I mentioned in my introduction thread, that my current attempts are going toward fixing up the old 'chicken coop' on my property in hopes of getting some chickens soon. I admit to being pretty anxious about this, as my previous experiance with chickens is kinda as follows:
-Grandma's stories about keeping hundreds of chickens and pretty much supplying the whole area with eggs while Mom and her siblings were growing up: By the end of it she had appearantly mastered breaking their necks one handed and was dead sick of them. Also she told grandpa when they moved to the farm that she would never allow a rooster on her property, they never did have one.
-In 4th grade I had a friend who had chickens. Once they got new chicks and I got to pet them and they let me name one. I named it 'Falcon'. A couplefew months later I was told the foxes got Falcon. Sad day.
-Watching the facebook posts of my aunt on the far side of the state that raises many fun breeds of chickens and other fowl (I did once help their daughter get an escaped turkey back into it's run when I was able to visit for a day.)
-Lots of internet research.
So obviously my jumping off point is much more of a 'book smart' level than any experience of true value. I'm posting here to kinda show off what I'm working with and hopefully benefit from any knowledge or advice y'all might have to fill in the gaps.
Currently I'm dig-guarding the coop, as I do have coyotes around that love to sing in the night. Sometimes they are right at the fence, but they don't come nearly as close since I fully moved in and brought my dogs with me. The Shiba almost looks like one of them and they don't wanna mess with the Doby. Especially as the dogs have absorbed some of my nocturnalness and are out at odd hours of the night often. I'm planning to let the chickens roam the yard during the day and close them in the coop at night to keep them safe. The best idea I could come up with is galvanized mesh folded so it goes a bit up the outer wall, and then is buried a bit underground around the coop. I have the front and one side done, and am almost done with the back, but it's where all the roots and stuff is growing so it's been a little slower than the other sides. The last side should be easiest 'cause it's under the connected lean-to shelter.
There is also an overgrown branch that has damaged the roof of the coop slightly, so I need to remove that. Luckily I was left with some spare panels that were used on the roof that I can use to patch it.
I took some pics to kinda show what I'm working with (along with my two most helpful helpers that had to get in on the shot). The structure is very makeshift, and looks frankensteiny and ugly, but is stable enough. Lot's of what I'm doing will probably be upgraded in the future as I better get a hang on what I'm doing and what I need
Font, where you can kinda see where I buried the mesh.:
Side, buried mesh: (Dogs: What do you mean you're trying to take a pic of the building? We're much more interesting)
Back, currently digging out trench. Technically I've finished digging since this pic and will lay out and bury the mesh hopefully tomorrow if all goes well. And it does have a loose panel on the back that needs to be better secured, but instead of securing that panel the last people to mess with it secured some very sturdy grates behind it, so save at the base where my dig guard should help, it's not really a security risk for coyotes or raccoons. Odd though.:
Inside (Couldn't get a decent angle to take good shots):
So, I don't fully know the history of this structure, or what it was originally used for, to be honest. The house itself is over a century old, though has been wonderfully cared for and is in excellent condition. It started it's days as a one or two room school house and has many people live here since. As far as I can tell the owners directly before me didn't miss with this specific outstructure at all. When clearing out out (there was a lot of crap inside when I started.) among what I found was what looked like a nest box, so it may have been for chickens at one point, Mom and Grandma suggested it may have had pigs at some point, and after we found towels and blankets in that wooden thing in the corner they thought someone may have raised puppies in it. I have no idea. All I know is I was needing a chicken coop and this can be made to suit my needs, so that's my plan for it.
I do still need to figure out roosts and nest boxes for inside. Grandma offered some of her old nest boxes that are up in the coop on her farm, and I might look at that later, but they are big metal things that come in 10 boxes per single unit that are still affixed to the beams in her chicken house, so not only can I not easily remove them by myself, nor would I have an easy time getting one into my little kia soul, they are also much larger than what I currently need. I'm thinking to start with I'll try to keep 1 rooster and 4-6 hens and go from there as I figure things out, so I most certainly won't need 10 boxes in the near future. As far as my online reading has dug up, they share boxes easy so you don't need one per hen, so I should be able to start with 2-3 nest boxes and go from there. I'll need to either buy some or see if I can't use some of the scrap material (that was originally in the building and is now sitting in a heap outside the building till I get it moved elsewhere) to build some. Same with perches, I guess, I have't figured out exactly what the best way to go about equipping the space with some of those would be.
Similarly, I'd like some recommendations for bedding and nesting material- preferable what works well and is cost effective that ISN'T straw or hay- I have hay fever, and while it's controlled enough I can deal with the material when I must, It's uncomfortable enough I'd prefer not to any more than absolutely necessary.
As far as the chickens themselves, I think I've decided on Orpingtons. As far as I can tell from internet research, they check all of my boxes -good for both eggs and meat, -hens will tend to fertile eggs and chicks, -good temperament, -bred in many pretty colors so working with them as stock for multiple generations of birds will be more fun.
Though as important as I tag that last point, for starters I'm going to get the common buff orpingtons to start for the following reasons: -Cheaper, as I'm still figuring out what I'm doing and things could go wrong, -I believe I recall reading somewhere that due to how they breed them into other colors, some important traits, especially temperament, are not as certain in the other varieties, and while working with living creatures is never truly predictable and there will always be issues able to crop up, I prefer starting with the somewhat easier to predict in the beginning, to try to minimize issues.
And if anyone would not recommend this breed or believes the internet lied to me, by all means, correct me before it's too late ^.^
So that's pretty much where my project stands. Lot's of learning as I'm going and praying I know what I'm doing, but so far I'm excited about moving forward on such plans. :3
-Grandma's stories about keeping hundreds of chickens and pretty much supplying the whole area with eggs while Mom and her siblings were growing up: By the end of it she had appearantly mastered breaking their necks one handed and was dead sick of them. Also she told grandpa when they moved to the farm that she would never allow a rooster on her property, they never did have one.
