My 3 chickens ship tomorrow! They should arrive here on Wednesday. I'll have to go down to the post office and pick them up.
Today I read that chicken food should be inside the coop to keep it dry. I'm working on getting a hook inside to hang the feeder.
Also read I'll need a light to extend daylight time, and a heat lamp. Someone recommended a ceramic heater instead of a heat lamp. Seems like its going to get cold next week, so I'll get these installed soon. I'm going by the Essex Coop (Topsfield MA) tomorrow and will see what they recommend.
For food I have a big bag of pellets ready. I'm planning to pick up some wheat and corn to go with it. I have a lot of kale in my garden and am hoping the chickens will help me eat this.
Give me advice!!
8 comments:
How old are your chickens? I am in framingham Ma and have 9 chickens of various ages. I can give you some advice.
Your will love the chickens you have chosen, my favorites are the buff orpington and the australorp. Love your blog.
My chickens will be 18 to 22 weeks old when they arrive. Most start laying at 24 weeks, so they'll be laying soon.
Glad to hear you like the Australorp. They are supposed to be very calm and friendly chickens.
My other chosen ones: Brahma, are big, cold hardy and beautiful. Araucana are great layers of blue/green eggs! I hope they get along well.
Kathy,
Glad to hear you're getting chickens. They are a lot of fun.
I have incandescent light bulb on a timer in the coop for my chickens, but no heater and they do fine here in the NH winters. They're insulated with feathers :)
I've read that adding heat is a bad thing since then they don't adjust well to the cold and when/if the power goes out and they don't have the added heat it's a shock to them.
My chickens love kale and green scraps from the kitchen or rice/food leftover on the plates.
Have fun starting your chicken adventure!
My husband wrote a detailed post on the coop he built three years ago for our chickens. They were chicks at first, so didn't live in the coop until they were 2-3 months old. I thought you might enjoy seeing these details. My husband was especially glad to have found an easy system for the hens to drink their water.
http://jessbowman.blogspot.com/2010/05/chicken-tractor.html
For more info that you need, check out hencam.com- especially the FAQs: http://hencam.com/faq/chicken-keeping/
I think it is a great choice to get chickens! My family has had them for years and they are fun, provide great eggs and do help eat anything that comes out of the garden that the family can't keep up with! We have found that to be the best way to feed our chickens here in Virginia, they love it and it saves money.
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