Future Chicken owners

Ok, I'll go first.  Also:

Coops:  I used a cardboard box that watermelons come in as a brooder for the first batch.  Our coop - well, we built it BEFORE the chickens were (mostly) grown.  They got to move in at 12 weeks.  I've since added on - the coop and chickens.  Still wish it was bigger. It's called "chicken math".  They're like potato chips - you keep wanting more.  I also have a tractor we built from pvc to let them hang out on the grass.  I can't free range because the dogs have high predator instinct - and they lived here first. 

Feed:  Mainly Purina.  Last time I bought a different brand.  Don't know what off hand... but I'm switching back.  Other brand made poop really runny and not a nice big glob.    Sorry - there's no other way to say it.  They get black oil sunflower seeds and freeze dried mealworms as treats.  They also get lots of kitchen scraps - especially overripe tomatoes from the garden, cucumbers, canteloupe and watermelon. 

Breed(s):  I went for a mixed flock of sexed pullets.  I started with 2 Columbian Wyandotte, 2 Speckled Sussex and 2 Silver laced Wyandotte.  The 2 SLW were mis-sexed and crowed heartily during a severe thunderstorm at about 16 weeks. Sold on Craigslist the next day.   I lost a Columbian in the extreme heat last summer.  This summer I added 3 day old Rhode Island Red pullets to a broody Speckled Sussex.  They've been doing great and she's been a good mama.  She just recently quit nesting with them and rejoined her flock sisters on the roost at night.  Two of her babies are snuggled up in a laying box.  The third was recently discovered with a bare and bloodied neck and shoulders.    Spent the weekend making her a separate pen to live in until she's healed and can rejoin the flock.

Bedding:  Pine shavings.  Best thing ever.  I have a poop board under their roost with Sweet PDZ on it.  Works like cat litter (thus the problem with runny poop - hard to scoop!)  Their covered run has sand flooring.  Love it too - easy to rake clean and the poop in there seems to magically disappear into the sand (if I miss any).  Hardly and smell either.  Their add-on run is just dirt flooring.  It was weeds and grass - but they picked it clean within a week or two.  They love the dirt for scratching in and making holes for dust bathing.

I got my (original) chickens from a local farm/feed supply store.  Not TSC - nothing against them.  Just went the local mom-n-pop route.  I didn't want to pay shipping, only wanted 4-6 chickens, and I'm an instant gratification kind of girl.    I bought my three RIR babies from a local NPIP certified chicken breeder.  He advertised on Craigslist.  Very kind and welcoming, willing to "talk chicken", let me look around - and he had TONS of birds in a lot of different set-ups.   I would definitely buy from him again.  Very happy with my new additions.

I got the "itch" for chickens many years ago.  It spent a LOT of time reading BYC and educating myself - enough to seriously annoy my husband.  This site is still the best resource - and it doesn't require purchasing a book or magazine subscription.  I have had many of my questions and concerns rectified here.  BYC IS BETTER THAN ANY BOOK HANDS DOWN!!! 

Good luck to you - and keep reading BYC!
 

For bedding i use shavings.

Hmm let's see i like hobby farm magazine and of coarse i grab their chicken editions.

Feed, i used a flock raiser by Purina and when the girls are older free choice oyster shell, i have ducks too so prefer a multi purpose feed.

As for their coop, we built it.. raised 4x6 with an attached next box...

Our breed is Ameraucana

I chose a small private run farm to get them from.. I just have the 4 and yes, still only have 4 no chicken math has occurred here lol

For the moment I just get to dream, as I have recently just moved back into the county. Grew up raising chickens and moved to the city for a few years. My list of chickens I would like to get seems to change weekly but I do plan on either ordering from either MurrayMcMurray or IdealPoultry. Atm i'm leaning towards Ideal but who knows.

My current list is as follows:

Welsummer x5

Dark Brahma x5

Light Brahma x5

Buff Brahma x5

Gold Star x5

All hens for now, though I might break down and get a Brahma rooster (color unknown). Nothing like hearing a rooster crow to add to the whole country setting.

I just cant get enough with pictures of Brahmas, they are just so darn b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l! I've never had Welsummers while growing up and now that I have some choice on what chickens I get to order...well those dark eggs will be a real eye candy-like treat. The gold stars are going to be mostly my lovely egg machines. Since a little egg income will never hurt.

I hope to have a coop constructed by fall, so that everything will be settled once I place my order and their old enough to enjoy it.

My current plan is to have two fairly large runs without a top (big birds=no flight...hopefully) and alternate them a while so they can have a break. I work 10 hrs a day so I would rather not have chickens running around without some supervision that long. When I get home in the evenings I plan on letting them out of the run and they can be wild and crazy all evening!

Coops - We repurposed an old shed into a coop that has worked well, but the placement isn't great. We made a hoop coop last year which has served its purpose and have plans to build something bigger and more functional using pallets, hopefully over the winter.

Feed - Our local feed and seed sells Winner brand, I think it's pretty local if I remember correctly.

Breed of Chicken - I started out with 3 Black Sex Links and 3 "Rhode Island Reds" (aka Production Reds) 3 years ago. At least two of my three left are still laying. I lost 2 BSLs this year, one just disappeared (I am 99% sure she was having some egg issues, no feathers or anything left behind... not sure if she just hunkered down somewhere, or what) the other had poultry lice and I think the combo of that and the heat plus going broody just kind of took it out of her. 

This year I got 8 more "RIRs" but it was a dud batch or something. None of the 8 were growing or feathering out, even at 15 weeks old. A snake got 4 one night, so I moved them, then either the same snake or another found 2 more of them there. The other two went home as a freebie with a kid at our yard sale with full disclosure that I had no idea what was wrong with them.

One friend surprised me that same day with 3 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, still waiting so see which one crows first (and hoping that at least one might be a pullet!) and then another friend had too many so I got her extra 2 Easter Eggers and 1 Barnevelder. Wasn't thrilled with the prospect of only 3 layers next year, if I was lucky, so I picked up 10 Black Australorps from Southern States (1 marked cockerel, but I have my suspicions that I actually have two just based on the feathering out after a week).

Bedding - One coop has shavings, the hoop coop is on bare ground with grass clippings from the yard since they are not yet free ranging with the others.

Where you plan to order your chickens from - I got my first two batches from the local feed and seed, the last 10 came from another tractor supply store. I was too nervous to order by mail.