So I have purchased some land in the country and have been lurking at this site for a year or so. I"ve posted a few times as this has become somewhat of an obsession but until I move full time I cannot have any livestock. So given that I have six months to a year to plan I thought I'd start a diary to track my thoughts, plans and progress. Someday it may be fun to go back to.
I'm a certified city slicker who loves animals, birds in particular. Chickens are a natural fit for me. I would love to be able to raise layers and meat birds as well as attempt to re-populate my local area with bobwhite quail. In the next year or so I can work toward making the back acerage appropriate habitat for Bobwhite quail. We back up to a Parkhill Prairie in North Texas so with my acerage and the prairie I think I may be able to pull off the quail dream.
At any rate, I also want to start planning for my chickens. I do not honestly know if I would ever be able to kill a bird so the meat birds would be a secondary endeavor.
I'm thinking I would like to start with a small flock of layers. Perhaps 4-6 birds. We only go through 6-8 eggs a week as far as consumption goes. My current thought is to build a shed like building that I could split in half, half being the coop and half being storage until I decide to try meaties or quail.
I currently am living (at least on the weekends) in a double wide on the property. I have about 3/4 acre fenced in for my dogs, two of which have a very high prey drive. I'm debating the location to build my coop. If I put it in the dog yard it would help protect against predators as there wouldl be multiple fences they would have to cross and lots of dogs. The only down side is I would have to keep the dogs out of the yard when I want to free range. That is not all bad as I can put the dogs in the "front" yard which is about 23 acres.
Alternatively we could put the coop in the front yard where we could enjoy the chickens free ranging from the porch, but would have to control the dogs. Not undoable.
How far from your house would you put a chicken coop? I'll post pictures in a moment of the possible location. Any input would be appreciated.
I'm a certified city slicker who loves animals, birds in particular. Chickens are a natural fit for me. I would love to be able to raise layers and meat birds as well as attempt to re-populate my local area with bobwhite quail. In the next year or so I can work toward making the back acerage appropriate habitat for Bobwhite quail. We back up to a Parkhill Prairie in North Texas so with my acerage and the prairie I think I may be able to pull off the quail dream.
At any rate, I also want to start planning for my chickens. I do not honestly know if I would ever be able to kill a bird so the meat birds would be a secondary endeavor.
I'm thinking I would like to start with a small flock of layers. Perhaps 4-6 birds. We only go through 6-8 eggs a week as far as consumption goes. My current thought is to build a shed like building that I could split in half, half being the coop and half being storage until I decide to try meaties or quail.
I currently am living (at least on the weekends) in a double wide on the property. I have about 3/4 acre fenced in for my dogs, two of which have a very high prey drive. I'm debating the location to build my coop. If I put it in the dog yard it would help protect against predators as there wouldl be multiple fences they would have to cross and lots of dogs. The only down side is I would have to keep the dogs out of the yard when I want to free range. That is not all bad as I can put the dogs in the "front" yard which is about 23 acres.
Alternatively we could put the coop in the front yard where we could enjoy the chickens free ranging from the porch, but would have to control the dogs. Not undoable.
How far from your house would you put a chicken coop? I'll post pictures in a moment of the possible location. Any input would be appreciated.
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