Hi from Cape Cod Massachusetts. Thank you Matt for the invite to your site. Spring 0f 2013 my youngest daughter asked to bring home a chick, "if there were any left from their chicken egg experiment at school". I thought we'd give it a try. How fantastic of an idea that was. We sadly lost a 2 wk old chick and a 6 mo old chicken since, but have 3 beauties that are so happy to see us every morning. They give us so much joy and Eggs!!

Welcome to the site! post some pictures of your chickens. We'd love to see them!

lisamdonnell wrote:
That is so awesome (Lisa is it?)!!! What kinds of chickens do you have? Post some photo's of them so we can see them like Eric said:)

hello from Iowa,we got our chickens this past summer,I didnt think I would like chickens around,fear of them from my aunts farm,well what a thought!I love them! Will never be without! We are getting ready to retire and becoming self sufficient is my goal.We have garden for most of our food,eggs.

Hi, I'm Tracey & I'm a chick-aholic.

I live in west Texas and moved from my home in town, where I had lived 22 years in order to have a house in the country & raise chickens.

Way to take the 1st step in your addictive growth Tracey

Hi there! Mistie here and we live in NC, north of Durham. We decided to take the plunge into the world of chickens last spring. We took to chicken rearing to help with pest control since our health would not allow us to use chemical control of pests or weeds.

We bought or day old chicks from a local Southern States. They couldn't tell us what types of chicks we bought or how to tell male from female. Turns out we ended up with one of the two cockerels they sold last spring. We have since determined that the two chicks they told us were Auracanas are, in fact, production whites. Disappointing but we love those girls just the same. We also have one Buff Orpington, one Barred Plymouth Rock, one that appears to be a mix of a production white and a Rhode Island Red (though this is still unconfirmed). Our roo is somewhat f a mystery. No one seems to know what he is other than ornery. I will post pics later to see if anyone help identify our mystery chicks.

We have so enjoyed raising our girls (and for me, the roo...hubby and son not so much, he doesn't seem to like men and attacks them every time they go out to feed them ), that we have decided to expand this year. I am hoping to score a pair of Blue Silkies, a pair of Frizzles and maybe a pair of Lavender Orpingtons. I also want to get a male and female duck but have yet to decide if I want small ducks or full size. Still looking to decide what breed would be my choice. I am currently considering Appleyard (small size - don't think it is bantam when talking ducks, cannot recall the the correct term), Khaki Campbells and Welsh Harlequins. Though, I am still open to suggestions there. My choices for each are based on temperament, heat tolerance and cold hardiness. For this years chickens, I am hoping to have some broody hens so I can hatch out from that point forward. I would love to have a roo for each of the two smaller breeds I choose this year but definitely do not want to have reason to video "When Roos Attack" or "Roo Wars". I certainly welcome any and all advice.

We also have some questions about our accommodations for the babies. We originally purchased a prefab coop with run at Tractor Supply. The sales person assured us it would be ample space for the 6 babies. By the time they were feathered out and ready to move in, we could already tell it was way too small. So, we bought a second hand dog pen, dug a trench to bury some chicken wire around the perimeter, covered the top with chicken netting and a solar tarp, surrounded three sides with additional tarps and added a small tarp behind their roost as a wind break. We also picked up a second hand nesting box unit that is sitting in the pen. They have ample room for running and playing as well as their feed and water areas and have a kiddie pool filled with diatomaceous earth. We are deep bedding and also give them a couple of straw bales that we didn't break up since they like to play king of the hill. Being in NC, we get pretty good summer heat and get some pretty cold temps and snow/ice from end of January to Mid March. Do you think we need to provide them with more adequate enclosure? I am looking at plans to build a chicken shed from pallets or possibly pick up a second hand shed to give them more shelter. Unfortunately, just as we are ready to go to that expense, our deep freezer bites the dust and takes all of our food with it. So, we need to eliminate or reduce cost as much as possible. Thank you in advance for any and all advice or help you can provide. I already find this community to be a blessing just from being on the facebook group since we began this adventure. God bless you!