Go to Backyardchickens.com. You will find lots of information including names of various breeders that ship chicks. I second the suggestion to choose some of several breeds. I've had Delaware, Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Wyandotte, and Easter Eggers. Makes a beautiful flock and a beautiful basket of eggs!

You can order them any time if you use a southern supplier who's already got moderately warm weather. The big hatcheries will only ship a minimum of 25 chicks because in the sort of weather we have now, it takes the body heat of the whole 25 to keep each other warm enough in the shipping box. If you're wanting to order only a few, you have to order from someone who'll ship smaller quantities and those folks tend to wait for warmer weather. You know that you can order directly through places like TSC and they'll have your order shipped to their store and you can pick it up there? At least, ours does that. I assume they all do. I don't even know if you'll get chicks by Spring Break if you order them now. It depends on the hatchery and what they have hatching out weekly---sometimes the breed you want is not available for the specific week you're wanting it to be shipped, so check on that.

We raise chicks in a brooder in our chicken coop under a heat lamp, so they do not have to be raised indoors at all as long as you can provide adequate heat for them in the coop. Be sure your heat lamp has a metal grate type shield over the bulb to prevent the bulb from making contact with the coop floor or bedding if someone knocks the heat lamp down. In our coop, it would be adult chickens trying to sit on top of the heat lamp that would knock it down----but since you're starting out only with chicks, there shouldn't be any creature inside the coop that will knock the heat lamp off the brooder. Still, it pays to be safe---you don't want the coop catching fire.

We've always had mixed flocks of different kinds of chickens and I think that is a lot more interesting than only having one breed. We've never grown brahmas so I cannot comment on them. Children especially love collecting eggs that are different colors, so we tend to always have chickens that lay brown, brown speckled, green and blue eggs. That just makes it more fun for the kids, and I like the variety of colors too....although, of course, the eggs inside the shell are pretty much all the same, so it doesn't matter from an edible point of view.

I prefer to not get chicks until closer to April so that the nights are warmer, but with a heat lamp, you certainly can get them now.

It really depends on your facilities. I can start chicks in January, if I want, as I have an enclosed shed with a heat pyramid. But I am only now starting my first batch of eggs in the incubator. I generally wait till around this time to start chicks.

Because we needed more meat, I did something I've never done before. Last fall I hatched 30 chicks and raised them through the winter. This got me meat by March. However, feed costs were MUCH higher and the birds grew much more slowly than those raised in spring and summer.

I have only very passing experience with the Light Brahma. Generally speaking it's a little higher strung than a Cochin. But it's nice bird.

We've had a number of types of chickens, over the years. But since 2002 we've tried to focus on one or two breeds. I like to really get to know a breed, a strain of a breed and work on selection for improvement. I like to contribute to the preservation of something that generally won't be found in a normal feed store.

We raise our chickens for both meat and eggs. To defray costs I also set up a small hatchery and sell some purebred chicks each year.

George

@macmex Do you have chicks for sale this year?

It will in 22 days, starting around April 6. First batch of chicken eggs goes into the incubator this afternoon. I only raise and hatch Buckeyes.

I have 36 Buckeye chicks now. They hatched on the 4th.