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Baby Chickens
updated: Apr 07, 2011, 6:45 AM

I have been building a chicken coop, and have everything ready except I do not know where to procure the chicks?

Places People Are Talking About:

Craigslist	Island Seed & Feed	La Cumbre Feed
Milk and Honey Farm

What People Are Saying:

COMMENT 161831	2011-04-07 07:09 AM
Island Seed and Feed on Fairview in Goleta; not sure if they have chicks at this time, but they normally have them.
COMMENT 161839	2011-04-07 07:22 AM
Try La Cumbre Feed on Calle Real near the Earl Warren Showgrounds
DARYL	2011-04-07 07:26 AM
Echoing DOUGLASFUR's recommendation: La Cumbre Feed had chicks when I was in there last week.
COMMENT 161842	2011-04-07 07:27 AM
i second La Cumbre Feed. they have been super helpful with our chickens over the years. most feed stores get chicks every couple of weeks and you can go in and reserve what you want ahead of the order.
COMMENT 161855P	2011-04-07 07:43 AM
I got 5 chicks at Island seed and feed last year. We chose 2 black Australorps, 1 Americanas, 1 Buff Orphington, and one "Sex Link". We are very happy with them! The Buff Orphingtons has the sweetest disposition and let's us all pet her, including my young kids. She walks up to you. But, most importantly, we amazingly have been getting 1 egg per day from each bird! 5-6 eggs every day. I am very pleasantly surprised each day. The eggs start out small and get a bit bigger over time. The Americana eggs are nearly robin's egg blue, which is not something you see in the store. Enjoy!
COMMENT 161860	2011-04-07 07:47 AM
Island Seed & Feed!
COMMENT 161865	2011-04-07 07:56 AM
I noticed on Craiglist yesterday that someone was trying to sell several young laying hens (already laying). I've got my pretty black and white polkadot Silver-spangled Hamburg from there, and frequently see ads for chickens that are already laying there. There's also someone up in Lompoc who sells young layers on Craigslist. That is if you want to bypass raising them yourself.
COMMENT 161898	2011-04-07 08:40 AM
It's not uncommon to see them free on Craig's List. If you posted a note on CL, you'd probably get some donated to you. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about chickens or quality of them.)
COMMENT 161910	2011-04-07 08:56 AM
Buy a carton of eggs at the supermarket and sit on them for a few days. If nothing happens then go to the feed store and buy live ones.
COMMENT 161913	2011-04-07 09:00 AM
Milk and Honey Farm is raising a few - not sure if they're spoken for yet, but check it out!
COMMENT 161915	2011-04-07 09:08 AM
If you end up getting older chicks, or full-grown hens, from various places, be aware that there is a good possibility that they won't tolerate each other. The phrase "pecking order" comes from that. Chickens will hurt, and kill, each other. I tried to introduce a few new hens into my flock and had to take them away because they would have been killed by the others. Good luck with the chickens. They're very enjoyable creatures to have. Not a lot of work, very relaxing and pleasant to have around. Great eggs.
COMMENT 161918	2011-04-07 09:12 AM
from an egg, which comes from a chicken... which comes from... an egg...?
COMMENT 161920	2011-04-07 09:15 AM
Keep them in the coop - we let our run free through the yard and ended up losing them all to hawks and raccoons. Having had a taste of free walking they complained and complained at being "cooped up" and we caved in, then had a heck of a time getting them back in a night. Next time - they're staying in the whole time unless we put them in a coop tractor.
COMMENT 161964P	2011-04-07 10:46 AM
What's a "coop tractor"?
COMMENT 161970	2011-04-07 10:54 AM
If you get a group of existing laying hens that are already used to each other (such as the ad I saw yesterday on Craigslist) there won't be any problems. I've also introduced new hens to my existing flock successfully by keeping them separate (but right next to the flock) for a few weeks, and then let them join the others with my supervision and a garden hose. Works well. I've not lost any of my chickens to hawks letting them forage in the yard. But I don't let them out until around 5 or 5:30PM. At dusk they tuck themselves back in. If I let them out at other times, I just have a container of mealworms ready, and they follow me wherever I go. Very easy to get them back in with that method. I suppose any kind of food they really love would do.
JBYRD	2011-04-07 11:07 AM
I let mine free range all over the property (2 acres) every day and have never lost one to a hawk or other predator...it's only when my disrespectful neighbor that lives out of town shows up, drops his dogs off in his non-fenced yard, then leaves...that I have problems..LOL. The eggs are SO much better when the hens free range and eat all that protein. Dark yellow to orange yolks, much more flavor. You won't want store bought any more!
