raising chickens - how to begin?

[Russ]

To the veterans of raising chickens... I need your help.

My DW has decided she wants to raise chickens. Well I get the pleasure of building a coop and of course my wife never does ANYTHING small scale!:gaah:

So, until I get a shed or coop built, she wants to get her chickens and needs someplace to keep the foul fowl.
What I have..
I have barn space available, but it is a concrete floor and obviously no heat.
We have an attached garage and plenty of room in there but again, concrete floor.
I could put together some kind of pen in either place.

So tell me what I need, space wise, heat, flooring etc, to get her started.
Thanks!

[Sundae]

When will you build this coop? The chickens grow fast, unless you have bantams then you will have a little more time. Are they for eating. eggs or like me I have them to look at a theaphy. Heat lamps work great for the heat, wood shavings will be fine on the cement, and away to keep them from predators (caging). In the garage there will be alot of dust (from the chickens), but you will only need sides and in the barn probaly something inclosed so nothing will get to them. When we get them I have an old hog feeder I took apart and use the rings on those and put a piece of plywood over it with 2 heat lamps in it. Have fun!!

[Russ]

Thanks Sandy.
I guess I can build something temporary until I get the perm one built. Assuming half a dozen chickens for now .
She wants the chickens for eggs mainly.

Can you define "fast" regarding growth rate?

[ladytoysdream]

There is a lot of information online to build coops etc.

Can you have roosters where you are ?
If not, buy pullets. Not a straight run or you might get real surprised.

You need to keep the chickens in a safe secure place.
Our shed was unheated this winter and the chickens did just fine. The building has to have a way to vent. We have 2 windows that can be opened. Don't build too small. You will be probably be adding on. Ours is 8 by 8 by 8. Should have been 8 by 12 ft wide by 8 ft high to meet my current plans. Will probably be building a second coop , maybe. Later this summer.

A good SECURE yard /run for them to exercise / play in.
I don't recomment anything 4 ft high or under...chickens snicker at that and fly over. Plan this week is for us to buy 6 ft high wire at the TSC store.
See my thread in the homesteading forum about raising chickens. We started out on a fluke. Was not planned last spring. Current head count is 18 birds.

I now have 1 hen sitting on 7 eggs due to hatch today.
Son has a incubator running with 33 eggs (3/13)for me, and I bought one this past week and have 41 eggs in mine ( 3/25). Eggs take 21 days to hatch.
I have at least 4 requests so far for chicks, and 2 for next spring already. Again, not planned...BUT here we are. Growing already. Plan is not to have more than 25 birds for the winter.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com
http://www.backyardchickens.com
http://mypetchicken.com

[Russ]

I seen your thread but did not want to highjack it. I was hoping you would chime in.

Small is not in my wifes vocabulary. Example: we received a small inheritance years ago and I suggested we have a few larger spruces planted. We wound up with 50 medium trees and WE planted them.

Anyway...
It's funny, she wants the chickens but I'm doing the work.
I love my wife, I love my wife, I love my wife.

I can build something fairly quickly inside the barn so that is probably what I'll do. How much heat do I need? Heat lamp wise, one or two?
Will they need more light than the heat lamps provide?

[Pemberleyan]

I'd recommend checking out BackYardChickens - Raise Chickens, Build a Chicken Coop, Hatch Eggs. There is an incredible amount of information there, from predator-proofing to breed info, etc. I think the most commonly made mistake is usually building a coop and run with little thought about the strength and perseverance of predators. Chicken wire only keeps chickens in and very little out. Snakes wouldn't even have to slow down to get through it. Hardware cloth (heavy wire with small openings) is a better choice and wire should be buried in the ground, etc. I think in hindsight most people would rather have gone to the trouble and expense of building properly than to find an upsetting scene with a few feathers left from their chickens.

I hope you have great success with your chickens!

[Russ]

SNAKES???????? AWW CRAP! Now I KNOW I'm not having NOTHING to do with these birds.

[Russ]

Can I get chicks at any time or spring only?

[ladytoysdream]

I guess you are going with chicks.
One heat lamp is good for maybe up to 12 chicks.
Make it so you can adjust it higher or lower.
WATER ...always make sure they have water.
Feed....have a good container to store it in to keep it dry.
You will probably get a few mice checking things out. Have a plan for them
I would go with one breed. I like the dual purpose ones. Which is why I ended up with the buff orpingtons. Excellent layers of large brown eggs. One rooster can take care of 8 to 12 hens approximately. Good to have a rooster. But make sure he is a calm one. If mean....get rid of him, and try again. Do NOT tolerate a mean rooster.

My hubby does most of the work. I could not do it without him. BUT...he will tell you that he enjoys the chickens. He likes them when they are being good. He enjoys Bert. He will clean the coop often. He did some cussing yesterday when the birds wandered again.
Chickens grow on you. Our's have neat personalities, and quite a few have names. I can't tell all the orpingtons apart or they would all have names too.
Our's get treats. They love quite a few veggies. Bread, etc.

