Eggs from various breeds. White eggs from White Leghorns and California Whites, Brown/Buff eggs from Golden Laced Wyandot and Black Astralorp, Blue/Greenish eggs from Aracauna.
If you buy from the feed store, check the rear end of the chick to make sure it's clean, and buy a chicks that are nice and active and attentive of their surroundings, they should be a bit difficult to catch, even if approached carefully.
Aside from that, some things to take into consideration are -
~ If you're buying for egg production, don't buy Cornish Cross. Those are meat birds and probably won't be able to survive long enough to reach egg laying age. Been there, done that...
~ White Leghorns are a commercial layer variety as well as being a heritage breed. I think that California Whites are a commercial laying chicken, but are a cross between a White Leghorn and a California Gray. Both are proliffic layers, lay white eggs, are extremely intelligent and easy to work with. That having been said, they're both really squirelly and they can fly like a falcon, and love to do so. Their motto seems to be 'To boldly go where no chicken has gone before'. We have these birds as our primary layers right now, and 6-8 of them have decided that they prefer roosting 15 feet up in the apple tree in our back yard as opposed to roosting like all the other 'normal' chickens in the coops.
~ The other breeds I've mentioned, while definately being flighted, aren't as likely to just 'hop' over the fences when ever the mood strikes them. Most heritage breeds other than the White Legorns and California Whites will lay brown eggs, and the Aracaunnas will lay green and pale blue eggs.
There are many breeds of chickens, and it's fascinating to spend some time at the breeders' websites. Of course, you could also get ahold of your local 4H or FFA and see if any of the kids have any chicks for sale. Also, unless you're intending to breed and sell chicks, there isn't any reason you have to have purebred birds either.
If you get chicks, don't expect eggs untill sometime in the fall or even winter. Our California Whites came in March or April of last year, and we didn't see our first egg untill late fall, and then of course they all had to molt - it was that time of the year - and so quit laying as soon as they had started. Then when it got cold of course they didn't lay. So we didn't start to see dependable egg production untill a month or so ago. So for those birds, it was 10 months, more or less. Of course now they're all laying like gangbusters, except the hen who's setting.
If you want eggs right away, you could check your local paper, or a 4H or FFA kid might be wanting to sell their laying stock. You'll pay more for the individual birds, but you'll probably spend the difference in price between a chick and a grown bird in feed anyway, and when you buy chicks, you may get stuck with a rooster even if you buy pullets (hen chicks only). We ordered our California Whites from a hatchery in Missouri. We ordered 25 pullets, received 27 chicks 5 of which turned out to be cockerels (rooster chicks).
When you get your chicks, be they from the feed store or in the mail directly from the hatchery, you will need to handle them with care.
When we get chicks this time of the year we keep them in the house in a box with a lamp over them. I currently have 29 chicks in the house - we got 10 Silver Laced Wyandots, 10 Golden Laced Wyandots and 10 Aracauna. Lost one of the Wyandots the other day, but getting day old chicks that's a risk you take.
I have mine in a 2' X 3' plastic tub that is 6-8 inches deep. It's actually one of those small mud (mortar) mixing boxes you find at Home Depot. I put hay on the bottom of the tub, and wire mesh over the tub to keep the chicks from getting out. It's also handy to hold the lamp up. The bulb I'm using is a regular 40 watt incandescent bulb. Don't use those fancy spirally lumenescent bulbs, they don't put out any heat. If you use a regular heat lamp bulb you'll want it to be a foot above the chicks. You can check to see if it's at the proper distance by the chicks' behavior. If they stay huddled, lower the lamp a few inches every 15 minutes until they spread out. If they start spread out, raise it a bit untill they come under it but don't huddle.
When you get your chicks, for the first day, give them warm water. The chicks are shipped with no food or water, and that's fine. They can survive the ammount of time it takes to get to you with no problems as long as the post office or shipper don't dally. But they will be a little chilled when you get them, so a heat lamp and warm water are the order of the day.
I think the instructions we got said not to feed newly delivered chicks the first day, just to give them warm water, and I think it called for there to be a bit of sugar added to the water. If you get them from the feed store, they will already be eating starter crumbles. When you do feed them, you want to start them on a medicated chick starter. Buy a small bag if you're just getting a few chicks. The feed will have an antibiotic in it that will keep the chicks from getting sick with coccidia and other bacterial pathogens. Once they've gone through the medicated feed you shouldn't ever need to give them antibiotics again, and you certainly don't if you're eating the eggs.
For bedding, lots of people use shavings, and others use paper. I like nice clean grass hay. It's cheap, you can probably get some for free from your feed store. Just tell them why you need some and they very well may give you a box or a bag and tell you to go out and scoop some of the loose stuff off of the floor. Shavings can be dusty, although the hay can be too. But I don't like the way the shavings are easily kicked into the chicks' water. Chicks will start scratching before they're a week old and it's a lot harder to scratch long hay into a waterer, and even if a piece does get in here and there it won't fowl the water like shavings will. Paper, I don't like because it can be slick and if a waterer gets knocked over, your chicks can easily get wet and chilled. If there's hay for bedding, they're more liable to be held up out of the spilled water by it. Hay also gives them something to pick at. I used to raise upland game birds and chukar, quail and pheasant are terrible toe pickers. Chickens aren't so bad, but it still gives 'em something more interesting than the neighbors' toes.
Also, when you order, if you buy direct from the hatchery, pay the little bit extra that it costs to have them vaccinated against Mereck's Disese. I think it costs 75 cents, and is cheap insurance.
When your chicks are a month or so old, you can move them into an outdoor enclosure on sunny, warm days. Always make sure that they have a heated area that is sheltered from drafts and rain. You'll also want to make sure that the netting you use is small enough that the little guys and gals can't escape. I usually let them out during the day and then bring them in at night unless our little brooder shed is available. I'll do this for a couple of weeks and then start letting them stay out doors 24/7 as long as they still have a nice warm sheltered area to sleep in and shelter in if a shower comes by.
While the chicks are in the house you should clean their brooder every couple of days. I usually pick them up and put them in a different container for the few minutes it takes to clean out the brooder and put in new bedding. This will keep the chicks clean and healthy, and it will also acclimate them to you and to being handled. This will make it a lot easier to work with your hens if you let them out of their coop when they are older, and it will help you to move them to outdoor quarters off and on as you harden them off. It'll keep them from being unduely stressed if you have to handle them for any other reason, or even if you need to reach in to pull eggs out from under them. |
