quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
Having chicken is awesome! They are fun to listen to and have around...

It's funny. Getting chickens in the first place was my girlfriend's idea, not mine, but reminiscing about them last week, I missed the roosters crowing before dawn every morning, and my girlfriend hated that.

Some thread drift:

I had my last dog trained from a pup to ignore the chickens. I could, and did, let her in the coop with me when I collected eggs.

In fact, when the starlings got too bad (they'd get in the coop, crap all over everything, bathe in the chicken's water and scatter food all over the coop), I'd let her in the coop and close the door behind her. There would be a cartoon-worthy cacophony of thrashing, banging, dust and squawking for several minutes. When the noise died down, I'd open the door and Grump would stroll out of the coop with a mouthful of dead starlings (I counted 5 one time...) No chickens were ever harmed.

Unfortunately, neither were the starlings deterred...

The Akita I share with my daughter is not quite so chicken-friendly. I've no doubt whatever that it would be wholesale slaughter if she ever got in the pen.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Keeping chickens is easy.

Keeping chickens in a designer coop and raising them to yuppie vegan/organic/non-GMO/Soy-free/Gluten-free standards is expensive and (IMHO, your mileage may vary) silly.

In either case you can buy eggs at a fraction of the cost of producing your own.

What you can't do is beat the taste and quality of homegrown, pasture fed, fresh eggs. Absolutely no comparison.

Being that PHPaul (unbeknownst to him) is my secret internet hero of gardening and livestock raising, it is no surprise that I agree completely.

We have a dozen hens now that the mysterious disappearance of "Sir crows a lot" has occurred. When we free-ranged, I felt he was necessary. But now we range them outside only when we are around and out of doors- no foxes or coyotes yet (EDITED: NO LOSSES to...,) but I did go overboard with a coop and run. Mine are heirloom (Barred Plymouth Rock and Australorp) and don't lay like some engineered breed but we are coming on their second laying spring and get 7-10 eggs a day. And they are delicious eggs.

As you may have gathered from the picture with the dog, I HAVE spent a crapload of money on my chickens.

When I had Grump, the llama and the sheep around, predators were not a problem unless the birds flew outside the fences, so we let them free range over the whole place.

Once the all the other livestock was gone, the foxes moved in and damn near wiped me out. I started with a small fence of chicken wire. Kept the foxes out, but the wire is delicate, prone to rust and doesn't last long. Plus I bought/inherited more birds and the pen wasn't big enough.

So, I spent the money to put a 6' high chainlink fence around a much larger area. Life was good. And significantly extended for the birds.

Then the goddamn hawks and eagles discovered the Free Buffet and started seriously reducing my flock. So, I spent another 3 hundred dollars installing aviary netting over the whole pen. Life was good.

Then Winter came, with heavy wet snow. The netting did not survive. Dammit.

I have no idea what I'm going to do next. It'll have to be heavier/more rugged than the aviary netting which means a heavier, more rugged structure under it. That is NOT going to be cheap.

I built my coop and run under an oak tree so nothing could FLY in. Coons and such can climb in of course so I usually pen them in the coop at night.
I have it raised off of the ground so they can hide from rain and sun when needed. I put 1/2" hardware cloth all around the bottom of the coop and used a 2X4 field fencing up to 6' high that I buried 2 feet all the way around. The front and ventilation in the coop are all hardware cloth covered. Metal roof. Walls are Hardy board. Floor is ply with a water resistant sealant and I have a 6" deep litter method going. Built in nesting boxes with exterior access and a roost with an exterior accessible poop board to clean out under it.

I have $2k in it. I was insane.

if she really really needs to fill up five hours of her totally dormant week , and there is money to throw to the wind, sure , get'er done.

I am pretty sure that there are chicken people in your area for her to talk to for a couple of weeks ,prior to the $4,000 investment

I'd get it in writing that this whole deal is her's and her's alone

I have an "Wood's style open air" coop, 11 hens, one banty rooster. I started with 15 two were processed for dinner, two got snatched by coyotes.

I feed them layer pellets, usually purina layeena pellets. A 50# bag costs about $14.25 a $10 bag of oyster shells lasts about a 8 months.

Feed store pays $2.50 dz. for eggs, during summer, when the laying ramps up the birds pay for their own food and I pocket a few dollars.

During winter when laying slows, I'm paying about .80 a dz for my eggs.

quote:

Originally posted by Neel:
I have an "Wood's style open air" coop, 11 hens, one banty rooster. I started with 15 two were processed for dinner, two got snatched by coyotes.

I feed them layer pellets, usually purina layeena pellets. A 50# bag costs about $14.25 a $10 bag of oyster shells lasts about a 8 months.

Feed store pays $2.50 dz. for eggs, during summer, when the laying ramps up the birds pay for their own food and I pocket a few dollars.

During winter when laying slows, I'm paying about .80 a dz for my eggs.

I used the Woods concept at first to build mine. For many reasons had to modify but would love to see yours! Post here or e-mail me if you can.

ALSO: this is pretty close to my cost/ situation- though with 3 kids from 11-19, we eat all the eggs.

