Minnesota!

[Bogtown Chick]

Welcome HensnHorses. And to your chicken adventure. You will find a wealth of information on building coops here on the coop section. If you are getting chicks next month I would not delay starting your coop build, if you need to do that yet. They grow really fast! Consider your back for coop cleaning...Make it easily cleanable. Poop-boards are super smart to incorporate in your coop managing moisture in the air and overall cleanliness of the coop. Ventilation is necessary for good chicken health as well. As we are hopefully ending a nasty cold winter, although not necessary, insulation is a nice thing to do. It keeps the coop cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. When building a coop you need 4 sq ft. per bird. For a Run 10 sq foot per bird to avoid pecking/boredom issues.

When selecting breeds consider comb type to avoid frostbite. Large single comb breeds are more prone to dubbing by Jack Frost. Rose-comb and cushion comb breeds are good ones to consider. And remember even though you order hens sometimes there is a rooster or two that can get in the mix by accident.

There's a couple Nowthen folks on here. This a nice thread to start yourself on.

 

[tbishop]

I concur on the comb type selection. Many people do okay with single combed breeds in our state- I didn't this winter. I'm phasing out my barred rocks and bringing in Dominiques. I had no issues with my buckeyes (pea comb), ameraucanas (pea comb), or chantaclers (cushion comb). I'm hoping to add the Dominiques and possibly Columbian Wyandottes for "diversity".

 

[ejb3810]

Since you have horses already you can relate to the necessity of considering ease of care. Especially in winter here the care and feeding can be a less than pleasant task, so having a building and equipment to make it as easy and pleasant as possible is paramount.
Breeds are a personal preference unless utility is the most important consideration. If you will not have a heated coop breeds with a large comb will be negatively impacted by sub zero weather. For dual purpose breeds, Chanteclers and Buckeyes are good choices in Mn. If you want variety of egg color then Ameraucanas are a good choice. I do not like Easter Eggers, as there is too much variation in the birds due to being cross breeds with unknown genetics.
Employ the philosophy of - KISS

 

[Minniechickmama]

I can appreciate all you gentlemen are saying, especially this year. I have frostbite on every single comb this year, except a few of the hens who's combs are small enough they weren't really effect. The funny thing is though, I have the Black Minorcas, who have huge combs and wattles, and they fared better than the New Hampshire, the Welsummer or the Orpingtons. I will say, due to the fact that their water is in a heated dog bowl, their wattles suffered a good deal. Still, it is surprising how well they came though the worst of it this year compared to the other breeds. They also have laid more eggs than the others and started earlier. The Wellies have passed them up in the last couple of weeks for laying though. I am really hoping to start seeing some production kicking in along with fertility this week with the temps finally getting up above freezing in our part of the state. Supposed to be 40 today. Waiting for my flannel lined jeans to dry and I am heading out to clean pens, finally.

 

[aussiegal318]

Hi Hensnhorses, your in my neck of the woods, I'm also in Nowthen. Hubby won't let me have horses so I got Alpacas. Fur happens. Welcome!! You'll get tons of great advice from some super people on this forum, just ask. I've been grateful for all the help.

 

[Fuzzybottom13]

Hey fellow Minnesotans. I'm thinking of doing some meat birds this year, but would prefer to have them processed somewhere. Is there a list somewhere of places that will do small scale processing. I don't plan to have very many. I've been trying to search the archives & Google but haven't been very successful. I'm about 40 min North of Minneapolis in East Bethel. Thanks!

Heather

 

[tbishop]

Dennison Meat Locker
Address: 109 Farm Road Phone: (507) 645-8734
Dennison, MN 55018
75 miles away from East Bethel

That's the closest one that I could find that advertised poultry processing. If you want to try the addresses on the following link you might find someone that works with poultry.

http://www.mda.state.mn.us/licensin...yegg/custom-meat-processing/customplants.aspx

 

[aussiegal318]

Fuzzybottom13 I think I heard of a processor in Isanti or Cambridge. May want to look into it. If you find out anything post it. We have been thinking about meat birds too.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

There's one in Clear Leke WI, which is about 62 miles from you

 

[Minniechickmama]

Dennison is great. I had CRX and turkeys done there this last summer and they came back perfect! Their price is great too! However, that is quite a haul to get processing done on a few birds. There has to be someone closer to East Bethel than that.