Raising Chickens

[Homercidal]

So, a friend upstate bought some land and his wife wants to raise some chickens for the usual obvious reasons. He is not willing to put time and effort into it, so she was politely curious about getting my help with building a coop.

Any thoughts or advice on what to build and how to set it up? I have not found out how many she plans to keep or anything. They are out away from town, so the sky's the limit. They are a family of 4 so I imagine a few birds would do them well.

I asked her about building a coop on the inside of the pole barn, and cutting an access door to the outside for free ranging, but she was pretty sure he would not go for that.

 

[Vetter]

I have 13 chickens, and a Guinea hen. I built a coop last year about this time, raised the birds from chicks, and all my birds lasted this past winter with no artificial heat, and they are all doing fine.
I ended up getting one of those plastic sheds at Menards, building a platform off the ground about 2 feet, and placing it on the platform. I think it is very important to keep their coop off the ground, so rodents can't nest under it, and bother them at night. Initially I bought the plastic shed just because I didn't have time to build one, but it really has turned out to be a good option. The floor is plastic so it doesn't rot or hold in moisture, and the plastic walls seemed to insulate good in the winter. I use the big door for cleaning and access, and cut a small hole in the side so the chickens can get in and out. Also put a few 2x4's inside between the walls long sides up, so the chickens have roosts at night.
Pretty much anything goes, just make everything is ease of access for cleaning, and feeding. But I think the most important thing, is building a raised coop.

 

[Subsailor]

I used an old shed and I kept 2 lizard warming rocks and a 60 watt bulb in there for winter, raised on cinder blocks, in my backyard here. I also built a PVC Chicken Tractor and moved them around my yard for better foraging. It kept them safer from Foxes, Ermine, Stray Dogs/Cats and Eagles. It didn't stop the Bear a couple years ago. I altreranted raising chickens, ring necked pheasant and bobwhite quail in there until the bear. Haven't used it since but I am starting over once I get moved to Arizona.

PVC Chicken Tractor:
1" Sched 80 PVC Pipe
1" 'T' and Corner fittings
Chicken wire
and a tarp for over and around one end so they can have shade and protection from wind and rain.

All kinds of plans with all kinds of materials, on the internet.

 

[Homercidal]

Sounds like there isn't any best plans for the coop. I'm not sure this is a serious project at this point, but it would help to know some facts beforehand. Good point about the varmints. When friends of mine had an old small barn converted into a coop, they had some possum living under it for a short time. A very short time... I set a leg trap and his dad shot it when it was struggling to get out. I think they only lost one or two birds at that point. They had a lot of outbuildings and it was sometimes up to us boys to locate where the rogue hen was nesting and laying eggs. Sneaky buggers!

 

[barnaclebob]

One of the main concerns would be to make it easy to maintain in the winter if its going to be cold, dark, and snowing or raining. Locating it close to the house is a good start so you don't have to hike 150yds to pick up eggs every day. The biggest obstacle is preventing water from freezing which means providing electricity to the coop for a water heater or bringing them unfrozen water often. Keeping moisture off of anywhere they poop a lot is another help to prevent bad smells.

I went with a Wichita style coop and like it very much for my 5 chickens.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

+ 1 on ease of cleaning. We used an elevated shed about 10'x10' and not set up with ease of cleaning in mind and it was an issue.

That and defense from predators (including from air) ... the fenced in area adjacent to our coop was 10x30 and as a "roof" used the same cyclone fencing like the walls of the enclosure with a layer of chicken wire on top of it.

I think a mobile chicken coop or a "Chicken Tractor" (wiki and then Google Image that one) is a pretty cool idea.

Here's a mobile coop built on a trailer as the foundation ... check out the second photo of the one on wheels here ...
http://www.pallensmith.com/blog/farm/clever-chicken-coops

A lot of great ideas on youtube and google images. Also "chicken coop interior" on google images.

Here's a link to an interesting article from a prepper ... some good links in the article too.
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=190204

Really, after looking at Google Images for "chicken tractor" ... for your friend's purposes that might be the best for her.

 

[alane1]

I converted an old horse stable, I put in a roost and nest boxes. All chickens really need is to be out of the elements, doesn't need to be anything fancy.

 

[Homercidal]

They have a nice pole barn. I can imagine it might make sense to locate it near that, simply because it could supply necessary winter electricity and would be close to where they already plow/shovel snow. Great tip!

They have plenty of space for free ranging, but some kind of enclosure for safe outdoor ranging might be a good thing to provide. We have several common threats from the ground and the air.

I'm excited for them, although I have no idea when I will have an opportunity to get up there and help set it up. My fear is that my friend will hate me for getting him into this, even if I help get a coop built, there will likely be plenty for her to tell him to do, and I really doubt the kids will be up for feeding/watering/cleaning up.

