Im not alone!!! lol. Im obsessed with my five road island reds. They are great egg layers and are friendly. We can pet them like puppies and they will let us pick them up. I have four hens and a rooster (was sold to me as a hen). Iv had them for about a month and all four are laying. I was told they are about six months old. The eggs are medium size right now but my cousin has RIRs and he told me full grown ones eggs are pretty big.
These are pretty good chickens for this region. There are also others which would be good.
One thing to keep in mind is that chickens are poop factories. They eat a lot and poop even more. So make sure you plan for this when you are constructing your coop.
Ill plst pics of my coop and chickens later on today.
Thanks! I would be interested in seeing a pic of your coop. I'm almost done with mine, 3'x4'. Same plan, 5 egg layers. I have a 6' wood fenced yard, so I'm planning on free reign at times. And laziness breeds brilliance, as I've heard it said. I'm trying to keep the cleaning as easy as possible so it happens. This started a few years ago as a neighbor talked about getting them. Then, my other neighbor got 6 of them in the spring from F&F as chicks. We've watched them grow up the last few months. Then the other neighbor (#3) came home with a coop on his trailer. Now the neighborhood's out of control! We are all on 1/2 acre, so we have the space.
If you have neighbors and you find your chickens being noisy, you may want to keep them happy an occasional egg or beer:beer: There are many days I want to have a nice chicken dinner made from my neighbors squawking birds. It’d be different if the aviary wasn’t a few hundred feet from my house….
That was my first thought when the chicken talk started a few years ago. We looked at the laws. Unincorperated Will county says 1 chicken per 2500 square feet, so I could have upto 8.1 chickens. I'm only planning on 5. No roosters are allowed. I think it says 15 feet from the neighbors property, if I remember correctly. The chickens next door are very quiet. We wouldn't even know they were there if we didn't see them. Definately have to be curtious to the neighbors, otherwise saturday night fires would be not so fun! To us, more than the noise, the smell must be maintained. 3 kids will take care of that, they are of legal job hunting age soon, so they will "earn" the right to sleep in my house.
A lot will depend on if you plan to keep a singular type, or multiple breeds. My wife loves Barred Rocks and Wyandotts. Rhode Island Reds can be a bit aggressive toward other breeds, but are generally a good bird as well. I wouldn't trust anyone selling chicks at a bird swap or flea market. Most breeders will guarantee 90% hens for general pullet orders. You have pretty good luck in the spring at Farm stores like Big R getting chicks. Not sure what the selection looks like now. My favorite right now are a pair of Buff Rocks we have. Anyhow, good luck! Oh, you can also mail order if that interests you.
Thanks for the info! We were looking at getting the white longhorns, and adding a Barred rock, RIR, or americauna. No more than 5 otherwise I'll be up to my ears in eggs soon, which I will be at that level anyways. If the RIR is aggressive, then that may not be such a good idea. The kids want an americauna for the blue eggs. I think I've found the people I'm going to get them from, so we'll see how it pans out. I was told the white longhorns are the best for egglayers. Any "mishaps" with ID'ing a rooster as a hen will not be allowed where I am. Naperville, as it turns out, is very chicken friendly, even downtown area. Who knew!
No Napoleon Dynamite fans in here? Sorry, it's one of my favorite movies and I couldn't resist. Not to mock your chicken friends
My brother-in-laws favorite movie. As dumb as my wife says it is, I liked it. I use a line from it to annoy her often, "sweet!".
Thanks for the input guys!
