Baby Chickens for Sale in Mc Caulley, Texas
Baby Chickens for Sale in Mc Caulley, Texas
We have backyard chickens!
And they’re the 3 best friends that anyone could have….
Meet Momma Chicken (a Barred Rock)…
Red (a Welsummer)…
and Liberace (a Blue Cochin Bantam)…
Suburban or backyard chickens seems like a new concept but people have been keeping them in non farm-like areas for years. They are low maintenance and pretty fun to have around. We have 3 chickens that roam around our suburban backyard. We’ve had them for a few weeks now and we sure have learned a lot!
Before we got out chickens, we checked with the city’s planning department to see if it was even allowed. According to the city’s “chicken ordinance”, we are allowed 1 chicken per each 1,800 square feet of our property. Assuming I did the math right, that allowed us 3.33 chickens!
Our next step was to get a coop for the chickens to nest in. We saw from Williams-Sonoma and, after seeing the price, thought we could build it ourselves for much cheaper. A few weeks (months) went by and we realized “ain’t nobody got time fo’ that”. So my mom found at Costco.com and we ordered it. Way cheaper than building one from scratch and so little effort; just the click of a mouse. The quality is probably nothing compared to the one from Williams-Sonoma but I don’t think the chickens mind. The website says it’s built for 2 chickens but our 3 seem pretty comfortable in it.
After we got our coop, we needed some chickens. My husband made some phone calls and found us some chickens at in Orange, CA that needed new homes. Not only do they sell baby chicks but they also take in hens that people can no longer take care of and need new homes, kind of like animal foster care. My friend Kristen and I went to pick them up. Because the store didn’t have .33 chickens, we settled with just 3. The owners son gave me an extensive lesson on chickens before we left with them. He was awesome! We also picked up a 40lb bag of food, a giant bag of shavings for the coop, a feeder and waterer. Thankfully, we took Kristen’s SUV.
We got back to my house with the box of chickens and then had to get them into the coop. Before that day, I had never touched a chicken. A live chicken. Kristen thought it would be funny to record me putting them into their coop. Here is the video of that experience.
We have 3 different breeds of chickens; a Barred Rock, a Welsummer and a Blue Cochin Bantam. Liberace, our Bantam hen, has fluffy iridescent feathers and they cover her feet. She’s the cutest thing ever! Also, she’s considerably smaller than the other two. One of them lays light blueish eggs (not sure which one yet) and the other two lay brown eggs.
Here is what we’ve learned so far since we’ve had backyard chickens:
1. They are just a little messy…just a little I swear!
They are really not messy at all. They poop alot, like, alot alot. Most of our backyard is covered in grass which isn’t a problem when is comes to chicken shi poop. It’s great fertilizer. They do poo a lot in their coop but it’s easy to clean up because it’s covered in shavings like a hamster cage. The top section has a tray that pulls out so we can just dump it out into the trash and fill it up again. Hands free poo cleanup. When they poo on the concrete we can just hose it down. We are in a drought I know but they spend most of their time on the grass or locked in the coop so it’s very little poo cleanup.
2. They are quiet animals.
They don’t make a lot of noise unless they are laying an egg and even then it’s not very loud. They make soft “gobble gobble” sounds but nothing to make the neighbors call the cops let alone suspect we even had animals in our backyard.
3. They fly!
I never even thought about this until I was doing dishes in the kitchen sink and saw one of them staring at me from on top of the a/c unit. When I got to the backyard to get her down, she had gotten onto the fence and was walking the perimeter of our yard. She jumped down and came to me as soon as I put my hand out like I had food. Which brings me to my next lesson…
4. They love treats!
Our backyard chickens love corn and grapes especially. I keep a plate or bowl next to the kitchen sink and when we are done with a meal I put our left over food in it. In the morning, I take it outside and the chickens come running to me like I’m Cinderella! It’s pretty cute. They also love leftover meat. We’ve given them leftover steaks and ribs and then found clean bones when they were done with it. They eat pretty much everything except oranges and apple cores which are not good for them. I’ve even heard that you can give them cooked eggs and chicken but I just can’t bring myself to do that. It seems so wrong.
5. They don’t produce a lot of eggs.
We were pretty excited to have fresh eggs every morning until, well, we didn’t have eggs every morning. We thought we would have an egg a day from each chicken but it’s been way less than that. We’ve been getting about 5-7 eggs a week. Two of our chickens seem to be on egg laying strike.
6. They go to bed at sunset.
As soon as the sun goes down our hens go into the coop and go to sleep. We have one that sleeps in the nesting box, one that sleeps on the roosting pole and one that sleeps right next to the door in the nesting area.
7. They dig.
Or scratch but it’s pretty much digging. They do this around the edge of our yard looking for bugs. It’s kind of creating bare spots in the grass where they do this so we don’t let them run free all day, every day.
8. They eat your plants.
My husbands dad gave me a cutting of one of his plants, a night blooming cereus, so I could have my own. I wasn’t watering it enough so I put it in the backyard in an area where it would get water from the sprinklers. I looked at it one day to see how it was doing and most of it was missing. Goodbye night blooming cereus….it’s been real.
9. They are very friendly.
So far they haven’t pecked at any of us and they love company. They run to us when we go in the backyard and if we pick them up, they stay calm and let us pet them. They like to travel around the backyard together and seem to stay close by when we are out there.
I’m looking forward to bringing you some egg recipes soon with our fresh eggs! If these chickens amp up production anytime soon….
