YO GEORGIANS! :)

[AfroChickens]

You may end up adding a 4th side if you go through a bad winter, or a partial side. I'm at 2000 ft elevation and we occasionally have single digit nights in winter and have dropped to at or slightly below zero on one or two winters that we've lived here (will be 15 years in June). My across the street neighbor had two Golden Comet hens and they had a coop that was mostly open, but badly situated so winds sailed right into it. She ended up putting a sheet or two of foam board insulation on the outside of the hardware cloth wall. But, two little hens in an open coop in winter can't keep very warm. Your Orps are fluffier and having four of them, they'll be better off than hers. Here was her coop. Her hens are gone now, one from a fox and one from sheer neglect and ignorance, sadly. She had a tiny closet-like thing in the back left corner and never cleaned out the poop; I mean, NEVER. It was piled a foot high. But, that's another story. The coop was not adequate in the way it was on her lot, not for two small-bodied hens. After she put up the wind barrier on one side, it was better, of course. But, your climate is much warmer than ours so your focus should be keeping them cool in summer.

I don't understand how anyone could let an animal live like that =( Poor hens.

I'm a clean freak and spoil all my pets too much to understand how anyone with a heart could let their hens live in such terrible conditions. I hope your neighbor doesn't get any more chickens!

I don't think I could ever live in North GA because I'm too much of a wimp when it comes to cold weather. Don't know how you do it!

 

[AfroChickens]

Welcome!

So you're getting Buff Orpingtons. Good choice! Orpingtons are favorite breed. I have buffs, blue/black/splash, buff/australorp mix, and I have crele and jubilee orps currently in the incubator. I also have chocolate Orpingtons. Here are a couple of photos I just took of the chocolates in the juvi brooder:




Orpingtons are eating machines, so be prepared, but they are such sweet birds and lay beautiful extra-large light-brown eggs, so they're worth it.

Nice to see another orpington lover so close by! Your birds look beautiful. I chose the breed because I basically feel in love with the breed based on what I've read. Seem like the perfect breed for beginners too. I liked the buff ones but in general, I think all orpington varieties look so cute.

 

[speckledhen]

I don't understand how anyone could let an animal live like that =( Poor hens.

I'm a clean freak and spoil all my pets too much to understand how anyone with a heart could let their hens live in such terrible conditions. I hope your neighbor doesn't get any more chickens!

I don't think I could ever live in North GA because I'm too much of a wimp when it comes to cold weather. Don't know how you do it!

She is elderly and can barely walk as it is. She was whining after she got them that they were so much work. Two hens? I've had as many as 55 chickens and no way two hens are work (especially when you do nothing and even quit buying them feed).

I love the mountains. I can't take the heat at lower elevations. Our nights cool way down. We don't even use our A/C or our heat. We use a wood burning stove for heat and have a wraparound porch, plus ceiling fans for summer. I wish we could just skip summer altogether, personally. We have a fairly mild winter climate-those single digits don't stay around and some winters, we don't have them at all. But the summer nights, that's one reason we're here....plus FRESH AIR and a full array of stars at night. No more city for us. Our neighbors are too close here, even. Wish I didn't have to see or hear other humans. I love the morning sounds here, roosters crowing all around us, horses and cows, etc. Of course, gunfire is here, but here, you are almost guaranteed they're shooting at predators, not other people (unless it's chicken rustlers!)


ETA: We used to raise BBS Orpingtons, too. Now we have BBS Rocks, though no rooster and the girls are old.

 

[ShadesofSable]

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Hey there! I work in Lithonia too and still frequent there. My 4 buff orpingtons will be arriving next week! I'm going to be off all next week from work so I thought it would be a great time to bond with my new flock. I'm an animal whisperer and never had issues with birds so I'm excited. I ordered my started pullets from Murray McMurray Hatchery. What do you have?

I have mostly mixes and random purebreds. I really love having an interesting and colorful flock as well as a colorful egg basket. I get white, tinted, brown, chocolate, green, blue, and olive eggs. Sometimes all in one day if I'm lucky! Good luck with your new girls! That sounds like a heck of a coop you've built. Those are going to be the safest chickens ever!

 

[brucifer]

Hey, Cynthia. If two hens are "too much work," then she needs to change hobbies, or get a helper.

 

[AfroChickens]

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It sounds so lovely where you stay. I've always wanted a wrap around porch. I bet you save a ton on energy bills. I do want a house in North GA in the future for vacationing. I think it will be the perfect place to escape the deaths of summer heat (especially in August!) I'm not into taking those big vacas overseas and such. I just like traveling to different parts of the south. The idea of no neighbors is lovely, I bet. We chose stockbridge because it's more land than ppl out here (except traffic area near stores). We have neighbors but I honestly forget they are there due to everyone land and the fact that apparently nobody goes outside! I'm enjoying it. Hoping that continues and no one complains when my chickens start signing their egg song. Even if they do, I will quickly bring up the barking ring that frequently occurs at random hours haha.

 

[speckledhen]

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Yeah, those hens can really "sing" if you can call it that. I call it caterwauling! They make more noise than any rooster alone could. That's why I got one in the first place. I realized there is really no such thing as a "stealth" chicken, not with big-mouth hens going off all at once! And yup, if someone complained about my roosters, they'd have to pick me up off the flooring from my laughing fit. ATV's roaring, loud country music, dogs barking all night (why the heck do they leave them out all night when coyotes will make a snack out of them?) and other various country noises I'd rather not hear are all competition for my roosters. We have no zoning laws against any livestock, but my country subdivision has rules against mobile homes and pigs. Yes, just pigs. I can have goats, cows, horses and any poultry, but no pigs. Guess it's good I don't want any.

 

[JoshFig]

Maybe a need to get a better candler, but FBCM eggs have been a real challenge for me to candle. I told my wife that candling a FBCM egg was like going on a blind date; you have an idea of what's coming down, but you don't really know for sure until the day arrives.

LOL - i'm in the same boat. I have 1 FBCM who lays beautiful eggs - but sometimes she puts (what looks like) a spec of the dark coating that goes on the outside of the shell on the inside. I'd really like to figure out how to filter those eggs out for the one's that I sell. I don't mind it for the eggs we eat as I can pick them out, but i'm sure they would gross out a non-chicken person.

On the other side - the BCM eggs really dress up a dozen so I like to put one in each dozen I sell.

 

[speckledhen]

Hey, Cynthia. If two hens are "too much work," then she needs to change hobbies, or get a helper.

She has a great grandson who lives with her. Family dumped him on her a couple of years ago. He is pretty well able to do whatever she needs. I think he's in high school or maybe junior high, not sure. She put up storage sheds and had family living in them for awhile. Not sure where the kid lives since her cabin is 2 rooms and then she has outbuildings. I could have reported her to the county, but unless they bothered me, I decided to leave it alone. But, living in storage barns up on cinder blocks, not cool.

 

[AfroChickens]

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Sounds like an interesting but beautiful flock. Those eggs sound so pretty. I'm hoping to do that one day. Baby steps. haha. Thanks! It's still in the final stages of building. I'll try to remember to post pics when it's completed. I just learned about Oops paint from BYC. I'll probably be picking up the roof wood and the roof itself between today and tomorrow. Also need to get the last bit of hardware wire needed. My plan to to paint by Weds. Put wire up by Friday. Put ground in by Sat. Then admire all our hard work on Sunday.