A few not-yet-chicken-owner questions!

[gsim]

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1 1st (and only) flock was 25

2 No. I did standard all-climate-hearty high production brown large egg layers.

3 Home built (on a site that slopes 5:1) I have nearly $2,000 in it and the electrified run. (Very little salvaged materials-had to buy new materials.) Run is around 2,000 sq ft, 6 ft steel fence, electrified and set in cement. Water hydrant in run and 20 amp service to both run and coop with flourescent lights.

4 Dumor starter, heavily added to with all types of live greens, veggies, fruits from day 1. No medicated foods that i was aware of, but vaccinated chooks from hatchery (Myers of Ohio) Only went to Dumor grower finisher when they were adolescent age. Still tons of live veggies and greens and fruits. Now Dumor layer pellets and tons of live greens, fruits, veggies still. Some scratch grain in wintertime. (they lay like gangbusters on only 10 - 11 hrs natural light, no artificial light)

5 I would move away because my coop is built like a house and is as tight and predator proof as my house is. It is a miniature 8 x 16 house. A single predator incident can cause you to lose your entire flock. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE PREDATORS. They are patient, cunning, innovative, can work together (Coons do) and they want your chooks. No losses here yet. Best bet of all, do two lines of defense so that if line one (run/enclosure/pen) fails, the closed locked coop is still there to fall back on. Remember Murphy's law. It was written for raising poultry!

 

[Kim_NC]

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Oh I just love it....and the signs are perfect.

 

[Kim_NC]

1) What was the size of your first flock?
25 pullets, no roosters.

2) Do you recommend any chicken that catches fancy, like... well, any from mixes to ornamental, or sticking with a goal? Like all egg-layers, or fryers, or purebred with no mixes?
I've always liked a mixed flock for layers, more color, more eyecandy, and nice to try different breeds. We have some favorite breeds now. If ordering chicks I go with all pullets where possible. I only raise st run from our own hatches. We prefer Cornish X for meat birds.

3) What was your first coop? Did you build it yourself, or bought it? And, how much?
Hmmm....that was 1995. It was 3 sections, different breed in each section. DH built it for me. Can't remember what it cost.

4) What was your first feed for them, and did you end up changing it later? Is medicated better than not-medicated?
Usually I do a medicated chick starter. For layers - I started with crumbles, but evertually found I like to switch to pellets as soon as they're old enough...less waste.

5) What would/did you do if a predator got through the coop? Can they cause enough trouble where the entire investment is lost?
Freak out 'cause as others mentioned we have Fort Knox out there! And yes, many predators can wipe your flock out. We keep hav-a-hart traps set for coons, possums, skunks, etc. We don't really have a heart for predators. We shoot them.

I have a lot more, but I think I should stop before I look like I never did any reading.

Thank you for any answers!
Best wishes!

 

[Brickman House]

Great questions, all! Don't hesitate to ask more-- this is a great board for information and encouragement.



1) What was the size of your first flock?

It was SUPPOSED to be 25 heavy breed, brown egg layers, ordered via the 'net from Murray McMurray. Turned out to be 24 brown egg laying hens and one Accidental Rooster, who ultimately turned out to be an obnoxious little $%&*#, but educated us on how neat it is to have a rooster in the flock, so it's all good. . .


2) Do you recommend any chicken that catches fancy, like... well, any from mixes to ornamental, or sticking with a goal? Like all egg-layers, or fryers, or purebred with no mixes?

I would think it depends-- do you HAVE a goal? If so, I'd recommend sticking strictly to it, because it's so easy to get sidetracked and end up with more birds than you're really comfortable managing. So if you want to breed, or want a specific type of chicken, be disciplined about only having those birds that will advance your goal.

For us, we're hobbyists-- we have a backyard flock for fun, our daughter sells extra eggs as her 4-H project, and that's about it. We originally ordered all heavy breed brown egg layers because we can get some cold weather and we thought they'd do best in our climate. We were right-- they did great, but we've since branched out to a few other kinds (Crested Polish, Leghorns, Cuckoo Marans), and they've done great as well, so I guess the birds are much hardier than we gave them credit for!


3) What was your first coop? Did you build it yourself, or bought it? And, how much?

We built our first coop (and still our only coop) ourselves, and we're still very happy with it. It originally was 6' x 8', with an 8' x 24' run attached on one side. We expanded it a bit by adding a little 6' x 4' section and 6' x 16' run on the opposite side for the chicks when they're ready to go out. So far this has worked great for us, and we don't have any plans to do anything more. The whole thing probably cost us $700 from start to finish, but our flock is in our backyard, so the coop had to look good, and honestly, we did a few purely cosmetic upgrades just for fun!


4) What was your first feed for them, and did you end up changing it later? Is medicated better than not-medicated?

Our closest feed store is a Tractor Supply, so we started with Dumor Chick Starter, then switched to Grower as they grew, and finally Layer pellets. Our girls mostly free range, and get our table scraps, and get scratch grains in winter, so their feed is only a part of their diet, but we're happy with it.


5) What would/did you do if a predator got through the coop? Can they cause enough trouble where the entire investment is lost?

This happened to us, last Spring. Our chickens (and ducks and geese) free range a fenced acre next to our house. I left the house at mid-day for a couple of hours, and came back to most of our flock slaughtered and either missing or scattered around the yard. It was horrible, and I still get a little ill thinking about that day. We had around 25 chickens and 15 ducks/geese, and only 2 chickens and 1 duck ultimately survived.

With a little detective work, we discovered it was a grey fox and her kits who had a den in our neighbor's yard across the lane. We topped our fence with enough hot wire to dim the entire Northeast power grid, and since then (knock SERIOUS wood) we haven't had a problem.

But yes, a predator can ABSOLUTELY wipe out your entire flock, and you have to do your best to protect them to prevent anything happening, and if something does, to fix it immediately.


Good luck with your flock!

 

[BarredBuff]

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My feeding incident really taught me alot though, and I know more because of it. The shepherds were the neighbors and they were loose one day and it happened, she was able to restart her flock she has BOs and RIRs now.
Good Luck to ya!