(07-17-2012, 04:44 PM)mora2000 Wrote: Right now I am looking into backyard chicks. I live in the country on a hazelnut farm and I was thinking it would be nice to own chickens. I was planning on starting off with two until I get the hang of it. I know they need a heatlamp, light, special feed, and a good sized coop. The chickens would be free-ranged and have lots of space. Any tips you could give me?
Hmmm....really old post. Maybe you are here and maybe you are no longer using this forum. Either way, if you want to know about chickens, I will likely have the answers 
First, you need to choose your chickens. Are you wanting eggs or just feather friends running around doing a bit of clucking here and there?
Are you looking into getting chicks and raising them or getting adults?
If you do get chicks, you will definitely need a coop, heat lamp and the special diet for chicks. Once grown, they will no longer need a heat lamp except in cold weather. Light? They have sunlight and if they are free range, you will keep the coop door open all day and once the sun goes down they will go and nest in their coop until sunrise. Locking the chickens up overnight would be my choice. Chickens are very vulnerable at night. There are too many predators that will take advantage of this.
Free range chickens are indeed nice. They however still need an assigned nesting place if you are going to collect eggs. You raise them up to where they know where they sleep, like the coop and a nesting box. If you are going to have them for eggs then they will usually return to that box to lay them. There is nothing more aggravating that finding a dozen useless eggs in a pile of leaves and NOT knowing when they were laid. Don't eat them!!!! Trust me on that ;-)
Overall, I love the chicken thing. They can be a pain and a lot of work at cleaning time but overall, they are pretty cool little creatures to have. I think that a person has to figure out exactly what they what the chickens for...clucking around the property or for egg laying.
If you are still posting here, I can give more info if you respond.
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