COMMENT 161977	2011-04-07 11:07 AM
We raised three (3) chicks from "fertile eggs" purchased as Trader Joe's -- we followed a how-to make a homemade incubator instruction video on YouTube. It worked ! It was fun and totally surprising ! I couldn't tell you what kind of chickens they were (we gave them away to another family with a farm).
COMMENT 161999	2011-04-07 12:09 PM
Milk & Honey Farm has hand raised, free range chickens. From time to time she has chicks to purchase. Just google Milk & Honey Farm SB.
COMMENT 162056	2011-04-07 02:36 PM
La Cumbra Feed is the best bet for buying good chicks. Check the Humane Society for grown hens. They usually have quiet a few there. I grew up with Chickens and we hardly ever had to buy chicken feed. They were perfectly healthy and happy with table scraps. We would let them wander the back yard and at night they'd go into their hen house by themselves and we'd just have to lock it to keep intruders away.
COMMENT 162104	2011-04-07 04:59 PM
Island Seed and Feed has a great selection coming in every week. The just mailed in chicks are usually available on Friday or Saturday so you can see what breeds they have for sale, or check the list for what's coming in the next week and place an order. I don't think the other feed stores have new chicks coming in every week...give them a call to find out. Have fun!!
COMMENT 162165	2011-04-07 08:57 PM
A "coop tractor" is a device on wheels that contains a portable chicken hen house and foraging setup that can be moved around for whatever purpose the owner needs at the time: clearing bugs of that area, Getting rid of unwanted weeds for later planting (yes, they do that if you keep the tractor there long enough), and general fertilizing of the soil. As you move the coop tractor around, they basically prepare the soil and get rid of pests for you without having to do anything other than moving their portable coop around. A small truck or SUV will do the job, and they'll do the rest to prepare the planting area for you.
TWOBITS	2011-04-07 09:29 PM
Baby chicks need to stay indoors for up to 6 weeks- until their feathers begin to grow in and it warms up. What I've done is take a mid-sized cardboard box, fold up the bottom flaps inside the box, wrap a fine gauge wire mesh up around the bottom of the box (so the box sits inside the wire) and set that over a kitty litter box. That way the poop falls through the mesh, but their little feet won't. You can use a cardboard tube from a dry cleaners hanger to make a roosting pole and prop that between the sides of the box. They'll need heat- a clamping lamp with a 60watt bulb is fine. They'll need water and food out all the time- their little baby chick crumbles make a fine powdery dust all over. The bathtub is a good place to keep them... have fun. Chickens are great!!
COMMENT 162191	2011-04-08 07:05 AM
When your chickens get older, and if they cannot free-range, hang a head of cabbage/lettuce on a string from the roof of the coop to about a foot and a half above the floor. It will provide them with fun and activity and greens.
COMMENT 162228	2011-04-08 08:34 AM
Another vote for Island Seed and Feed- they get unusual varieties and it's fun to get one of each. We get six different colored eggs every day!
COMMENT 162231	2011-04-08 08:38 AM
Be sure the chicks are sexed. I bought what I thought were 6 hens but ended up with three roosters and 3 hens from Island Seed and Feed about five years ago. I introduced my chicks to a mature hen by waiting until she was brooding. I put the chicks in her pen but within an enclosed smaller pen and removed them at night to keep them warm.. She could see them but could not hurt them. After a few days I let them go and the hen took them under her wing, literally, and accepted them.
COMMENT 162278	2011-04-08 09:52 AM
Island Seed and Feed! The people there are SO knowledgeable and helpful. Ours "free range" around the back yard an average of 1 to 2 hours daily and usually give an egg a day each. We feed them almost all of our table scraps (veggies and fruit). They keep snails away from the vegetable garden too.
OAKTREE	2011-04-08 09:55 AM
If you live in an area of coyotes or roving dogs, put 4ft. hog wire around the outside of your coop, over the chicken wire. We've had coyotes tear the chicken wire off and go in to get. the chickens.
COMMENT 162291	2011-04-08 10:22 AM
The animal shelter often has roosters and sometimes chickens. Check there first since they are in great need of adoption!
VEGGIMA	2011-04-08 12:28 PM
The feed store in Ojai has older chicks that already have their pin feathers and don't require an incubator. Much easier to care for when first starting out - and you don't have to wait so long for eggs!