I found out from a former city manager that my city has statutes AGAINST chickens in the city limits. I see this as outdated thinking. Most any of the concerns can be eliminated by limiting the number of grown chickens, and by not allowing roosters. Even the smell can be controlled if the people are willing to actually do the work. Of course that would mean the city would have to expect them to do it, and punish them for not complying, and I think the city would rather just ban the whole thing and not worry about it.

I actually have enough lot to support a few birds, but I don't see myself dealing with the city and spending time and energy on their care at this time. If I didn't have so many other hobbies!

 

[RoughandReadyRanch]

I raise chickens for meat commercially as well as a layer flock and a few ducks for fun. I can't remember the exact spacing off hand but it is all over backyardchicken.com. Something like 3sq ft per bird for layers in confinement. I free range constantly and have a decent size ranch. My suggestions would be: Make sure it has easy access to allow for cleaning. Ventilation is a must but you need to make sure drafts are not a problem. Depending on the breed snow is not really problem but a icy draft or being wet and a draft will kill your flock quick. Always put roosting polls higher then the nesting boxes. Try to build or use a space that you can hang everything (waters (paulson bell hooked to a hose or nipple drinkers make life so much easier), feeders (mice love to steal food and live under them if they are not up). If they start from scratch and have a Mantis tiller or small rototiller or if they just want to put in a bit of work each year, I would choose a spot that is on dirt. Apply shavings and then about 2-3 times a year you turn it over and toss some fresh shavings and you will have a nice little compost effect that actually acts as a warming floor in the winter months. Last thing I would suggest is that if they wanted a rooster, make sure you have at least 8 hens as my roo's have always gotten a bit rough on less than that. Best rooster I have ever had was an Americana. Good with the kids and the wife. Had to put a few down over the years for attacking family members and now I will keep no other breed of rooster. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[estricklin]

My favorite breed in the past has been New Hampshire Reds.

With a pole barn you can build a structure connecting to it on the side, easiest way to go.

 

[Bigcorona]

I am in the process of building a coop now. Need to have it completed in about 3 weeks. My first time raising chickens. This will be for eggs.

 

[Kirkwooder]

The first thing you/she should do is pick up a copy of Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603424695/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Read it from cover to cover! Then when you start to plan the coupe build, double the size that is recommended for the number of birds you plan to keep in it. More space is always better that just enough. Your coupe must not be built air tight, or even close. Keeping a good roof and breaking the wind should be the main focus. Chicken manure contains a lot of moisture that will need to be vented or it will condense and drip, and will cause your birds all kind of health problems, including increased frost bite. If cold is a concern, choose a breed that is cold hardy (wyandotte's are great!), and they can handle -20 temps without any added heat.

If you have the space and plan to free range, choose a breed that forages well and is very wary. Like leghorns, anconas, hamburgs, etc. Choose a dark, or mottled breed over a white or buff, they blend in better.

If you can keep the litter dry, it will accept a great deal of manure and not create much odor if any. With this in mind, build large overhangs and a place specially built for your water's, to drain any spillage.

I clean and rebed my hen house only twice a year. The manure "pack" makes heat all winter if it is kept deep enough, and as mentioned earlier, if it is dry, it will not stink. When you do clean the coupe only remove half the material. Spread the remaining manure/bedding over the cleaned area. An established manure pack will contain bacteria and parasites that will help keep the flies under control. If you remove all the pack at once, you remove these helpful microorganisms.

If you are planning on 10 or more layers, build your coupe tall enough to stand in. It may cost more but is way easier to clean than one you need to be bent over in.

I hope this helps. By the way, I've kept as many as 75 layers, and with a properly designed coupe, I only needed about 15 minutes, twice a day, to do the "chores" . They really are incredibly easy to keep.

 

[alane1]

Are those Buff Orpingtons?

 

[Jamming]

Just remember that even dumb chickens will produce better if happy. Heat in the winter is always better for egg production. No heat no eggs or less eggs.

 

[Bigcorona]

Are those Buff Orpingtons?

The ones in the picture are.

At the moment I have the following chicks:
4 Buff Orpingtons
5 New Hampshire
2 Americunas
2 Barred Rocks
1 Production Red

I think the coop will be good for 12.
Am expecting not all I have are pullets, so should be able to get down to that number by the time they are grown.

 

[ColoHox]

I have had chickens for a few years now. After some trial and error, I discovered a few things:
1. Raccoons, skunks, and eagles can get through chicken wire, no problem. You must use hardware cloth in any area that the chickens will be unsupervised or left to fend on their own.
2. An outdoor coop must be wrapped 360 degrees in cloth/wire, as those pesky varmints can really dig.
3. The chickens need a large area to range and a small area to roost/lay/stay warm.
4. Straw bedding protects the eggs and is easier to clean than pine shavings, although you probably won't be dealing with that aspect.

