Baby Chickens for Sale in Barren Springs, Virginia
Baby Chickens for Sale in Barren Springs, Virginia
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 Chickens Online in Barren Springs, Virginia
We have many Rare Chicken Breeds for sale in Barren Springs Virginia, 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. Barren Springs Virginia also has poultry equipment for sale, game chickens for sale in Barren Springs Virginia, 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 Barren Springs VA.Baby Chickens Male Or Female in Barren Springs, Virginia
Thumbing through a baby chickens for sale in Barren Springs Virginia 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
Barren Springs Virginia * 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 Barren Springs
Virginia * 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 Raising in Barren Springs, Virginia
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 Barren Springs Virginia 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 Barren Springs, Virginia Baby chicks are very charming and hard to resist, however it's ideal to plan for their arrival prior to you get them. Prepare initially by gathering not only the correct materials, yet additionally the appropriate understanding to take care of them. Raising baby chicks is reasonably simple, you merely have to provide them with the following: A clean as well as warm and comfortable habitat Lots of food as well as water Focus and love Environment Your environment can be a straightforward box, aquarium, pet cat service provider, or guinea porker cage. Line it with old towels and also blankets (without loose strings!) to start, and after a few weeks utilize straw over paper. Note: Avoid making use of only paper or various other slipper surfaces-- or your chicks legs could grow malformed. You additionally require something to serve up food as well as water in, such as a chicken feeder as well as water meal from the feed store, or a pickle jar lid for food and a family pet bird water dispenser from a pet store. Likewise, as the chicks age you could introduce a perch into the environment to get them educated on setting down. Heat To maintain your chicks heat you have to offer them with a warmth resource. This can be as straightforward as a 100 watt light bulb in a reflective clamp style lamp from a hardware store, or an infrared reptile heat light bulb likewise work effectively (my referral). Chicks need this warmth 24/7 up until their downy fluff is replaced with feathers (which could take up to two months). The newly hatched require a temperature between 90 and also 100 levels, and also every week this could be minimized by roughly 5 levels or so. The heat resource need to be on just one side of the cage to allow chicks a range of temperature levels. The chicks are your ideal thermometer- if they are hiding in the opposite edge of your warmth lamp, you have to lower the temperature. If they are surrounding each various other under the heat (not merely cuddling), you should include some heat. Housekeeping Sanitation is key and it keeps your chicks healthy. Be sure to alter the bed linens usually and also constantly give clean food and water Food as well as water. Chicks grow very fast which needs plenty of tidy food and water. Supply sufficient whatsoever times and also check frequently to stop dehydrated and hungry chicks. Chick food is various compared to grown-up chicken food, as well as it is available in both medicated as well as non-medicated ranges. Feed chick food for the very first two months, then change to a grower food (~ 17 % protein) for another 2 months, and then to a somewhat reduced healthy protein feed or a level feed (if you have layers). Dirt Some chicks want to obtain a head start on taking filth baths, while others will not use up that task until they are older. If you have the space in your chick room, introduce a tray of sand or dirt for them to bathe in. Interest and love There are a few advantages to spending quality time with your chicks. First of all, they will certainly more than likely bond with you as well as not escape as adults. Second, if you analyze your chicks daily and watch their behavior, you can catch ailment or other troubles earlier. Watch out for wheezing, hopping, or various other unhealthy signs. Make sure to additionally take a look at their poop, as looseness of the bowels could cause matted feathers and blocked cloaca. Finally, it is necessary to watch out for social issues, such as the tiniest chick getting teased. Empty nest syndrome So your chicks are now completely feathery and its time for them to leave the security of your residence as well as move outside into a cage. Check out our part on chicken cages to learn more regarding coops and correct cage habitats.Baby Chicks Outside Baby Chickens Buy
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