getting first chicks EVER help please?

[orpingtonbabies]

I'm planning on getting my first chicks EVER. I'm a complete beginner. A bit clueless on where to get them? I think I'd probably like to order them but not sure where are some good trusted places to get them (don't want to buy sick chicks) that also have a good selection for not too expensive...
also not sure what breed? I'm looking to get about 5-9 chicks...I've found a few I'm interested in..
Silkies
Silver Laced Wyandotte
Buff Orpington
Easter Eggers

any other breeds? Basically, they just have to be nice, typically OK with being handled, friendly, not aggressive and OK with all/cold-ish climates

Thanks So Much!

 

[nanawendy]

Re post tomorrow. Our Eastern Ol'Timers are asleep now.

Read, read, read... ask questions and read somemore. This site is great and poultry books you can pick up @ the feed store is a good resource.
And most of all have fun...

 

[gumbii]

most feed stores can order from a hatchery for you if you don't want to make a big order... i recommend cochins... i have large fowl cochins and they are awesome chickens... but i hear that buff orphingtons are also great chickens... but every one likes different types of chickens... i mostly have old english game bantams... they aren't good for beginners because they are game birds and fight...


like they said, read a lot and ask a lot of questions... see if there are any local chicken enthusiast around your area... chicken people are super friendly...


good luck and welcome to BYC...

 

[BeccaB00]

Oh you'll love the chickens once you get em'!

just wanted to welcome you

 

[got2bskilled]

My favorite is: MYPETCHICKEN.COM

You can order as little as 3 chicks of almost all breeds. You wont have to get a mass order of 25 or more like most hatcheries. You could, but you dont have too. I have used them twice without an issue. Shipping is cheap. My chicks arrived safe, with a hot pack and bedding material to keep them warm... and most important, they were given some good grow gel stuff to eat to stay happy for the trip at no extra cost. Good customer support too should you need. Hope this was helpful!

 

[Judy]

Chickens tolerate cold much better than heat -- if you're only cold-ish, it probably won't be cold to them at all. Coops do best in the shade most anywhere it gets hot in the summer.

I agree, read, read and read some more. The basic stuff is in the learning center, top of page. The forum is full of information on about any chicken topic.

Usually, local feed stores sell chicks in the spring, simpler than ordering. Silkies are smaller than your other breeds and often stay broody most of the time, so they give smallish eggs and not a lot of them.

And welcome!

 

[FarmerDenise]

I got most of my chicks at local feed stores. Ours also have helpful personel. I really recommend buff orpingtons for beginners. The ones I have had are super friendly. they squat to be picked up. They are good layers. They can get broody.
there are so many books for the beginning chicken sucker (I mean keeper), that you should have no trouble finding one. Libraries have books also. You can also get a lot of information on line. Mother Earth magazine and Backyard chicken magazine are also good sources of information and you can check them online.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[mboreham1]

Everyone will love the breeds they have! If you want Egg production, you will want to go towards leghorns, Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks. Every breed can be docile, cuddly and friendly, every breed can be the total opposite. I must say, i dont have any but i have only heard good things about the Orpingtons in terms of being friendly. There is a chicken directory on here, it is great for listing what each breed is best for and also how flighty (prone to flying) each breed is. Eventually you might want to clip their wings - think cutting hair, it is painless. I learned how to do it by watching a video on youtube.

Couple of tips - chicks are generally tough, many people humanize or anthropomorphize chicks, remember they are chickens, in the wild they survive! Keep them warm with access to water and food and you should be good to go. I worried my socks off on the first chicks i got, checking them every 2 hours through the night etc, then i realized, down the road from me live many "wild" chickens that produce chicks, i am pretty sure they dont have anyone checking up on them every 2 hours!

Generally, keep them with access to warmth, somewhere from 85-100 for the first 3 weeks or so, unless you have a fully grown chicken that is broody (wanting to mother chicks) but it sounds like you are not there yet.