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Baby Chicks Buy in Mc Caulley, Texas
We have many Rare Chicken Breeds for sale in Mc Caulley Texas, including Sussex Chickens, Welsummer Chickens, Turken Chickens and more. Be sure to check out the Bargain Specials, as you can combine different egg layers in smaller amounts and buy as an assortment. Mc Caulley Texas also has poultry equipment for sale, game chickens for sale in Mc Caulley Texas, bantams for sale, ducks for sale, geese for sale, turkeys for sale, guinea for sale, peafowl for sale, pheasant for sale, chukar partridge for sale, bobwhite for sale, many different breeds of baby chicks for sale in Mc Caulley TX.Baby Chickens For Sale Online in Mc Caulley, Texas
Thumbing through a baby chickens for sale in Mc Caulley Texas catalog is a yearly traditions in many houses. My kids and I eagerly await the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog. We love looking at all the cool and different chicken breeds available. Catalogs are free so head on over to their site and request one if you are interested.Typically hatcheries online offer both standard breeds
and bantams. Bantams are fun hardy little chickens, they lay tiny eggs
that kids especially love collecting. Bantams typically weigh less than 2
pounds when full grown. Just like ordering anything online there are pros
and cons to ordering baby chicks online. Pros of buying baby chicks in
Mc Caulley Texas * Big Selection - If you are wanting a large
variety of different chicken breeds and egg colors, you will find the best
selection at an online hatchery. * Both Bantams and full sized chickens
available * You get to choose what sex you want. If you want a mixture of
both male and female then choosing a "straight run" will save you money
and you will get a mixture of male and female chicks. You can also choose
all males or all females too. * Weekly specials. Hatcheries have sales on
chicks, you are likely to get a good deal if you are flexible with the
breeds you are wanting. Cons of buying baby chicks in Mc Caulley
Texas * Order early to get the best selection. Certain breeds sell
out fast, sometimes as early as 6 months in advance of shipping! If you
are wanting a certain breed it's best to order your chicks in the fall
before their orders sell out.
Baby Chicks Facts in Mc Caulley, Texas
Quantity - you must order a certain number of chicks. Typically hatcheries will require you buy a minimum of 25 chicks at a time. The number is necessary for the chicks survival during shipping. All 25 chicks are put in one small box without heat. They are crowded in the box and produce enough body heat to arrive in good shape. * The wait - If you choose to buy chicks from a feed store you will have them the same day but if you choose to go with a hatchery you have to wait until they are ready to ship and then wait for the chicks to arrive. Ordering baby chicks online in Mc Caulley Texas is easy and has always been a very pleasant experience of me. It can be a little frustrating waiting for the chicks but it's so worth the wait. When the post office calls and you hear all those little "cheeps" or "chirps" in the background you'll know the wait was worth it! How to Care for your new baby chickens in Mc Caulley, Texas Baby chicks are extremely cute as well as difficult to withstand, but it's finest to plan for their arrival before you obtain them. Prepare initially by compiling not only the right materials, however additionally the appropriate expertise to care for them. Raising baby chicks is fairly simple, you simply should give them with the following: A tidy and also cozy habitat A lot of food as well as water Interest and love Environment Your habitat can be a basic box, aquarium, cat carrier, or guinea porker cage. Line it with old towels as well as coverings (without loosened strings!) to start, as well as after a few weeks make use of straw over newspaper. Note: Avoid utilizing only paper or various other slipper surfaces-- or your chicks legs can grow malformed. You additionally require something to provide food and also water in, such as a chicken feeder as well as water recipe from the feed shop, or a pickle jar lid for food as well as a pet bird water dispenser from an animal store. Likewise, as the chicks grow older you could present a perch right into the environment to obtain them trained on setting down. Warmth To maintain your chicks warm you should supply them with a heat source. This can be as easy as a 100 watt light bulb in a reflective clamp style light from an equipment store, or an infrared reptile heat bulb likewise work extremely well (my referral). Chicks need this warmth 24/7 up until their downy fluff is replaced with feathers (which can occupy to 2 months). The freshly hatched out require a temperature level between 90 as well as 100 degrees, and also weekly this could be decreased by roughly 5 levels or so. The warmth source should be on merely one side of the cage to permit chicks a variety of temperature levels. The chicks are your ideal thermometer- if they are hiding in the opposite edge of your heat lamp, you need to reduce the temperature level. If they are smothering each other under the warmth (not just curling up), you need to include some warmth. Housekeeping Cleanliness is vital and it maintains your chicks healthy. Be sure to change the bedding often as well as consistently give tidy food and water Food as well as water. Chicks grow really fast which requires lots of tidy food as well as water. Offer sufficient at all times and also examine commonly to avoid thirsty and also starving chicks. Chick food is different compared to grown-up chicken food, as well as it can be found in both medicated and non-medicated ranges. Feed chick food for the very first two months, after that switch to a raiser food (~ 17 % healthy protein) for one more 2 months, and afterwards to a somewhat lower protein feed or a layer feed (if you have levels). Dirt Some chicks want to get a head start on taking dust bathrooms, while others won't take up that task until they are older. If you have the area in your chick unit, present a tray of sand or dirt for them to wash in. Attention as well as love There are a couple of benefits to spending time with your chicks. First off, they will certainly probably bond with you as well as not flee as grownups. Second, if you examine your chicks daily as well as enjoy their actions, you can capture disease or various other issues earlier. Watch out for hissing, hopping, or other harmful indications. Be sure to additionally check out their poop, as looseness of the bowels can bring about matted feathers and clogged cloaca. Last but not least, it is essential to look out for social issues, such as the smallest chick getting badgered. Vacant nest syndrome So your chicks are currently fully feathered as well as its time for them to leave the security of your home and relocate outside right into a coop. Check out our part on chicken cages to find out more regarding coops as well as correct coop environments.Baby Chicks Facts Baby Chickens Online
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