# Newbie



## OliviaE

Hi everyone, I'm VERY new to chickens (so new that I don't have them yet...getting them on Monday) so I was wondering if anyone has some good advice of any kind.
Thanks
Olivia


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## farmhand

OliviaE said:


> I was wondering if anyone has some good advice of any kind.
> Thanks
> Olivia


Eat your veggies 
Welcome to our world.


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## 7chicks

Hi Olivia. What kind of advice are you looking for? Lots of it here so give us a little idea of what you need to know.


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## realsis

hi and welcome! my very best advice is to read read read! i swear i read 15 books before i got mine! they have some really Great books like Storeys guide to raising chickens, or the chicken whisper guide to backyard chickens. first thing is if your getting new born chicks you need a brooder with a heat lamp.a red heat lamp is best. the temp for new born is 95 the first week dropping the temp by 5 degrees each week. get a thermometer to check the temp. you will want a warm side and a cool side where they can get away from the heat. they let you know if they are cold by huddling under the light, if hot they will pant or ruffle feathers and be far away from heat source. you want them evenly dispersed happily chirping not loud distress chirps. they need feed and water. put rocks or marbles in water to prevent drowning. i feed mine medicated feed to prevent cocci but that's a personal choice. you can use non medicated if you wish. i use pine shavings as litter, do not use ceder it will kill the chicks. i use a huge box as a brooder its actually a watermelon bin from the grocery store for free! its what the watermelons are shipped in. the walls are tall and thick and strong! i pick up the poo a few times a day and completely clean shavings once a week. keep fresh water check often because they dirty it easily. i keep food and water on boards to keep it out of litter .i Hope this helps and best wishes! show pics when they come!


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## realsis

also when chicks first come you must teach them to drink by dipping the beak into the water so they know where it is.electrolytes are Great to put into the water at first helps with stress.


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## OliviaE

7chicks said:


> Hi Olivia. What kind of advice are you looking for? Lots of it here so give us a little idea of what you need to know.


Um well...how big my coop should be if I'm getting 6 chicks...stuff like that ( nothing special)


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## OliviaE

realsis said:


> hi and welcome! my very best advice is to read read read! i swear i read 15 books before i got mine! they have some really Great books like Storeys guide to raising chickens, or the chicken whisper guide to backyard chickens. first thing is if your getting new born chicks you need a brooder with a heat lamp.a red heat lamp is best. the temp for new born is 95 the first week dropping the temp by 5 degrees each week. get a thermometer to check the temp. you will want a warm side and a cool side where they can get away from the heat. they let you know if they are cold by huddling under the light, if hot they will pant or ruffle feathers and be far away from heat source. you want them evenly dispersed happily chirping not loud distress chirps. they need feed and water. put rocks or marbles in water to prevent drowning. i feed mine medicated feed to prevent cocci but that's a personal choice. you can use non medicated if you wish. i use pine shavings as litter, do not use ceder it will kill the chicks. i use a huge box as a brooder its actually a watermelon bin from the grocery store for free! its what the watermelons are shipped in. the walls are tall and thick and strong! i pick up the poo a few times a day and completely clean shavings once a week. keep fresh water check often because they dirty it easily. i keep food and water on boards to keep it out of litter .i Hope this helps and best wishes! show pics when they come!


Thanks realsis...I can't find any books about chickens but I downloaded 3 apps about chickens and I have been read these forums. Thanks for the info about when i get them and the brooder. And I will be post a thousand pics of my bbys


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## 7chicks

I started out with 6 chicks, half RIR, half Barred Rock. Hubby was going to build the coop as 4x6. Told him absolutely not! Gave him my drawing of what I needed and where everything was going. We ended up making it 8x6. Its perfect for the 9 girls I have. Enough room for the nest boxes in a corner, the perch on the back wall by the heat source, mini-perch between the big perch and nest boxes, big window and their little door to access the run. I wanted room for them to move and me. Room to add another chicken or two or three as it ended up being. Better to be a bit on the bigger side than to be to small and have to add on. I have had to add on to the run but that's no biggy. Design it to be like Fort Knox so you won't have to worry about predators getting in. 

As for their feed, I had them on the medicated chick feed and I always gave them different treats like Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cottage cheese, yogurt, cooked oatmeal. Things like that for added vitamins and just to spoil them. 

If you are having them for pets, handle them lots. It will turn them into the nicest pets as they get older. Mine come by name which is great when I have to pen them up in a hurry for some reason or just need to get them back inside for the night. Didn't take them long to learn their names. Even the older one that was 6 months old when I got her, learned her name within a few days. She had never been handled much prior let alone have a name. 

Don't ever use cedar wood shavings for their flooring. Its toxic to their respiratory systems. Use pine shavings if you are going to use wood shavings.

That's about all I can think of right off to get you started. Hope this helps answer some of the questions you might have had rolling around.


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## OliviaE

Thanks!!! That was amazing!! You gave me lots of things to incorporate in my coop and chickens!! We have lots of fruits and veggies laying around my house so they will be happy! Also I have been BEGGING my dad to let me get chicks and FINALLY he agreed so I don't think handling them will be a problem! And me and my friend have already picked out there names! Again thanks for all the advice!!


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## OliviaE

My chicks!!!! Just got today!!! I have electrodes in water,I dipped their beaks in water, and almost everything u guys told me!!!!! Thanks for everything u guys helped me with!!! I don't know what I would without u guys!!! THANKS!!! <3

Olivia


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## robopetz

Oh so cute. They look newly hatched.


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## OliviaE

I know they do!!! But we got them for TSC


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## Jim

Are they buffs?


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## OliviaE

No they r amber sex-links


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## Cluckspert

Beautiful chicks!


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## Jim

OliviaE said:


> No they r amber sex-links


Ahh, ok. Good to know.