They are actually really easy to take care of...and delicious.

 

[Homercidal]

Good stuff. I downloaded a few chicken ebooks to start with and forwarded to her.

I am not allowed to keep hens in my town, and I'm not interested in creating a problem for the board over their ignorance.

My friend's wife is likely capable of helping put the coop together, although I'm not sure if she has a handle on the cost or building time. I see the coop construction as being a few days with both of us working on it. That's including putting up the fencing and screen.

Of course that depends on the design, but on the short end it will be a full weekend for just about anything big enough for 4-5 full grown chickens and room to run in the run.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Colohax pretty much covered it, but my friends in the next county had to build CHICKEN MAX....a huge caged in yard for the chickens to forage in....connected to the hutch.

it is all for naught if the chickens get eaten by something....(other than you)

 

[DrunkleJon]

Also, secondhand information and all as I have never raised chickens, but my cousin has been doing it for a little while now and aside from the bears and other threats, know that chickens are dumb jerks and will henpeck to death the weakest chickens if they do not like them. It may be a good idea to have a secondary location to quarantine any injured birds so they can heal up.

I watched a chicken lay an egg then peck a hole in it and eat it the other day. They really are strange animals.

 

[KindofBlues71]

Don't forget that you can feed them spent grain! Raising chickens seems to go hand-in-hand with being a homebrewer!

We've been thrown into keeping chickens recently. SWMBO decided we were getting the kids their own chickens (as if two dogs, a cat, a bunny and a fish pond wasn't enough to take care of) for Easter - a Rhode Island Red and a Barred Rock.

I don't have the skills (or tools) to build a coop of my own design so we got a Trixie coop (brand name) from Amazon. I bought the Storey book and have been reading it, trying to catch up. The BackyardChickens.com site has been helpful, as has the info in this thread (thanks!).

My neighbor had 3 hens but lost one to a hawk because he lets them free range in his un-fenced yard and doesn't watch them. We've made it very clear that the kids can't let the hens out of the coop unless we're in the yard with them. We have hawks, eagles, coyotes and skunk to watch out for.

Our town only has a law against having 5 or more chickens on less than an acre. I have 2 chickens on 1/3 of an acre, and don't plan on having more than that.

Good luck to the OP (and his friends)!

 

[Jacob_Marley]

Don't forget that you can feed them spent grain! Raising chickens seems to go hand-in-hand with being a homebrewer ...

A good high protein feed from I've read. I guess the FDA reversed itself a couple weeks ago regarding adding additional regulation on the transfer of spent grain to farmers to be used as a feed source.
I wonder if cattle or chickens etc fed a diet with significant spent grain have a perceptible flavor difference like free-range or grass fed animals do.
btw I hear seagulls taste like french fries.

 

[ColoHox]

You can't feed them only spent grain. It is fine for scratch...which they need a lot of, and eat quite a bit of, but you you will need chicken feed as well.

 

[Yellowirenut]

I have a few for eggs..

BTW raising chickens for eggs and raising them for meat/roasters are two different messes..

 

[Yellowirenut]

Remember chicken wire is to keep chickens IN not predators OUT.

 

[Kirkwooder]

Poultry netting keeps birds in and a 12 gauge keeps everything else out!

 

[estricklin]

Also, secondhand information and all as I have never raised chickens, but my cousin has been doing it for a little while now and aside from the bears and other threats, know that chickens are dumb jerks and will henpeck to death the weakest chickens if they do not like them. It may be a good idea to have a secondary location to quarantine any injured birds so they can heal up.

I watched a chicken lay an egg then peck a hole in it and eat it the other day. They really are strange animals.

Pecking holes in eggs after laying them is generally thought of us a calcium deficiency, a little oyster shell can fix that problem most of the time.

They can be very strange at times, I've seen a hen start acting like a rooster when no rooster was around for several weeks at a time.

 

[Kirkwooder]

Pecking holes in eggs after laying them is generally thought of us a calcium deficiency, a little oyster shell can fix that problem most of the time.

They can be very strange at times, I've seen a hen start acting like a rooster when no rooster was around for several weeks at a time.

Over crowding and poorly designed nest boxes also cause this. Make sure that the nests are very dark, but the rest of the coupe is well lit. Natural light is also key to the laying schedule. The average hen will lay an egg every 25 hours, but will not lay in the dark. So, if her lay time comes after sunset, she will skip that day. She will also lay very poorly in dark hen houses, and peck at eggs that are well lit. A good hen house has to take all this into account.

 

[Bigcorona]

Update on the coop. Mostly finished the nest boxes (4), and the back door that will be used for cleaning.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Pecking holes in eggs after laying them is generally thought of us a calcium deficiency, a little oyster shell can fix that problem most of the time.