Also, please don't laugh. I used a rain barrel and piped it into the coop so I can leave town and them still have 50 gallons of water to see them through a few weeks.

OP, if you just start out with 4-6 hens, it's really not that big of a deal. Depending on predators, I'd do it again with a nicer built chicken tractor as was mentioned earlier. I am actually thinking about building one to use for many things- introducing new hens, fertilizing the yard, etc....

I wanted something more permanent due to the whole hurricane issue we have here.
So far coop: 4
Hurricanes and 60+ mph wind: 0.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
I've always kind of wanted to try chickens, and I could do it where I am now. I would be a little worried about predators, though. We are kind of out in the woods.

What is wrong with soy foods?

I live in the woods and have had predators try to get in a couple of times. The chickens run free during the day, the coop is fenced with a smaller run area that they stay in at night and when we are out of town. It is also where their food it. The fencing is a fairly small mesh to about 4 feet above the ground and is buried in the ground towards the bottom. The coop area is also covered with a roof and fencing. This has kept the predators out for a couple of years now.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the encouragement. The GMO, soy issue is because my wife had advance stage ovarian cancer and soy is a phytoestrogen (bad stuff for ovarian cancer) so it's not that we are yuppies! But I do appreciate the notes!

I like my coffee black just like my guns!

I have always enjoyed raising chickens, fresh eggs ant be beat and when the layers get old, make good soup.

They keep the yard free of little bugs and ticks.

I'd have chickens now, unfortunately I live in a built up area.

If you want to monetize eggs, barter them rather than sell.

We used to barter them for cheese and cold cuts with a local German lady, who in turn sold them.

Never had an issue with predators, we did have free range dogs and cats as well.

Chickens cooping in the winter can be a chore, I used to use old hay and lime to keep down the stink and possible foot problems like bumblefoot.

I miss my farming days.

.17 WSM.

We don't free range ours because of predators, the neighbors lost a couple of theirs just before we got ours. I built an 8x8 shed complete with a man door and a 8x12 attached run with a continuous roof over the whole thing. A couple roosting bars and nest boxes and it's the Taj Mahal of coops. The run is enclosed with 16 ga 1/2" hardware cloth and the hardware cloth extends 2 feet around the perimeter on the ground. Vinyl siding and shingle roof to boot. We spent way too much on the coop but it looks nice and could always be a small shed with a covered area in the future.
The chickens are a lot of fun and they all have their own personalities. The eggs are great but the birds are pets first and egglayers second .

I live in a residential neighborhood in the middle of the city and have too many backyard chickens. My kids are in 4H and show them at the fair. Mostly Silkies and other little oddball chickens. They lay eggs, but they are little.

Just put up a $700 8x10 snap together plastic shed (kind you'd normally use to store lawnmowers and stuff from Home Depot) and turned it into a big coop. Yes I could have made something for cheaper, but for the size and waterproofness, ease of cleaning, security, looks, etc, it wasn't worth my effort, and if we ever stop raising chickens, I still have a storage area for stuff. This shed has side windows, so there's plenty of ventilation when we need it. Still, I wish I had simply bought the shed much earlier than the little, then bigger, then bigger again coops I made. Sooo much roomier, and easier to clean out than dicking around with my home made ones. The "good ideas" and troubles with my fancy designs all got trumped with easy of use, cleaning, maintenance, and looks of the big plastic shed for a main coop.

I cut a little side door that leads into another 8'x 20'x 6' high chain linked fenced area that is covered by corrugated roofing on 2"x4"'s that I wired tied to top. This gives the chickens some open but protective roaming area when we are away and they can return to their roosts at night easily. Local cats have never bothered the chickens once they got beyond a certain size.



Only predators we had in the city have been occasional raccoons and Hawks. Had a hawk fly down and perch on the fence right in front of us (brazen bastard!) while we were feeding the chicken while he examined his future meals. Only have lost about 5 chickens from predators through the years though.

The chickens are pretty much pets though because the kids. They all have names and fair awards and stuff.

I have chickens and stray dogs are my biggest problem.

University of Kentucky has online plans for a hoop coop. I use variations of these and have had good service from them. http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/...SC/ASC189/ASC189.pdf

You'll have better eggs. A lot more work though. Couple of points. Great advise upthread to start a pup out with the chickens so they don't rip them to shreds. Once your dog chases a chicken they can't ever stop and you'll have to give them away, stop raising chickens, or kill them. So don't ever leave the dog unleashed or alone with the chickens until you are absolutely sure it's good. Seriously.

Next, haven't' seen this addressed. Plan on rats showing up. They'll be nosing around the chicken feed and chicken poop. That's just the way they roll. If your dog is a Terrier and doesn't chase the chickens, you're good to go. I've seen labs kill rats and not chickens too, but plan on some extra training there if you have a dog.

ps, the 50 gallon water feeder noted upthread is brilliant! If you like to book out for days at a time, they also have automatic feeders of various types you can look into.

Let's hope she doesn't want to go commercial. The stink in and around a commercial chicken barn is unbelievable.