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## OliviaE

Ya I looked at adult pics of amber links and they were PRETTY


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## AlexTS113

Dear Olivia, I am also new, and I was wondering where you got your brooder light and light bulb? Also, I there a certain light bulb that I need? Yours looked perfect for what I need.


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## InnKeeper

AlexTS113 said:


> And, sorry my asking, where do you live?


Olivia, I'm not your mother, and you can do what you will, but if you answer these questions and you were my daughter, I'd be furious.

Just sayin'


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## Jim

AlexTS113 said:


> Dear Olivia, I am also new, and I was wondering where you got your brooder light and light bulb? Also, I there a certain light bulb that I need? Yours looked perfect for what I need.


You can pick them up at feed stores, and hardware stores like Home Depot.


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## fuzziebutt

InnKeeper said:


> Olivia, I'm not your mother, and you can do what you will, but if you answer these questions and you were my daughter, I'd be furious.
> 
> Just sayin'


I'm not your momma either, but NO ONE has any business asking ANYONE how old they are and where they live on these forums. And that goes for private messages, also. If we want to volunteer our age (AS LONG AS IT'S OVER 18), then that's one thing, but there are just too many predators out there to give up information.


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## OliviaE

AlexTS113 said:


> Also, how old are you?


Hi alexTS113, for my sake (and my mothers) I would rather not tell u ur ?s....like innkeeper said. And I got my heat lamp at tractor supply


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## OliviaE

InnKeeper said:


> Olivia, I'm not your mother, and you can do what you will, but if you answer these questions and you were my daughter, I'd be furious.
> 
> Just sayin'


I agree....my mother would kill me  thanks


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## OliviaE

Sorry I just had to post this pic....so cute!!!!!


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## OliviaE

fuzziebutt said:


> I'm not your momma either, but NO ONE has any business asking ANYONE how old they are and where they live on these forums. And that goes for private messages, also. If we want to volunteer our age (AS LONG AS IT'S OVER 18), then that's one thing, but there are just too many predators out there to give up information.


And yes fuzzie it right....hey I don't care if u r super duper nice, I will NOT let my age and where I live to every one on this forum...but hey, to the other people reading this u can do whatever u want  
Advice= never show where u live on a public site...unless u want to be robbed


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## AlexTS113

OliviaE said:


> Hi alexTS113, for my sake (and my mothers) I would rather not tell u ur ?s....like innkeeper said. And I got my heat lamp at tractor supply


Okay, sorry for asking. Thank you for the advice on a heat lamp


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## AlexTS113

InnKeeper said:


> Olivia, I'm not your mother, and you can do what you will, but if you answer these questions and you were my daughter, I'd be furious.
> 
> Just sayin'


Sorry, I didn't mean I sound stalkerish, but I wanted to know in what region of the country. Your pictures of the amber sex links looked great, and I was wondering where you could get them. I couldn't find it on the Internet.


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## AlexTS113

InnKeeper said:


> Olivia, I'm not your mother, and you can do what you will, but if you answer these questions and you were my daughter, I'd be furious.
> 
> Just sayin'


Sorry, I didn't mean to sound stocker-ish. I was just wondering if I could try to find Amber sex links too. Thank you


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## OliviaE

AlexTS113 said:


> Sorry, I didn't mean to sound stocker-ish. I was just wondering if I could try to find Amber sex links too. Thank you


It's ok....I got mine at TSC


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## InnKeeper

AlexTS113 said:


> Sorry, I didn't mean to sound stocker-ish. I was just wondering if I could try to find Amber sex links too. Thank you


Alright, but I wish you would have asked just that. Please learn from the error, and I'll put away my protective mother hen claws. The Internet is a world of unknowns, and everyone has to be on guard with personal info.


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## AlexTS113

Ok! Yeah, after I saw that, I realized that it sounded a little bit weird!


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## Nate

I'm Nate I'm 24 and live in north alabama where we keep guns and Doberman in our yards. Come on


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## OliviaE

Ha! Instead of hurt u I think me dog will lick u to death!!!


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## AlexTS113

fuzziebutt said:


> I'm not your momma either, but NO ONE has any business asking ANYONE how old they are and where they live on these forums. And that goes for private messages, also. If we want to volunteer our age (AS LONG AS IT'S OVER 18), then that's one thing, but there are just too many predators out there to give up information.


Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean it that way, but I was a bit surprised when I saw mom and dad, but it is great to see a new generation of chickeneers!


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## Nate

Yea they will lol. My yorkies are meaner than my Doberman!


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## OliviaE

AlexTS113 said:


> Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean it that way, but I was a bit surprised when I saw mom and dad, but it is great to see a new generation of chickeneers!


I'm not THAT old


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## fuzziebutt

Ok, it's good to know that we will take care of each other!! Nate, are we neighbors? Do you hear that freak with the radio in his low rider truck bump bump bumping all day driving by? Try to get a shot at him, ok?


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## Nate

Haha I think we're for sure neighbors


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## Jim

Nate said:


> I'm Nate I'm 24 and live in north alabama where we keep guns and Doberman in our yards. Come on


Lol Nate! Only a miniature dobi at my south Texas house, but plenty of normal sized guns!


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## InnKeeper

Jim, have you gotten the grandpas feeder yet? Congrats on winning! Just wondering how you like it.


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## farmhand

InnKeeper said:


> Jim, have you gotten the grandpas feeder yet? Congrats on winning! Just wondering how you like it.


Yea Jim, I would like to know. Better yet, start a new thread about it.


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## Jim

farmhand said:


> Yea Jim, I would like to know. Better yet, start a new thread about it.


I am still waiting on it to show up. And yes, there will be pics, I am very happy and looking forward to it, especially since I was just needing to add a new feeder.


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