They can be very strange at times, I've seen a hen start acting like a rooster when no rooster was around for several weeks at a time.

It was probably calcium deficiency. The chicken in question was one of those scrawney feral types that run around the VI. Just layed on the side of the road and ate it as lunch.

 

[Homercidal]

I have a few for eggs..

BTW raising chickens for eggs and raising them for meat/roasters are two different messes..

Nice chickens, but there is no way I could have a coop that resembled a face as much as that one does!

 

[Jacob_Marley]

In my earlier post I mentioned using a “chicken tractor” (Images of Chicken Tractors) ... a mobile chicken coop you can drag to new areas of ground periodically.

Has anyone here ever used one (or known someone else who used one)? ... if so, did it work well ... Positives? Negatives?
It seems like such a convenient idea.

 

[Subsailor]

In my earlier post I mentioned using a “chicken tractor” (Images of Chicken Tractors) ... a mobile chicken coop you can drag to new areas of ground periodically.

Has anyone here ever used one (or known someone else who used one)? ... if so, did it work well ... Positives? Negatives?
It seems like such a convenient idea.

This is very similar to my old one, I raised chickens, pheasant and bob white quail in it (not at the same time, different birds, different years). I moved it all over my yard and the birds did very well. My yard benefited as well. Mine was a drag around the yard type - no wheels, but being PVC it was pretty light.

 

[Kirkwooder]

In my earlier post I mentioned using a “chicken tractor” (Images of Chicken Tractors) ... a mobile chicken coop you can drag to new areas of ground periodically.

Has anyone here ever used one (or known someone else who used one)? ... if so, did it work well ... Positives? Negatives?
It seems like such a convenient idea.

I use them all the time. I brood all my replacement hens, meat birds and everything in them. I use them for my meat birds from start to butcher. I love them. They make manure management nearly non existent, and the birds are protected and have fresh grass to feed on constantly. That cuts down on the cost of feed.

 

[RoughandReadyRanch]

In my earlier post I mentioned using a “chicken tractor” (Images of Chicken Tractors) ... a mobile chicken coop you can drag to new areas of ground periodically.

Has anyone here ever used one (or known someone else who used one)? ... if so, did it work well ... Positives? Negatives?
It seems like such a convenient idea.

Got a set of birds in one right now. Like others posted, they are pretty handy. Just make sure you know you predator risks. Stubborn coyote dug under my friends tractor and tore apart half his meaties in one sitting. eating only the prime parts of its choosing. Just google Salatine or Poultry Profits to see the tractors in action by the master himself.

 

[Homercidal]

I think the tractors are pretty cool, but I don't think my friend is going to want to go that route. I'd consider it for up to 4 birds and if my property were outside the village limits. I have plenty of grass and bugs and things. My yard is also very wet most of the year. Grass grow quite well, but it might be too damp to be good for chickens' health.

 

[fletchergsmith]

Here's some pics of my backyard coop. I've got three hens and did have one rooster but I was crowing every morning at 3 so it had to go. My town has an ordnance only against nuisance animals and being in a fairly quiet neighborhood my rooster fit the bill. I'm lucky enough that my cat acts as a guardian to them and keeps all the neighborhood cats at a fair distance. I'm not so sure that works with other predators but we have not had any problems yet. On the other hand my brother just had three half grown chicks eaten by my fathers cat. Hopefully a mean rooster will keep that cat away in the future



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[Homercidal]

Here's some pics of my backyard coop. I've got three hens and did have one rooster but I was crowing every morning at 3 so it had to go. My town has an ordnance only against nuisance animals and being in a fairly quiet neighborhood my rooster fit the bill. I'm lucky enough that my cat acts as a guardian to them and keeps all the neighborhood cats at a fair distance. I'm not so sure that works with other predators but we have not had any problems yet. On the other hand my brother just had three half grown chicks eaten by my fathers cat. Hopefully a mean rooster will keep that cat away in the future



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You know, in some places of the world, cats are meat too...

Just sayin'

 

[DrunkleJon]

You know, in some places of the world, cats are meat too...

Just sayin'

From the Epic picture/Meme thread.

 

[fletchergsmith]

Well in this part of the world that cat has a job. Keep the rats, and by that end also snakes, away from the house and coop also. He just needs to learn that chickens aren't food, I'm working him now hopefully with now more casualties.

Ps that pick is hilarious


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[Yellowirenut]

coyotes, minks and possums are the problem in my area.
The minks will tear off the head and just leave them lay...wont even eat them.
My cousin was having a chicken die every night. Same thing, head popped off.
her son stayed up late one night and saw what was happening. It was sneaking into the coop threw a gap in the floor boards. I think he went overboard using a .357