Anyone keep Chickens?

[zimmjeff]

mini roosters?????? Jeff

[brewmaster15]

Im thinking my chickens are as sick of the snow as I am!




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And of course its snowing again today!

[zimmjeff]

just passed a law today. You can have up to 9 chickens. Jeff

[Tankster]

Hey Al,

Going to be building the coop in the next few weeks. I can't believe April is approaching already. I do have a couple questions for you.

-What is the latest (month) I should consider starting our flock? I do well with timelines, otherwise it becomes "I'll get to that tomorrow".

-What is your opinion on Rhode Island Reds. I would like both egg producers and meat. Once they stop laying, it's on the dinner table

Thanks!

[brewmaster15]

Hi Greg,
Just saw this...
Rhode Island Reds are an excellent breed to start with.. They are great producers, hardy, and have a good disposition. As for dual purpose.. I know they market them as such, but they will not be great meat producers... soup is fine.

If you plan on chicks , nows a good time... But really anytime this spring is good. Agways start selling chicks and pullets at around now. You can usually find egg laying pullets or soon to be egg layers anytime during the spring/summer. My last group was a group of 1 1/2 -2 year old adult RI Reds that I got on craigslist. I kept these while I was growing some youngster end of the summer, which are now my eggs layers.

I have 2 coops now, one for the current layers and one for new comers..

al

[Tankster]

Hi Greg,
Just saw this...
Rhode Island Reds are an excellent breed to start with.. They are great producers, hardy, and have a good disposition. As for dual purpose.. I know they market them as such, but they will not be great meat producers... soup is fine.

If you plan on chicks , nows a good time... But really anytime this spring is good. Agways start selling chicks and pullets at around now. You can usually find egg laying pullets or soon to be egg layers anytime during the spring/summer. My last group was a group of 1 1/2 -2 year old adult RI Reds that I got on craigslist. I kept these while I was growing some youngster end of the summer, which are now my eggs layers.

I have 2 coops now, one for the current layers and one for new comers..

al

Thanks!

[brewmaster15]

Hens are really happy to see some dirt to scratch in!

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[rickztahone]

That looks like a huge backyard you have Al. How big is it?

[brewmaster15]

That looks like a huge backyard you have Al. How big is it?

My yard ends just beyond the fence.. most of my property is in the front yard... we are on just a tad over an acre here. Its a nice neighborhood. Farm across the street. I can see houses in the woods behind me, but aside from the perpetual dog barking at one, or the quads at the other. Its a quiet Neighborhood.

al

[rickztahone]

My yard ends just beyond the fence.. most of my property is in the front yard... we are on just a tad over an acre here. Its a nice neighborhood. Farm across the street. I can see houses in the woods behind me, but aside from the perpetual dog barking at one, or the quads at the other. Its a quiet Neighborhood.

al

That is so sweet. Do you know how much an acre would cost here in my area?

[brewmaster15]

No idea..how much? Out here in Ct prices vary much depending on the area. Some counties are hugely rich .... the land and home values there are "life style of the rich and famous " I live in a small town..in a not so rich or famous area. People move here for the schools..which though I am biased since my wife works in them here,are excellent. I grew up on the other side of town...which Has a main road complete with a mcdonalds and duncan donuts..multiple pizza places,liquor stores, And not much else! The end of town I am on now is more rural,still has many farms.. I like it much better...I do not like urban settings, like to have a campfire in my backyard, like my chickens, I can shoot my arrows to my hearts content in the front yard here. Someday I would really love relocating to another state where I can have A farm...Its something I have always wanted.
al

[rickztahone]

No idea..how much? Out here in Ct prices vary much depending on the area. Some counties are hugely rich .... the land and home values there are "life style of the rich and famous " I live in a small town..in a not so rich or famous area. People move here for the schools..which though I am biased since my wife works in them here,are excellent. I grew up on the other side of town...which Has a main road complete with a mcdonalds and duncan donuts..multiple pizza places,liquor stores, And not much else! The end of town I am on now is more rural,still has many farms.. I like it much better...I do not like urban settings, like to have a campfire in my backyard, like my chickens, I can shoot my arrows to my hearts content in the front yard here. Someday I would really love relocating to another state where I can have A farm...Its something I have always wanted.
al

Well last time we were looking at homes in my area, which are significantly less than 25 miles west in the heart of Los Angeles, they were ranging in the 600k range for half an acre. In areas like Los Angeles (not very nice neighborhoods) there aren't houses in this size range, but if you travel outwards a little you can find an acre for about 1.4 million or so to skies the limit, lol.

My dream has actually always been to leave this area and get a home with a huge back yard to have at least 4 dogs roaming free, lol. The traffic in LA is only getting worse and worse and I'd like a change from the madness.

Anyways, obviously getting OT, but I like that you have so many hobbies and enough space to keep them in

[brewmaster15]

In my area, an acre costs you about 70,000 -120,000 no house.... other parts of CT vary considerably between ocean front, lake front. Several counties also border NY and make driving into NYCity possible, so the market there is wacked for prices, slanted more to the more well to do.

al

[Ed13]

I love Simply, just when I think I'm the odd man out I always find something to relate! I'm still swimming a bit "against the current" though as I view them as pets rather than meat/eggs!
We use to have Silkie(Silky) hen you had to guard since she wanted to lay her eggs under a TV stand we had near the back door and she would attempt to "sneak" in, funniest thing ever! More than once we had to watch TV with her incubating right under it since we did not have the heart to forcefully remove her!

I checked Backyardchikens a bit yesterday, cool site! My old man wants to order some eggs to raise, any suggestions?

[brewmaster15]

I love Simply, just when I think I'm the odd man out I always find something to relate! I'm still swimming a bit "against the current" though as I view them as pets rather than meat/eggs!
We use to have Silkie(Silky) hen you had to guard since she wanted to lay her eggs under a TV stand we had near the back door and she would attempt to "sneak" in, funniest thing ever! More than once we had to watch TV with her incubating right under it since we did not have the heart to forcefully remove her!

I checked Backyardchikens a bit yesterday, cool site! My old man wants to order some eggs to raise, any suggestions?

Hi Ed,
I have bought day old chicks from Ideal Poultry several years ago...we bought multiple strains and had really good luck with them...
http://www.idealpoultry.com/shoponline.html

The current hens I have came from mcMurray, I didn't buy them as days olds, someone else did and I bought them from them as 3 months olds.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html

I'm very impressed with the size on the Buff Rocks and Barred Rocks.. Very healthy hens indeed. I would buy from them direct from what I have here.

hth,
al