quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
If you have predator issues, a good fence is mandatory.

And may need more than that. A fence alone won't keep coyotes, eagles, hawks, possums, or snakes out. They'll just go over it.

As will bobcats, much to my distress.

We use heaters like this when the temperature drops. They hang from the ceiling, no real risk of overheating or fire. Our Leghorns have big combs susceptible to frostbite, so we try to keep that from ever happening.

We get about 19.6235 hours of cold, per year, here in Houston. So, I dont think coop heat is a big concern for us

I'm planning to buy acreage when I retire in 22 to 34 months and chickens will likely be my first livestock. I've spent a fair amount of time planning/daydreaming.

Forget about cold, you want heat tolerant birds and here are two reliable ways to determine heat tolerant breeds:

Cackle Hatchery's Hot Weather Chickens List

Ideal Poultry is in Cameron, TX (i.e. near Waco) and every breed lists heat tolerance and you'll want "tolerates well." Out of the big hatcheries, they're the closest weather to us and I certainly don't trust a hatchery up north's definition of heat. Some of the breeds the others list is heat tolerant they'll list as "not especially" (eg Rhode Island Red is a good example).

You have kids so you'll also want a breed listed with its temperament as "docile." Three examples of heat tolerant, docile and good layer breeds are:

the barred rock chicken. Cool looking striped chicken.

the welsummer and you'll recognize the rooster as the chicken from the Kellog's cornflakes cereal boxes. The hens will probably lay one less egg per week than a barred rock.

they crossed a welsummer rooster with a barred rock hen, sell the offspring as welbar, and they should have the best properties from both breeds.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
We get about 19.6235 hours of cold, per year, here in Houston. So, I dont think coop heat is a big concern for us

you'll need ventilation to move the hot air out not hold it in. Many Texans use solar powered exhaust fans, but I have a friend in Katy who air-conditioned her coop.

EDIT: if you build your own coop, use 1/2" hardware cloth not chicken wire. Chicken wire is flimsy and raccoons can bend it open but hardware cloth is tough (e.g. probably what you have as exclusion wire to keep critters out of your attic)

Thanks, T.
Luckily where I'd put a coop is heavily shaded, but evacuating heat is a good point.

And don't turn your back on them.
None had expected a chicken coup.

The coop should have two doors or risk being called a sedan.

Check the city/county laws and zoning, if in an HOA to make sure there are no requirements for your area before spending money to setup everything, it might not be disallowed but there might be specific things you have to do such as a permit, inspection, etc.

Unless you're on a Farm with no HOA or neighbors nearby that would object and cause you issues over it.

The kind of feed you buy can make a huge difference in egg production. We buy Ware Milling 22% protein. We currently have 25 hens. Yesterday, we got 21 eggs. Several months ago, we decided to switch to another brand and our egg production plummeted within a couple of weeks. We switched back and egg production returned to what we consider normal.

We usually buy 9-10 50 lb. bags of 22% and a couple of 50 lb. bags of scratch at a time. I usually try to time the feed purchases to times when we are in my better half's Ford Edge. I don't like putting all that extra weight in the back of my 4Runner.

My Dad has has a big coop for a few years now and it's his retirement hobby. He loves it and the eggs are really good but it costs more according to him than what you get out of it so if you think you're going to have a cheap source of eggs, think again.

We are still getting used to keeping the eggs out on the counter but that's how you store them and the shells are brown and thick unlike the white, tissue-paper-thin shells of supermarket eggs.

He's got security cameras and all sorts of stuff for these chickens and we joke they live better than most people do.

He's also got a couple signs up which are funny, this is not his exact one but he's got a metal sign with this on it inside the coop:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
My Dad has has a big coop for a few years now and it's his retirement hobby. He loves it and the eggs are really good but it costs more according to him than what you get out of it so if you think you're going to have a cheap source of eggs, think again.

We are fortunate. Some of our eggs are used in a baking business. We are able to sell everything else at $4.00 per dozen. We only have brown eggs.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

As will bobcats, much to my distress.

I can testify to that.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Check the city/county laws and zoning, if in an HOA to make sure there are no requirements for your area before spending money to setup everything, it might not be disallowed but there might be specific things you have to do such as a permit, inspection, etc.

Unless you're on a Farm with no HOA or neighbors nearby that would object and cause you issues over it.

No HOA, luckily
We are in the city limits, and I know when we moved in there was an ordinance against it. Will need to check it to verify, a friend had told me it was recently changed.

I don't know yours but most ordinances are prohibitions against roosters. If that's the case, if you select a sexlink hybrid hen like the welbar I linked earlier the chance of getting a rooster goes down to ~1% as due to genetics sexlink hybrids have different color or color pattern males and females at birth.

For regular chickens, trained hatchery personnel are determining sex by looking at their vent (i.e. the combination b-hole, vagina, urethra, and/or where eggs exit). It's about a 90% success rate determining sex by vent on newly hatched chickens.

You might get rats. I did and shot them. They dug holes all over the place.

I think I'll just keep giving the people down the street $4 a dozen.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I think I'll just keep giving the people down the street $4 a dozen.

Damn! I only charge $2. I need to up my prices. Another way to fund my impending retirement.

quote:

We are still getting used to keeping the eggs out on the counter but that's how you store them

I've wondered about this. I have read that once they are refrigerated they need to be kept that way. Our neighbor whom we get our eggs from stores them in a fridge so when we get them from him that's how we store them. I see them getting knocked around or falling off the counters in our house. We have a busy kitchen.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I think I'll just keep giving the people down the street $4 a dozen.

Damn! I only charge $2. I need to up my prices. Another way to fund my impending retirement.

The next nearest source of eggs is 20 miles away and my truck get 15 miles per gallon.

If you're entering this arena, check out laying ducks as well. There are duck breeds, such as the Khaki Campbell or Golden 300 (a khaki hybrid) that lay as many eggs, or more in some cases, as laying hens. They also have a longer useful laying life (close to double). We get 4-5 years of solid performance from our layer ducks before they go to the cook pot. Duck eggs are bigger by about 1/3 than chicken eggs, and more nutritious. Bonus of ducks: Don't need laying boxes, they just lay em wherever. Cons of ducks: They are kinda messy and you'll need water (we keep a small kiddie pool for them). With either one, handling the chicks/ducklings a lot when young will lead to better livestock. We sell our extra for $12/dozen, and are always in demand at the local feed store.