HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

Roo1 · « **on:** April 11, 2011, 17:24 »

Hi there
I am just starting to keep chickens mainly as pes for the kids (the two biggest kids are me and my wife) - we have done our research and despite our local suppliers' advice who would like to sell us some pol hens - I am very keen to do the egg and chick thing as I did this at college many years ago.
My concerns are two fold. Firstly do I need to be concerned about vaccination. I will be keeping 3 - 6 birds only in the garden. Providing they are kept clean and healthy what are the risks regarding diseases and eating the eggs. Are there any simple tests for salomonella ?
Many thanks

Rupert

mumofstig · « **Reply #1 on:** April 11, 2011, 17:39 »

hello and welcome, I'll moove the post into the Hen House, where you should get some answers

jinty1911 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 11, 2011, 18:06 »

I agree with your local breeder. POL is the best option for a beginner. Do you have an incubator? Decent ones can be expensive and then you need proper heating after they have hatched. There will also be the cockerals to deal with (Joyful, you taught me well

). Maybe start off with 3 and then if you have a broody you could hatch a few eggs at a later date?

Goldfinger · « **Reply #3 on:** April 11, 2011, 18:10 »

It's nearly a year since we took the plunge, and got ourselves some 'back yard' chooks (5 up to now

)

I'm still learning and there's always someone, er no, make that many on here that'll help with anything.

All i can say is, You'll not regret it.!!

And you'll never look at a shop bought egg the same way ever again. :blink:

joyfull · « **Reply #4 on:** April 11, 2011, 18:37 »

you have learnt well Jinty

Roo1 as has been mentioned already it is far better to start off with point of lay pullets, they may be vaccinated but most small breeders dont do this as it is expensive to vaccinate and as vaccines come in very large doses and most breeders don't hatch that many in a go.
The first thing you should do is to locate a vet that will look after chickens as not all will.

bantam novice · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2011, 18:46 »

Hello Roo1 and welcome to the wacky world of henaholics

I would agree with Jinty and your local supplier here that it is best to start with Point of Lay (POL).
3-6 is a good number to start with but be prepared, you may well want to increase your flock. It does become addictive!

If you find next year you would like to increase and try raising chicks then you could try putting fertilised eggs under one of your hens if she goes broody. The broody takes care of everything and you don't have to worry about temperature, humidity etc with the incubator. It is also enchanting to watch the mother hen teach her chicks.
Jinty is so right also about the cockerels. Roughly half the eggs that hatch will be cockerels and they will start fighting and crowing as they get older. This doesn't tend to impress any neighbours. You will have to plan how to manage this in advance.
In the meantime I wish you Good Luck and keep us posted.

Joyfull you beat me to it with your fast fingers

Sassy · « **Reply #6 on:** April 12, 2011, 08:12 »

Vaccines are far from essential for the back-yard keeper. They are more necessary for the commercial farms where the birds are kept in unnatural and stressful environments. If you buy from a reputable breeder and operate good housekeeping you should not have a problem. Talk to your breeder about your concerns.

Chickway · « **Reply #7 on:** April 12, 2011, 08:37 »

Morning. I have had chickens for 3 years (POL). We had four and in the cold snowy weather we experienced this year we lost 2. We decided then that we would hatch our next lot ourselves as it has always something I wanted to experience. We have now got 6 10 week old chicks down in a seperate run in the garden and 9 1 week old chicks in the dining room in a brooder. You can get carried away.

From my experience though I have found having some knowledge about chickens from my 3 year old chickens has helped me alot in how to care for the chicks. There is still alot I dont know and I ask alot of questions on this site which will become your best friend. Good luck in whatever you decide to do, its alot of fun. x

Junie · « **Reply #8 on:** April 12, 2011, 08:46 »

It is lovely having eggs as this is how we started - Went and bought an incubator and put in some eggs that our neighbour gave us, 8 eggs, 3 chicks, 1 of which died at a day old, the other 2 were both Cockerels. So no eggs, we ended up going for 5 week old chicks, the majority of which were again cockerels, the 2 hens were caught by a fox a few weeks before they were due to lay!!
So...... went for POL and did not look back !! They took 5 weeks to lay though so that was not instant.
We have had chicks since, had no success with broody chickens though all done in incubator.
I would therefore agree that the most straightforward and certain option is POL to begin with!!

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HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

Roo1

HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

mumofstig

Re: HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

jinty1911

Re: HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

Goldfinger

Re: HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

joyfull

Re: HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

bantam novice

Re: HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

Sassy

Re: HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

Chickway

Re: HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

Junie

Re: HI there, I am new to the site and would appreciate some help with chickens!

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