens where you live? If so, is there a limit on how many? Are you allowed to have a rooster? If you don't already know CHECK before spending all the time and money getting ready for chickens, only to find out your neighbor complained and you have to get rid of all your birds! The easy way to check is to call your city hall or homeowners association, or even a realtor may know. We do have a growing list of ordinances, which may include your location. check here.