You can order chicks online from hatcheries such as mcmurray, Ideal, My Pet Chicken (MPC) normally they have a 25 chick minimum, MPC will allow as small an order as 3 chicks. Look for local feed stores, they currently have or will have over the next month start stocking chicks.

Some people on here seem to be manic over fresh water and talk of changing their water 3 times a day - honestly, that is WAY over the top, clean water is obviously great, i provide it every day, but then i see them drinking out of puddles, so go figure!

If you are in a colder area you might want to keep the chicks inside for the first 4 weeks or so and then transition them to an outside coop (outside hen house), periods of time during hours of daylight, then over night with a heat lamp until they are fully feathered. Many on here will say no to the heat lamp outside and that the chicks will feather out sooner without heat lamp - i have done both dependent on time of year.

Your chicks will grow bigger, they will need about 4 sq ft of ground space in the coop and 10+ sq ft of space in their run (outside exercise space) this will make sure they have enough space and prevent problems such as feather picking (eating each others feathers) They will also need a roost (place to sleep) in general it is a stick, 2x4 or some other branch which they hop on to to go to sleep. Again, you will hear the "right" and "wrong" way from a lot of different people, remember, in the wild they sleep in trees! I use an old tree post.

They will squabble as they sort the "pecking" order, let them be, you cant stop it, i suggest as much space as poss when this happens, the lower, picked on birds will have enough space to run away!

If they free range - no enclosed run, they will eat EVERYTHING, so if you have a beautiful garden, dont let them free range much because it wont be beautiful for long. They will need access to grit - i just give mine access to sand as chicks, they dont have teeth so eat the grit that stays in their digestive system to help digest anything they eat from grass to worms to flowers to chicken food.

Chicken food comes in 2 main forms - pellets and crumbles. I feed pellets, there seems to be less waste, dont be intimidated by the pellet size, the chickens will peck anything too big to eat into smaller pieces. As chicks you feed the starter crumbles, after about 8 weeks i mix it in with "layer" pellets and they get used to the larger food.

Before they start laying but after 12 weeks old give them access to oyster shell, it will ensure you have hard shells when they start to lay. You can get all food, oyster shell and feeding vessels at a feed store. I made mine but you can easily buy them, just more expensive. You can feed "scratch" its like a dog treat but for chickens, dont solely feed them scratch, it is not nutritionally dense enough for them.

I am sure i have missed stuff, welcome to the most fantastic hobby, it is greatly rewarding on so many levels. Please read, read and read some more, this website is great, i have literally learned everything i need to know from reading stuff on here, some of it is nuts, some of it fantastic!

 

[pdsavage]

cackle hatchery has a CITY-TOWN PULLET SPECIALS" OR "SMALL ORDER SPECIALS

http://www.cacklehatchery.com/


Ideal hatchery

MINIMUM ORDER: The minimum dollar value for an order is $25.00 in poultry, excluding male only chick orders.

There is no minimum number of chicks you can order as long as your total order of poultry is $25.00, not including shipping and handling

https://secuservices.com/ideal/newideal/categories.aspx

all about raising baby chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=283953

 

[4kids*2dogs]

I am new too!!! Just ordered 6 from MyPetChicken.com. They come March 28th and we cannot wait! We ordered one for each member of the family (we have 4 kids). We chose similar breeds as you. BUT they are low on inventory as people seem to be ordering them right up. You best get moving if you want them for spring.

1 Black Silky
1 Buff Orpington
1 White Plymouth Rock (my husband is from Plymouth so that is his!)
2 Easter Eggers
1 Silver Laced Wyandotte

I am about to buy all of the equipment for the brooder and plan to stick with a big plastic bin from Target. Interesting reads on the Red Heat lamp so I may stay away from that and get the ceramic heater (for reptiles) I am about to order the coop from a local feed store. (Agway)

We'll see how it goes. The threads about culling and sick chickens gets me very nervous. Predators make me very nervous too. My husband is willing to do this with me, but not nearly as excited as me!

Can 't wait! I am nesting and my kids think I am nuts because I am on this forum all of the time and looking at pictures of my breeds!