# i broke down today and got



## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

6 chicks!

i know.. ridiculous haha but they had my favorites so i got some

i got two rhode island reds, two buff orpingtons, an americauna, and what they say is a black jersey giant

they feedstore says they get pullets so they should all be girls, but i wouldn't mind a rooster
haha

the reds and americauna are two weeks and the orpingtons and jersey are one week


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

cute little chickadee's.........peep....peep.....LOL


----------



## FarmGirl18 (Oct 5, 2007)

Neat! They are cute!


----------



## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Awwww...they are cute! Congrats!


----------



## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

Cute!

Congrats on the wittle babies! I just had one hatch today, and two yesterday, they are sweet little things.


----------



## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

I want a pet chick 


They are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo



cute ^^


----------



## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

best part is. they are literally in the living room.. in plain view. my dad walked in and sat right in front of them and didn't notice. 

my sister walks in 10 min later and sees they right away and say, why do we have chicks? 

you should have seen dads face :slapfloor: :slapfloor:


----------



## rebelshope (Sep 21, 2008)

Men LOL... PEEP PEEP 

Congrats to your lil egg layers to be! I could not have resistances those little peeper either.

PiccoloGoat- believe or not chickens can make really good pets. I am sure there are people over there that would be willing to sell you 2 or 3 chickens for a mini flock, if you can keep them where you live.


----------



## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

yea i live in a housing tract and i had two chickens as pets. no one complained.


----------



## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

Just a suggestion: start saving your egg cartons now. In about 18 weeks or so, you'll have eggs coming out your ears! Unfortunately, they grow out of the cute stage way too quickly :sigh: 

I've got 50 of the little buggers (mostly Reds).


----------



## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

i love reds    

i would have gotten all reds, but mom wanted some different ones

what age can you tell roosters for hens?


----------



## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

For your normal every day person, not for about a month. I was supposed to have 50 pullets & still ended up with 3 roosters.


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> best part is. they are literally in the living room.. in plain view. my dad walked in and sat right in front of them and didn't notice.
> 
> my sister walks in 10 min later and sees they right away and say, why do we have chicks?
> 
> you should have seen dads face


 he didn't hear a peep out of them.....LOL.... too funny... :ROFL:


----------



## deenak (Oct 10, 2007)

Oh how cute I like the varieties that you chose. My daughter is getting some ducklings in the spring. It is too hard to raise the babies here in the winter! How long are you keeping them in the house?


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> In about 18 weeks or so, you'll have eggs coming out your ears!


MissM........  .......is this for all breeds of chickens....? Just curious...


----------



## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

Toth, earlier laying is most common for egg laying breeds, like the reds, barred rocks, black australops, buffs, ect, but as for some meat and fancy breeds it will be longer. Generally alot of people never let meat birds get too old, to lay alot of eggs, but I've known of some that never lay eggs until well over a year. As for fancy breeds, like jungle fowl, phoenix, polish, ect, I'm not exactly sure, as we've never had specific breeds seperate, but I've had several fancy hens ages 2 y/o + go broody and hatch out chicks. 
But no it is not the same for all hens, and i've never any hens lay eggs anywhere near 18 weeks.

please correct me if I'm wrong MissMM. I have over 200 chickens, and its hard to keep track of what each does from day to day!


----------



## Sweet Gum Minis (Oct 6, 2007)

Congratulations!!! I've got the chicken fever myself right now. I have 8 RIRs, 3 Blue Andulsian/RIR cross hens, Cuckoo Marans, lots of Cochin bantams, and assorted purebred bantams too. Waiting on most of them to lay. My RIRs and 3 blue cross hens are all laying well.


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

thank you for the info......Amos......I was wondering ..because I am raising some barred rock and rhode island reds.......


----------



## capriola-nd (Jul 6, 2008)

They are so very cute! They do grow out of their cuteness very quickly though. . . . 

My uncle and aunt raise meat chickens every year - about 100, they live on pasture. . . . live a very good life, even though it's pretty short. Anyways, those things at about 1 month old are THE UGLIEST creatures!! And they get so fat that their feathers fall out on their butts, very ridiculous looking. . . . they sure taste good though.  :wink:

Yours are cute ones though. . . . for now.


----------



## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

I am by no means a chicken expert - all I know is what I've read & remember from childhood on the farm. "Laying hens" will typically start laying eggs anywhere between 18 and 21 weeks of age. We had a few that started laying at 18 weeks old, but they were midget "hobbit" eggs to start with. At about 22 to 23 weeks of age, they were all pretty much laying eggs the size that you would purchase at a grocery store. We have a few hens that are laying mongo huge egss w/double yolks consistently. I call them my "amazon girls" I've yet to find an egg carton that they will fit in. 

Re: sexing a chic...... that's why I paid for someone else to do it.... I'm not a fan of scrutinizing chicken butts........ and unless you're really good at it, it's hard to be sure until they're about a month old. That's what I've been told anyway.


----------



## Hailee's Herd (Oct 5, 2007)

AWWWW, I love them!!!! Baby chicks are the best! I remember when mine where babies.  It wasn't too long ago, actually!


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

thank you......MissMM...for the info....


----------



## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

I'm sure it would probably depend on what kind of laying hens, if I had thought to say that I would have. lol. Our layers definitely don't lay as much as they should, we have about 140 hens total I would say, and on their good days we get about 2 dozen eggs. Then again quite a few are retirement hens, the oldest being about 10 y/o, and we don't feed layer feed at all, because it makes their bodies produce so many when their younger, then they don't lay as many when they are older.


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

does anyone know ........how old the road island reds and bared rocks are ...when they may start to lay eggs??


----------



## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

im pretty sure its 18 -22 weeks.. not completely sure though


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

thanks SDK...love them farm fresh eggs......


----------



## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

I've got 24 barred rocks & 24 Rhode Island Reds born May 11th. Yesterday, I got a total of 46 eggs in one day. I range feed and also provide layer feed w/oyster shell free choice. One of them - don't know which - started laying @ 18 weeks old, but like I said earlier, it was very tiny eggs for the first week or so. Now they are all normal to exlarge size eggs. I get at least 2 dozen a day. 

A lot of their laying habits/ability depends on light. They need a minimum of 14 hours of light per day. I've got 2 lights hooked up to a timer to make sure they get 16 hours just for good measure. I also have 20 nest boxes that are 8"x6" so they have plenty of room & don't have to compete for next box time. I think that has made a big difference in their ability to be productive. My DH built this elaborate wall of nest boxes that I can access from the back without having to enter the chicken pen. That is so nice. I can collect eggs b/4 work without getting dirty. Then in the evening I check the whole pen for any eggs they're "hiding" from me. 

I have one hen that would seriously rather peck her egg & ruin it than let me take it. She'll be dinner soon.


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

missM ...your birds are doing well for you.... wow 



> I have one hen that would seriously rather peck her egg & ruin it than let me take it. She'll be dinner soon


 you know ........I have a older mixed breed bird that does that ..........it is irritating for sure... :hair: we are thinking about selling her.....


----------



## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

Be sure to! once they peck it and figure out that theres good stuff inside they'll want to eat other eggs, then you'd got a problem.


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

thank you....Amos..I appreciate the info...very helpful... :thumbup: 
and thank you .."everyone else" to for all your help on my questions about chickens......it is very appreciated...  :thumbup:


----------

