Im ready, And takeing the leap!!!!!

I had chickens when I was a kid, but we just had regular whatevers, nothing exciting.
I have been studying a lot on all the different breeds, their temperments, and I have to say you have all been an inspiration, and library of information.
I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just placed my order at MMcmurray for my day olds. I ordered a brown egg layer assortment
and for my choice of fancys I picked the white sultans. st. run only, But I got 6, so surely at least one will be a hen and at least one roo, right???
week of March 17th is going to come so slow!!!
Thank you all for being great teachers, I will show you all some picks as soon as I get em!!!

HI, I placed my first order for chickens from mcmurray too, they should be here march l0th. Although I've raised chickens for years, always bought them locally.

You would probably get one hen and 5 roos inthat straight run bunch LOL they send out more roosters than pullets, but more than likely you should get one hen for sure. If your lucky 2. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you...

I ordered pullets and roosters one rooster of each and 4 to 5 pullets of different varieties. I'll have so many roos I may have to seperate them out. LOL

Isn't this place a wealth of info?

Congratulations to both of you and good luck. It will all be worth the wait.

OMG, Yes!!! Anyone can learn so much just by taking the time to read posts from everyone else!!
I will be happy if I get one hen from the sultans, but would love to get at least two!!! And I figured that the free one they throw in will probably be a roo too.
Right now I just want to start out with the eggs so I just ordered pullets, Maby later I can get into breeding and such for 'other' purposes.
There is no place around here to buy them locally, even though I live in a farming type community unless I was to get them from the feed store, they dont sex them and they are all in a box together. So no telling what you will get. I knew I wanted the sultans, I think they are the neatest looking different kind. Honestly I was torn between them and the silkies. Love them too!! But hubby told me to pick one breed of the fancies and I just eenie meenie miney moed.... Till I picked them. LOL
I love Daves Garden!!!!!!!!

I have a good source locally for sexed birds, but not a good variety, I did learn that they are goin gto have cockoo marans and welsummers this year, so I"m going to get some of them locally.

OOOHHH, The dark brown eggs, COOL!!!!
MM said there will be at least 5 varietys of I think there were around 10 different breeds, I cant wait till they get to where I might be able to identify each breed I got.

Kathy_ann, Please post some pictures of your babys when you get them please!!! And I will do the same! Kelly

I will, I remember what someone said here on daves, to do when we get our chicks, mix up some sugar water and dip their beaks in the water till they swallow, to get them started. So i'm going to do this . I'm looking foward to my new babies.

Me too! Im happy for you too!!!
Yeah, I remember that about the sugar water.

That actually came from McMurray. They actually included instructions with the order I got from them. I got my Australorps from them last spring. I ordered 25 pullets and 25 straight run. On the straight run I got, I believe 15 roos and 10 pullets. Of course we choose to put the extra roos in the freezer when they get fryer size, so I wasn't disappointed with that mix. My "rare" breed was a all white Aracauna rooster which I gave away because I didn't want to kill him and didn't want to keep him. I still have my RIR rooster who is four years old and kept two Australorps.

i am so happy for you both, this is an exciting year for new chicken owners everywhere!

Watch out for pasty butt on the babes too. Good thinking on the oversupply of roosters Granny, if they were allowed to live together as adults, some would be wishing they were in a pot.

Excel, I remembered that from when I was a little girl. We had a Buttercup rooster and my DD let a hen hatch out some eggs. One of the hens was a Black Minorca, and when the eggs hatched decided to keep the roo chick from her. Blackie (the chick) wouldn't leave Cookie (the buttercup) alone and we finally had to cook him. But, I have Rocky (my dominant), Bruno (the next in line), and Clyde who is so gentle I could easily make a pet out of him. Bruno is aggressive, but does submit to Rocky's being the actual dominant.

Every one here has been an inspiration for me to do it!!
I thank you all for the great information!!

Everyone must post pics when they get their chicks!
I love your chick pic kelboindy, it's precious. There
are going to be chicks everywhere, very soon! And
then- eggs of every color before long. I am just as excited
as all of you, I don't yet know how excited my kitty's will
be??? I hope not to make them happy.

may princess tammy have a chick of every color

Truest, Im not in that game, but I wish Princess Tammy could have a chick of every color too!!! Hahaha,
I will post some pics as soon as they get here. Week of March 17th. Weee

Weeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! They're here! You are going to just
love it when your chicks arrive, Kelboindy!

OH wow, so cool, they all alive and healthy? show us a picture of them.

truest, Please show me.... Put them down for a minute and take a pic !!!

I lost one last night, it was small and was being trampled
by the bigger ones when it slept. Overall, they are healthy
and all arrived in good shape. I seperated the smaller polish
from the rest...

may princess tammy have a healthy life

Truest
sorry to hear you lost one :0((
What breeds did you get? They are so adorable!!
Did you order from Mcmurray? How many??

They are so tiny my goodness, and so cute LOL

I ordered 8 pullets and 1 roo of 3 breeds. Cochin, which
are big chicks, ameraucanas and crested polish. I lost
another polish today. It seems there was nothing in his
crop. Everyone it seemed ate well and were very active
all day, but as the day wore on, 2 polish and one ameraucana
were droopy. This amer is a small one, too. I checked
the crops of the polish and amer, and empty. I made a gruel
out of chick starter and sugar water, and carefully forcefed
these two. It seems they had no energy to get to the trough
for food. We'll see how they do with a little groceries in them.
If they don't do well, I suppose they were meant to be that way.

may princess tammy have active chicks..

thank you for the pictures truest. my kids aand i are down that our eggs didn't incubate right. my eldest got a good laugh from your crested with the pom poms on their heads. sorry some aren't doing well. i was told to lay the starter cruble all over the floor, so as they peck at their feet they learn to eat... may all your chicks eat and drink well!

tf

Sometimes they get "pasty butt", where they poo dries on their bottom. You might check, and if so, use a rag and warm water to remove it. I read somewhere that 1-Rooster to 8-Hens is a good ratio so your roosters should be okay.

I've got one rooster to l3 hens now and he does a good job . LOL

I have 3 roosters to, I believe, 33 hens. That should be a good match. But we shall see later on in the season. It is still too cold here to set eggs in the incubator as I will have to set the brooder pen up in the garage. We did it last April 11th, and I will probably set the incubator up mid-March.

The broody hens are apparently keeping the eggs warm enough, but I won't candle them because it is still too cold to take them out of the nest for any length of time, even a few minutes might make a difference with the outdoor temps below zero.

Below zero, wow! Ain't never seen that around here. Awful cold last night though, low thirties.