Hello! | BackYard Chickens – Learn How to Raise Chickens

Glad to meet you, and glad you made the account! You might wait until the chickens are old enough to tell gender before you make plans about keeping and giving. The earliest signs in Australorps would probably be 6-8 weeks, when you may see differences in how red the combs and wattles of males are. This can still be confusing sometimes, so don’t jump to conclusions. By 12 weeks, males may start crowing. You can post pictures here for some expert help.

Here are my favorite beginning articles that helped me as a newbie. I hope you will find them helpful as well. All articles are short, have illustrations, and reviews, which are often worth looking at for the comments.

1. Intro to chicken keeping

2. Common mistakes & how to fix them

3. Ventilation (important to chicken health), with helpful links to coop designs organized by climate (because what is just right for my New England hens won’t work for my brother’s Arizona chickens)

3(a). Farmers Almanac on Building Coops (Includes size requirements!) Allowing plenty of space for chickens is really important because, even as chicks, they will start pecking each other or plucking their own feathers, or become unhealthy if they are overcrowded. Here is a link to Colorado State Extension’s publication on space and temperature requirements for chicks as they age.
* Allow extra space for both chicks and your coop! Most people end up adding more birds after the first, so allow room to grow. At worst, your birds will have plenty of space and will get along better for it!

4. Predator protection for new & existing coops

5. Dealing with a muddy coop and run

6. Gardening for chickens

7. BYC Lists of Chicken Ailments and Cures

8. Chicken toys

9. Why hens don’t lay

To look for articles on your own:

A. Use the SEARCH button, but use the Advanced Search choice, and select ARTICLES at the top of the box. Just enter your keyword(s) and scroll through your results!

B. I find it helpful to notice the rating and reviews. All articles are by BYC members, and all the reviews/ratings are as well. The ratings help a newbie like me sort the most useful and reliable articles.

C. You can bookmark the articles or posts you think you want to refer to again using that bookmark icon at the top of articles or posts. You can find them again by clicking on your own avatar and looking at the list of bookmarks you have built up!