goodolsurvival1
In the Brooder
- Jan 26, 2015
- 70
- 0
- 41
hi,
we have been working on our homesteading plans over the winter and one of the things is getting chickens. We probably have a little close to half an acre but after you subtract the house and garage it's more like 1/4acre (waiting on some books from amazon that gives some tips on growing etc. on 1/4)... we have a few family members that raise chickens all in different ways so have gotten some mix information lol, so have a few questions so to get better information that would work for us.
1. we are wanting to get chicks so that we can get them use to being handled etc. (and we homeschool so it's a good learning exp for the kids), the question on this is: what is the best way to socialize? just handling them or is there a better techn. (I grew up where my sister did chickens for 4h but they always got around 4mo olds or older so i dont have the experience with chicks other then what is required to raise them through tips from our one family member)
2. the next thing we have gotten mixed tips on, but when do you introduce chicks (chickens) to the outdoors and the coop & run? is it when they are close to laying age?
3. our chickens will be pets, but also raised for egg production. we were told by one family member to go rhode island red. our thing is that we live in ohio so the weather is unpredictable, especially winter, we'd like to get a breed that is known to have a docile personality (cuz of the kids and they will want to help), maybe on the smaller breed end (we've been told they are easier to take care of and provide better personal space too), and would do okay with winters... is there a few breeds that fall within this?
4. now onto the coop which we will be building ourselves. it will have an attached run to it and figured allow the chickens to be free range in the sense they can come and go out of the coop as the please (but will they go into the coop for nesting and laying or will we find issues with some egg laying outside of the coop?). we figured on building something that would/could house 4-5 chickens but only have 2-3 chickens total this way no issue of space. is plywood okay to use on the inside walls (as we plan on insulating and putting siding like material on the outside due to the winters) or will chickens wear and tear on that? and for the flooring we were going to use plywood and do a bedding of hay or saw dust or would there be something better due to if they would go to the bathroom on the coop floor start to break that down?
5. now the coop with attached run more than likely prob wont be moveable, would throwing some hay down be a good idea so they don't destroy the ground too much in the run, or doing a bed of saw dust?
6. i do believe this is the last question lol... but how do you collect the poop so say (is saw dust, hay, or other type of material better for nesting etc.) so to be able to use it as part of the fertilizer/compost on the garden? i figured a doggy poop scoop type of thing and then i remembered it wouldnt be as easy i dont think as it is cleaning up after our two silkies (dogs). For those that use the poop as a fertilizer what do you do with it during the colder non planting months, do you put it in a collecting pile or mix it in with a composting pile?
thanks in advance. and we've been searching through the site for some answers and found some information but not all fully answering what we are curious about.
happy to have found BYC
we have been working on our homesteading plans over the winter and one of the things is getting chickens. We probably have a little close to half an acre but after you subtract the house and garage it's more like 1/4acre (waiting on some books from amazon that gives some tips on growing etc. on 1/4)... we have a few family members that raise chickens all in different ways so have gotten some mix information lol, so have a few questions so to get better information that would work for us.
1. we are wanting to get chicks so that we can get them use to being handled etc. (and we homeschool so it's a good learning exp for the kids), the question on this is: what is the best way to socialize? just handling them or is there a better techn. (I grew up where my sister did chickens for 4h but they always got around 4mo olds or older so i dont have the experience with chicks other then what is required to raise them through tips from our one family member)
2. the next thing we have gotten mixed tips on, but when do you introduce chicks (chickens) to the outdoors and the coop & run? is it when they are close to laying age?
3. our chickens will be pets, but also raised for egg production. we were told by one family member to go rhode island red. our thing is that we live in ohio so the weather is unpredictable, especially winter, we'd like to get a breed that is known to have a docile personality (cuz of the kids and they will want to help), maybe on the smaller breed end (we've been told they are easier to take care of and provide better personal space too), and would do okay with winters... is there a few breeds that fall within this?
4. now onto the coop which we will be building ourselves. it will have an attached run to it and figured allow the chickens to be free range in the sense they can come and go out of the coop as the please (but will they go into the coop for nesting and laying or will we find issues with some egg laying outside of the coop?). we figured on building something that would/could house 4-5 chickens but only have 2-3 chickens total this way no issue of space. is plywood okay to use on the inside walls (as we plan on insulating and putting siding like material on the outside due to the winters) or will chickens wear and tear on that? and for the flooring we were going to use plywood and do a bedding of hay or saw dust or would there be something better due to if they would go to the bathroom on the coop floor start to break that down?
5. now the coop with attached run more than likely prob wont be moveable, would throwing some hay down be a good idea so they don't destroy the ground too much in the run, or doing a bed of saw dust?
6. i do believe this is the last question lol... but how do you collect the poop so say (is saw dust, hay, or other type of material better for nesting etc.) so to be able to use it as part of the fertilizer/compost on the garden? i figured a doggy poop scoop type of thing and then i remembered it wouldnt be as easy i dont think as it is cleaning up after our two silkies (dogs). For those that use the poop as a fertilizer what do you do with it during the colder non planting months, do you put it in a collecting pile or mix it in with a composting pile?
thanks in advance. and we've been searching through the site for some answers and found some information but not all fully answering what we are curious about.
happy to have found BYC