-In 4th grade I had a friend who had chickens. Once they got new chicks and I got to pet them and they let me name one. I named it 'Falcon'. A couplefew months later I was told the foxes got Falcon. Sad day.
-Watching the facebook posts of my aunt on the far side of the state that raises many fun breeds of chickens and other fowl (I did once help their daughter get an escaped turkey back into it's run when I was able to visit for a day.)
-Lots of internet research.
So obviously my jumping off point is much more of a 'book smart' level than any experience of true value. I'm posting here to kinda show off what I'm working with and hopefully benefit from any knowledge or advice y'all might have to fill in the gaps.
Currently I'm dig-guarding the coop, as I do have coyotes around that love to sing in the night. Sometimes they are right at the fence, but they don't come nearly as close since I fully moved in and brought my dogs with me. The Shiba almost looks like one of them and they don't wanna mess with the Doby. Especially as the dogs have absorbed some of my nocturnalness and are out at odd hours of the night often. I'm planning to let the chickens roam the yard during the day and close them in the coop at night to keep them safe. The best idea I could come up with is galvanized mesh folded so it goes a bit up the outer wall, and then is buried a bit underground around the coop. I have the front and one side done, and am almost done with the back, but it's where all the roots and stuff is growing so it's been a little slower than the other sides. The last side should be easiest 'cause it's under the connected lean-to shelter.
There is also an overgrown branch that has damaged the roof of the coop slightly, so I need to remove that. Luckily I was left with some spare panels that were used on the roof that I can use to patch it.
I took some pics to kinda show what I'm working with (along with my two most helpful helpers that had to get in on the shot). The structure is very makeshift, and looks frankensteiny and ugly, but is stable enough. Lot's of what I'm doing will probably be upgraded in the future as I better get a hang on what I'm doing and what I need
Font, where you can kinda see where I buried the mesh.:
Side, buried mesh: (Dogs: What do you mean you're trying to take a pic of the building? We're much more interesting)
Back, currently digging out trench. Technically I've finished digging since this pic and will lay out and bury the mesh hopefully tomorrow if all goes well. And it does have a loose panel on the back that needs to be better secured, but instead of securing that panel the last people to mess with it secured some very sturdy grates behind it, so save at the base where my dig guard should help, it's not really a security risk for coyotes or raccoons. Odd though.:
Inside (Couldn't get a decent angle to take good shots):
So, I don't fully know the history of this structure, or what it was originally used for, to be honest. The house itself is over a century old, though has been wonderfully cared for and is in excellent condition. It started it's days as a one or two room school house and has many people live here since. As far as I can tell the owners directly before me didn't miss with this specific outstructure at all. When clearing out out (there was a lot of crap inside when I started.) among what I found was what looked like a nest box, so it may have been for chickens at one point, Mom and Grandma suggested it may have had pigs at some point, and after we found towels and blankets in that wooden thing in the corner they thought someone may have raised puppies in it. I have no idea. All I know is I was needing a chicken coop and this can be made to suit my needs, so that's my plan for it.
I do still need to figure out roosts and nest boxes for inside. Grandma offered some of her old nest boxes that are up in the coop on her farm, and I might look at that later, but they are big metal things that come in 10 boxes per single unit that are still affixed to the beams in her chicken house, so not only can I not easily remove them by myself, nor would I have an easy time getting one into my little kia soul, they are also much larger than what I currently need. I'm thinking to start with I'll try to keep 1 rooster and 4-6 hens and go from there as I figure things out, so I most certainly won't need 10 boxes in the near future. As far as my online reading has dug up, they share boxes easy so you don't need one per hen, so I should be able to start with 2-3 nest boxes and go from there. I'll need to either buy some or see if I can't use some of the scrap material (that was originally in the building and is now sitting in a heap outside the building till I get it moved elsewhere) to build some. Same with perches, I guess, I have't figured out exactly what the best way to go about equipping the space with some of those would be.
Similarly, I'd like some recommendations for bedding and nesting material- preferable what works well and is cost effective that ISN'T straw or hay- I have hay fever, and while it's controlled enough I can deal with the material when I must, It's uncomfortable enough I'd prefer not to any more than absolutely necessary.
As far as the chickens themselves, I think I've decided on Orpingtons. As far as I can tell from internet research, they check all of my boxes -good for both eggs and meat, -hens will tend to fertile eggs and chicks, -good temperament, -bred in many pretty colors so working with them as stock for multiple generations of birds will be more fun.
Though as important as I tag that last point, for starters I'm going to get the common buff orpingtons to start for the following reasons: -Cheaper, as I'm still figuring out what I'm doing and things could go wrong, -I believe I recall reading somewhere that due to how they breed them into other colors, some important traits, especially temperament, are not as certain in the other varieties, and while working with living creatures is never truly predictable and there will always be issues able to crop up, I prefer starting with the somewhat easier to predict in the beginning, to try to minimize issues.
And if anyone would not recommend this breed or believes the internet lied to me, by all means, correct me before it's too late ^.^
So that's pretty much where my project stands. Lot's of learning as I'm going and praying I know what I'm doing, but so far I'm excited about moving forward on such plans. :3
. roosts are easy, 2x4 wide side up at a variety of heights, they will pick the ones they like and change when they want. Never use chicken wire to keep a predator out, it's only good for keeping chickens in. Lots of ventilation, NO direct drafts on the chickens, especially in winter. I have 1 nest box for 5 chickens, it works for them.