I keep telling the hubby they will be good for him in retirement. He has 4 more years to go yet if he goes out early.

Get your equipment at the same time you pick up chicks or do it ahead of time. Once you get the little ones home....you are committed. In more ways, than one

Most chick sales are in the spring at the tractor supply places . I plan on several hatches over the spring / summer. You may need to find a local person hatching out near you, if you don't get the store chicks.

[ladytoysdream]

When I look at wire for cages / pen / housing....I try to get the small stuff so the varmits don't get in.
Mice, rats, snakes, possums, raccoons, fox, etc.

For example, only thing that can get into the maternity cage right now would be a mouse. And or maybe a small snake. We don't have snakes out back where the chickens are...and or, I have not seen any out there.
I know we have coyotes that were about 20 ft from the building. Saw their tracks in the snow this winter.
And I did catch the one possum in the hen house late this winter. The chickens were screaming loudly when that happened.

Oh, and hawks. You might want a covered run.
Let me tell you, when the hawk was chasing Bert last summer....I did not know a rooster could run that fast or leap tall buildings in a single bound....

[Russ]

We have a LOT of hawks and owls in the area.
Dang... two things that really bug the crap out of me.. SNAKES and MICE.

[ladytoysdream]

Number of chickens....
I think 25 would be a easier number than 50.
If you have all hens, then it is possilbe to have 2 dozen eggs a day with 25 pullets. Are you planning on selling eggs ?
I get about a dozen a day. I have gave a lot away.
I have sold some. And now I am incubating.
It is scary to me to see over 8 dozen eggs in the frig at one time. And it happens often.
Price of chicken food is not cheap. Plus these get treats too.

I have 16 pullets, 2 roosters currently, and would like maybe 6 to 8 more pullets. That will be PLENTY

[ladytoysdream]

Or you can skip the chicks and buy POL started hens.
POL = point of lay. Ready to start laying. Up to a year
is okay. Close to 2 yrs old would be iffy. Some chickens
just keep on laying.
A lot of chickens will go through a molt and lose feathers.
They stop laying. Ours have not done that yet.

Age varies when they will lay their first eggs. Some can be close to 7 months old when they start.

Our coop cost us $ 450. We did price matching to get the best deal we could on the new lumber. The regular door was used, and the 2 windows came from a garage sale for $ 5 for the pair.
I bought the floor sealer at a garage sale cheap. Paint came from a TSC store. It's hard to build a coop for very little money.

[Natalie's Nesters]

I started 2 yrs. ago with 15 Rhode Island reds, tough little suckers! Good idea with the barn, chickens are very dusty. I order from a hatchery in Cincinnati, had great luck with them. In the summer, I use hay as bedding and wood shavings in the winter. This is great for the garden..be warned, chicken poo is very hot! I suggest Back Yard Chickens as well, great info! I used a 100 watt light bulb for 20 chicks, worked well, just keep them dry. I have 35 chickens, by selling eggs, they pay for their feed. Love the fresh eggs! Any more questions, please let me know. Good luck!

[Trentt]

If I were building a coop, I'd have enclosed runs on three sides, with the fourth as the entrance for you, the caretaker. Rotate the runs. Chickens will devastate a jungly area in a few weeks and leave it looking like barren, hard earth.

Bury the fencing at least six inches into the ground. Not only do some predators dig to get at the chickens, the chickens will also dig tunnels to squeeze through and get out (grass is always greener ... chickens can be stupid and crafty at the same time).

Give them roosting areas ... they look for high perches at night.

We always put curtains (of scrap oilcloth or plastic or something) in front of the nests. The hens seemed to prefer a dark, sheltered area for laying.

In addition to grain and mash, they'll need grit for their gizzards and a calcium source (like chipped oyster shells, if those are still available) to form the eggshells. For a time we returned used eggshells to the coop, but we found that prompted a taste for their own eggs so we went back to oyster shells.

Chickens are voracious eaters and will devour almost anything. We occasionally found would-be predators that became victims of their prey - nothing left but hide and bones, all meat and organs gone. The worst predators we ever faced were farm dogs from neighbors. True to the canine instinct, they could wipe out 90% of a flock, killing indiscriminately and relentlessly (left to their own devices, they'd of course bury the excess carcasses for later enjoyment, as foxes do).

Back when I lived on the farm, we'd buy chicks every Spring and they'd spend the first week or so indoors, in ventilated boxes. We fed them rolled oats, lining the boxes with fresh newspaper at every feeding, teaching each chick how to drink, letting them eat and drink as we cleaned the individual boxes, then packing them all back up and stacking the boxes in a corner of the dining room.

Oh, chickens also need a protein source, so consider that as you determine your feeding strategy. Without it, they will turn to cannibalism. If they get to free-range or have spacious runs, they'll find their own bugs and worms (and small mammals) to eat, but in the winter they'll be deprived.

As for the roosters, we kept them separate (they were butchered over time), but when we wanted fertilized eggs we'd choose one or two for the hen lottery. Within a week or two, even the orneriest rooster would become a docile, henpecked husband.