Chickens

[Gordon Eyre]

My son has just bought a nearly new home that is out in the country and has a large yard. His wife wants a few chickens and they would like me to build something to house and care for them. Even though I was raised on a farm we never raised chickens so I am looking for some help with what minimal things I might build to help them out? Any suggestions would be appreciated or referral to a site where I might obtain information. I think they are talking about 6 to 10 chickens.

[tim morris]

www.backyardchickens.com everything you ever wanted to know about chickens and then some!

[Robert McGowen]

Google "chicken tractors" and you will get a lot of plans and ideas. 6-10 chickens would require a fairly large tractor. If that is just a number that they picked out, they might want to start out with 4, which should net them about 8 eggs every 3 days. 4 chickens is a hobby, 10 is a chore. I have 23 in my backyard right now! LOL

[Greg Peterson]

I helped a friend dismantle a chicken coop this past weekend. The design was as elegant as its construction was thoughtful and efficient. I get to reassemble in a few weeks. Hope I remember how all the pieces go back together.

Details that impressed me were:

Cage was completely wrapped in a single piece of bird screen, wire mesh. The material went eight inches below grade, uninterrupted.

Full size swinging screen door.

Hen house is raised about 40 inches above grade. Hens access this house via a ramp that runs into a hole in the floor. Think of it as a loft if you will. At the far side of the loft space is a couple of nesting boxes. Back side of the nesting boxes is a nice little door for the egg pickers convenience. The hen house has a cedar siding exterior with 3/8" plywood inside the box. Walls have a thin slice of polystyrene insulation.

All in all it makes the chore of having hens about as convenient and easy as it can get. Sure, a cobbled together contraption with work just as well. Chickens are unlikely to stage any kind of protest. But it you want in near the house, and you're going to be using it every day, I see no reason to not make it a structure that conforms to some standard of form as well as function.

[Jim Koepke]

It needs to be secure or the chickens just end up being dinner for the local predators.

In our area some of the sellers of baby chickens will not sell less than 6 at a time. Chances are one of them might end up being a rooster.

They can be a problem.

Most chicks are hatched in incubators and do not sit on eggs for hatching like chicks from the hen.

jtk

[Ryan Mooney]

Chances are one of them might end up being a rooster.

They can be a problem.

Or dinner... definitely dinner. Don't wait until they get to old or they get pretty tough, although then they make decent coq a vin or chicken adobo. Also works for old broody hens that stop laying to (that is don't get to attached to your chickens, they'll die or you'll do them in yourself eventually).

6-10 chickens doesn't take all that large of a tractor, we had 25 meat chickens in a 4.5' x 20' tractor but had to move it twice a day to get the best usage of the weed eating (there was a ~4.5x4.5' roosting box at one end and a chicken wire run over the rest). The roosting box had a door that was closed up at night to deter critters. For years afterwards you could see the track of the chicken tractor because the grass grew about 10x better there. For hens you'll need nesting boxes as well which are ~12x12x12 boxes enclosed on the top/sides/back with a lip on the front (and put a bit of straw in there for them to nest it). Make sure that the boxes are easy to get to (you can make the backs open if the coop is small).

Also consider how to clean the darn thing out. Chickens produce an astounding amount of poo. We made the box on the tractor with removable slats so you could pull them and scrape them off. The bottom of the run was of course just open to the ground so the poop lay where it was and move on. For a fixed coop the problem can become somewhat more acute. I've seen some designs where you can pull out the bottom on skids or similar.. but easy to clean .. important.

For starting the chicks get some smaller waterers and feeders otherwise they'll be full of poop. Make a smaller (say 4x4) box (we use a rubber tub from the feed store) and get a heat lamp. They can stay in that until they get ~6 weeks old or maybe a bit more. If the chickens are all huddled under the center of the lamp its to cold (lower the lamp), if they're spread out around the very outside edges its to hot (raise the lamp). You'll probably need to clip their wings to keep the little buggers in there unless you put a screened top on it.

