Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Celtic Chick]

The stalker might be Jim, checking to see if we're talking about him.

We miss you, Jimbo!

 

[Dr HaHa]

c

sheboy thats funny right there. Except for sheboyganjohn Pay no attention to that man behind that beer!

Guess you better ignore me too. Had a post addressed all the isses and lost it. So once again Big WELCOME sheboyganjohn please visit often! The more the merrier! TO doesn't matter the breed I'll lub her anyway!

Glad your confused we're even.

I have a beard and Laura has the muff other than that? I'll get a better pic tomorrow. Got an E from Jim. Nora walked the perimeter without a leash today he has a third gosling in the brooder but says it looks weak. His DD got as far as he did getting hooked up but someone she knows says he can get him on here.

He said my 54% humidity was fine so I felt better. Told him I needed him back to keep FT in line!

Having a late supper of bratsnbeer

 

[Tatters]

Jim sure gets ragged on a lot here...I'm starting to feel sorry for the guy,

 

[Celtic Chick]

Bf4, since it sounds like you've already got a good idea on your coop layout, I guess you should first visit a few hatchery websites and sign up for their free catalogs listing the breeds they carry. They will have pics and general descriptions of their various birds. Make yourself some notes on which breeds you like & why. And decide what characteristics are most important to you (cold hardiness, ideal # of eggs per day or week, size, disposition, etc.). This will all help you make your decision on which breeds would be best to start out with. You also should consider if you want to start out with a large # of chickens all at once, or start with a few & then add more year by year. The advantage of adding new chicks every year is that you'll always have a good strong supply of eggs. Every year, a hen will slow down in her egg production until they eventually stop. The down side to adding new chickens to your flock is the introductory period. Chickens who have never seen each other before are going to fight, and they can injure or even kill each other. (Never put chicks in with adults that have never seen each other before. The best rule of thumb is never add new chicks until they are about the same size as the adults so they at least have a good chance of defending themselves). The fighting is all part of their pecking order and there is no getting around it, and it will be the existing flock that will go after the newcomers. When you plan out your coop layout, you should have a section that you can easily fence off (if the need arises) to put newcomers in so everyone can see each other but can't get at each other. You can also use this section to put a broody hen and her eggs/chicks in if you decide to raise your own some day. If chickens can see each other for a few weeks & get used to each other, the eventual fighting shouldn't be nearly as bad as just plopping them in there sight unseen.

You should also plan on having a quarantine area away from your coop in the case of a sick or injured bird, someplace that will be quiet, warm & easy for you to get to. Make sure there is an outlet nearby in case you need to plug in a heat lamp/source. And try to put yourself together a chicken first aid kit. I remember someone here on BYC had a thread going about what you should all have on hand in your kit. I'll have to see if I saved it somewhere. Anyway, it never hurts to be prepared, even if you never need it.

If you decide to add adult chickens from someone elses flock into yours, it is best to quarantine them away from your flock for 30 days so you can observe them for signs of illness or pests/parasites. You don't want to bring in a sick chicken that could wipe out your entire flock. HTH

 

[Terri O]

Great advice CC! Couldnt have said it better myself. Terri O

 

[sheboyganjohn]

I have not read back at all but is sounds like someone is trying to figure out what breeds to get. My "go to" site for reviewing breeds is Hendersons Chicken Chart. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html It's not perfrect but for a noob it is a very easy read to understand the various breeds with plenty of links.

 

[raimnel]

yeesh that's alot of words CC

anything about me?

oh that reminds me, if any ones going to tell me what shirts they want, PM me. I will NEVER find them in all of this mess

congrats DrH on the new chickies! very cute!
Oh did I tell you that the goatie area is all complete, it's VERY nice and looks like it's been there for YEARS. and it didn't cost a penny. we used all lumber from around here. I'll upload pics as soon as I charge my camera batteries, they died when I was taking the pics.
spell check hates me also.
anywho later

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I found what I think is a mite on my injured hen. So tonight I went out to the coop to treat everyone with Eprinex. I filled the syringe with 6cc's and went to do the first hen. Not sure if I had air in there or what, but it all came bursting out of there and got all over the hen and all over my face! It even went in my eyes. So my hen is overdosed and I'm going to get cancer.

 

[Bigfamily4me]

Bf4, since it sounds like you've already got a good idea on your coop layout, I guess you should first visit a few hatchery websites and sign up for their free catalogs listing the breeds they carry. They will have pics and general descriptions of their various birds. Make yourself some notes on which breeds you like & why. And decide what characteristics are most important to you (cold hardiness, ideal # of eggs per day or week, size, disposition, etc.). This will all help you make your decision on which breeds would be best to start out with. You also should consider if you want to start out with a large # of chickens all at once, or start with a few & then add more year by year. The advantage of adding new chicks every year is that you'll always have a good strong supply of eggs. Every year, a hen will slow down in her egg production until they eventually stop. The down side to adding new chickens to your flock is the introductory period. Chickens who have never seen each other before are going to fight, and they can injure or even kill each other. (Never put chicks in with adults that have never seen each other before. The best rule of thumb is never add new chicks until they are about the same size as the adults so they at least have a good chance of defending themselves). The fighting is all part of their pecking order and there is no getting around it, and it will be the existing flock that will go after the newcomers. When you plan out your coop layout, you should have a section that you can easily fence off (if the need arises) to put newcomers in so everyone can see each other but can't get at each other. You can also use this section to put a broody hen and her eggs/chicks in if you decide to raise your own some day. If chickens can see each other for a few weeks & get used to each other, the eventual fighting shouldn't be nearly as bad as just plopping them in there sight unseen.

You should also plan on having a quarantine area away from your coop in the case of a sick or injured bird, someplace that will be quiet, warm & easy for you to get to. Make sure there is an outlet nearby in case you need to plug in a heat lamp/source. And try to put yourself together a chicken first aid kit. I remember someone here on BYC had a thread going about what you should all have on hand in your kit. I'll have to see if I saved it somewhere. Anyway, it never hurts to be prepared, even if you never need it.

If you decide to add adult chickens from someone elses flock into yours, it is best to quarantine them away from your flock for 30 days so you can observe them for signs of illness or pests/parasites. You don't want to bring in a sick chicken that could wipe out your entire flock. HTH

Thanks so much CC! I have no idea how to do "the separate but still see them area" inside the coop. I guess I need to think about that one. I am thinking my first year I may end up with twelve chickens. I hope that's not too many! I am getting 5 silkies in june, one for each child, as their own pet chicken. But I do want to get into selling eggs on a small scale and will definetly need more chickies to do that. I will have to work my way up to more chickens to actually have enough eggs to sell. First I have to get some babies hatched out of my incubator. I have no idea how well it's going to work. They are due to hatch on the 28th I really hope I can get a couple chicks!

Im so glad I found this thread! I don't know many people that keep chickens, and people are thinking I'm weird for wanting too! So I'll keep reading up on breeds, and keep reading on here!

 

[FrenchToast]

Everyone, meet Samborena

Oh My Gosh DrHaha, it looks just like you !!!!

Good Job !!!! I see Australorp and Ameraucana in it !! You Da Man DrHaha and as far as keeping me on my toes ???? We'll see !!!