Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

welcome to PTO! hope you enjoy the forum! i am nowhere near where you are, sorry i can't help with stores etc, but if you can find a local feed mill somewhere they tend to be better than TSC for feed quality. Most chick starter crumble is either listed as medicated or not. if you see "medicated" chick starter that has amprol in it for the coccidiosis prevention. i highly recommend it...just feed the first 6 weeks while they're growing like crazy and you are pretty much done with cocci problems once they are past 6 weeks unless something really weird happens, like a flock of wild birds gets in or something.
oh, and welcome to canada too! you are having the pleasure of experiencing a real canadian winter this year.....the last 2 have been much easier than this one has been.
and coyotes, foxes, hawks, owls, wolves, mink, weasels, skunks, and opposums (did i miss anything?) will all love chicken for dinner. oh, raccoons! how'd i forget them? also don't forget neighbours free range dogs.....whether they're "good dogs" or not. haven't met too many cats that go after chickens, but it has been known to happen too. so a good fence and closeable coop to keep them all out....
i'm sure lots of other people will chip in. there are many members out in your region of the province!

Welcome to the site. My brother used to live in Cornwall but he was never into chickens! Apparently I am the only one in my family who inherited the ‘farming’ gene.
What a nice choice for chickens. I have been considering trying them as well but my coop capacity has been met for now!
You should be able to get medicated starter at most feed stores (TSC may carry this...the one in Milton has been off and on with it for years).
The best way (with using medicated starter feed as others have noted) to reduce coccidiosis problems in your chickens is to keep the bedding as clean and DRY as possible and keeping your feeders and waterers clean and free (if that is possible!). One dumped waterer in your grower pen can lead to a nasty outbreak!
Building (or buying) a sturdy coop with a good high predator proof fence will go a long way to keeping your chickens safe. Leaving your chickens run free all day is a nice notion but you will eventually end up with no chickens. Having a secure chicken run is a good back up for the days you can’t be right there to supervise free run time. I have had coyotes swoop in and grab both my ‘free running’ hens and roosters when I was on site but in the house for only a few minutes!

McCluckyCluck wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:37 pm

Hello Everyone,

Don't suppose there's anyone here who lives near South Glengarry? (about 30 mins east of Cornwall).

Hello and welcome to !
Some of the eastern Ontario people chimed up already, and there are some more. Have a look here: usermap/ to see where they are.
You can put yourself on the map by zooming to the spot, right clicking and then selecting: "Set my position here". It's a long tap on mobile devices.

Have fun!

Cheers! and welcome. Ex pat Brit here too...but from northern Scotland, so a wee bit more used to the cold than you would have been! I am new to eastern Ontario as well,(though been in Canada a good while now) but west of Kingston. Found PTO to be a wealth of great info...and a wealth of great folks!

Pollo Caballo wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:11 am

Welcome to the site. My brother used to live in Cornwall but he was never into chickens! Apparently I am the only one in my family who inherited the ‘farming’ gene.
What a nice choice for chickens. I have been considering trying them as well but my coop capacity has been met for now!
You should be able to get medicated starter at most feed stores (TSC may carry this...the one in Milton has been off and on with it for years).
The best way (with using medicated starter feed as others have noted) to reduce coccidiosis problems in your chickens is to keep the bedding as clean and DRY as possible and keeping your feeders and waterers clean and free (if that is possible!). One dumped waterer in your grower pen can lead to a nasty outbreak!
Building (or buying) a sturdy coop with a good high predator proof fence will go a long way to keeping your chickens safe. Leaving your chickens run free all day is a nice notion but you will eventually end up with no chickens. Having a secure chicken run is a good back up for the days you can’t be right there to supervise free run time. I have had coyotes swoop in and grab both my ‘free running’ hens and roosters when I was on site but in the house for only a few minutes!

Thanks for the info. I've read that some people have used hamster feeder type thing for chicks so maybe this is a good way to go! Our TSC doesn't seem to carry the medicated feed but I've still got a couple of months until the chicks arrive to source some. It would be kind of sad to have them all die right away!

WELCOME "McCluckyCluck" to PTO
Great place to get advice & ideas for your new chickens
Amazon.ca , Chapters store & even TSC has a great book "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens"
I read the book so many times I had to buy another...it will help with most issues.

Oh, & I also bought from Performance Poultry & happy with the birds.
( chickens, ducks & my turkeys )
Jason sells out quickly for the most popular birds, so get your order in early.
Once he sells out, you have to wait til the following year. He's quite helpful.

Have fun....you have now crossed over to the Dark side....hard to escape the lure of birds - LOL