[Greg Peterson]

Well Jim, the question begs to be asked, what does one with a chick that turns out to be male? Grow big enough to make soup? Return to seller?

[Bruce Volden]

I love my chickens, they own the farm (13 acres), free range and mostly fend for them selves. I try to water them but for the most part they find low spots or, eat snow in the winter. They are fun to observe. They will eat ANYTHING. I have seen them chasing around because one of them caught a mouse or small snake or baby bird!!!! Often they come into the garage to re-fill on styrofoam from the insulated doors! They dominate over the cats, pecking them in the head if they want the first shot at table scraps.
I have had these beasts for 3 years now and have come to understand the term "Pecking Order".

Bruce

[Andrew Pitonyak]

It needs to be secure or the chickens just end up being dinner for the local predators.

You can go years without any signs of trouble and then your chickens become a tasty snack for some raccoon or fox. So, be sure to consider how to keep adept persistent predators out. In general, when we were hit, it would start with one chicken; in other words, the predator did not come in and eat a bunch.... but they did come back.

[Kevin Godshall]

IMO, you need to discern the "specifics" of the chicken raising: Free range or confined? Layers or Meat birds?

Our first flock was 100% free range, and all they needed were some nesting boxes and a roost for the night. A neighbor does "pure free range" and her chickens sleep anywhere, lay eggs anywhere.......... not for me. Hawks, possums, coons, foxes, neighbor's dogs, tom cats......

Our 2nd batch was a "confined free range", i.e. chicken tractor. It meant moving it around the yard about every other day. (Nice grass!). Was OK for me, but too much for kids and wife.

New batch is 100% confined- they have a large wired run, with a coop attached. Lots more to build and design, but minimal effort to maintain them now in any weather.

Best.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I agree with Kevin. Decide what you plan to do with the chickens - confined or free range. Chickens are a blast to have and so much fun to watch. It's actually quite relaxing.

A neighbor and I built a cute little children's playhouse as the chicken coop. We used tongue and groove siding and even had a little porch on it for the chickens to hang out when it rained. The only negative is we should have built it taller. I had to lean over when inside it to shovel out the old sawdust and clean it out.

Another fantastic resource is your local fair and the children's 4-H club. Another neighbor's daughter was a member of the 4-H club chicken group and we all learned so much about chicken care via these kids!

Contrary to what most of us think, chickens are not as social as they seem. They can single out another chicken that looks different and pick on it. While it's fun to have a variety of different breeds of chickens, if one of them looks too different or is quite a bit smaller then other others, the other chickens will hurt it. Also, you can have multiple roosters live together. We've had as many as 3 roosters living together for 5+ years and the key was giving them enough space to have their own areas they could go to and selecting more docile breeds.

As far as what to do with roosters or hens you don't want. Once you have chickens, it's amazing how often people will ask if you want more chickens or know of people looking for some. If all else fails, an add placed in the local paper for free chickens will certainly gain attention. Just don't ask too many questions if you really don't want to learn the person that came to pick it up plans to eat it.

[Kevin Bourque]

I live on a farm and I can tell you first hand that chickens really stink! Have they considered pygmy goats? Not for food, but they make great pets. Plus they eat vines, weeds, etc.

[Kevin Godshall]

I live on a farm and I can tell you first hand that chickens really stink!

I've gone to the deep litter method inside the coop, mixing in good amounts of sawdust, and we have very little smell. Once a bit of ammonia smell is detected, it reminds me that I haven't added sawdust as I should have. In the spring, I have a ton of already composted, ready to use in the garden, nitrogen rich, additive. The birds keep themselves dusted and clean, and we get quite a few comments on "Wow, I always thought they were dirty, stinky birds."

What to do with a rooster? Well, after listening to one of my "guaranteed" hens crowing every morning at 4:30, we decided to eat that one. The job was easier than anticipated (I assumed the plucking would take forever.....), and we enjoyed our meal. Get past the "pet" stage and view them as food sources (eggs and meat) and it's a rewarding experience.

Just my 2 cents.

BTW: Our coop has 3 nest boxes for 6 birds and they only use one of them.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

We do the deep litter method too. I didn't know what it was at the time. It was one of those things where I dumped too much sawdust out of the bale and later on discovered how much cleaner it was. We learned about the deep litter method years later via the 4-H club and most of the kids used that method too.

Another thing that worked out great for us at our old house was setting up a trade system with the neighbors. Several of our neighbors would trade their food & vegetable scraps for eggs as well as saved their egg cartons for us. We could easily collect a dozen eggs a day, so this worked out great for us and we received plenty of free food for the chickens in trade.

Roosters can be great fun. We had one that was nicknamed "Lester the M....." due to his amorous nature. He would perch on top of the coop like a weather vane and crow each time he saw someone walking by. Who needs a dog when you have Lester keeping watch? He lived to a ripe old age of 9. Next up came a little guy who struggled to be the loudest rooster. After each time he crowed, there was an audible and very comical grunt/sigh to show how much effort he put into crowing loud. You could hear him grunt all the way across the pasture. It was hilarious.

[Kevin Godshall]

Gordon, a few other things for consideration (lessons learned the hard way):

When building the nest boxes (you can find dimensions online with a simple search (Backyard Chickens has a great site)), the openings will seem too small, but this is correct. I currently have Light Brahma's (relatively large birds) and they fit into the apparently "too small" openings just fine. In fact, they seem to like it tight and cozy. I used this site and these dimensions on my boxes: http://www.byexample.net/homestead/b...ing_boxes.html

Dimensions of Chicken Nesting Boxes

After observing our chickens we would agree that the new dimensions of the nesting boxes seem to suit our small flock. We have a dozen chickens total and two breeds: Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds.
After subdividing the 2 large communal nesting boxes into 6 smaller nesting boxes the approximate dimensions of each nesting box are:
Width: 12"
Depth: 12"
Height: 9"
The entrance to each of the nests is smaller still:
Width: 9"
Height: 6"
The smaller entrances serve several functions. We have found that we need about 2" of straw in the bottom of each nest to keep the eggs from being accidentally cracked when they are laid. The smaller entrances help to hold the straw in the nest and keep the eggs safe. They also give the nest boxes a dim, cave-like feel. Our chickens do seem to prefer the small, dark and cozy nest boxes. Since they are several feet above floor level, we also provided a perch in front of the nest box entrances to create easy access for our chickens.
When building nest boxes it makes a lot of sense to size the boxes to the birds that will be using them. We chose the nesting box dimensions above to prevent the birds from standing in the nests. In our experience standing in the nest encourages several undesirable behaviors: egg eating, scratching straw onto the floor and fouling the nests. The shorter nest boxes prevent these behaviors and reduce dirty, cracked and pecked eggs.

I built my nest box so it is accessible from the back (hinged door) so that I don't have to physically go into the coop every time I want to harvest eggs. Even if a hen is sitting (in the act or just thinking she's brooding), I can sneak a hand under her and get the treasure (and sometimes a peck too, if I'm not quick enough).

Also, smart chickens (unlike my current batch) will roost at night on the highest point they can get to. When I first built my coop (Leghorns and Golden Comets), my nest box perches were about 6 inches higher then the roost I had built (2x4s on edge are awesome for this). They perched all night there, and defecated all night there, and made a huge mess. Once I discovered my error, I moved the roosts up higher and just like clockwork, they moved to the roosts.

Current batch of Brahma's.......... not so smart. Some nights on the floor. Some nights on the roosts. Pretty much confirms that God put chickens on this earth as food for the rest of the food chain.

Last thing: Free range birds are great for removing ticks from the area they roam in. They eat a ton of bugs...... but they will also tear up your garden, your yard, your sandbox......... DAMHIK. (Also a reason mine are now confined).

Best.