New Member :)

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BAKAR

BAKAR

In the Brooder
5 Years
May 22, 2014
18
0
24
Hello Back Yard Chicken Members.

My wife and I decided to get some baby chics at Easter for our children and it's turned into an all out farming excursion, lol...

We originally purchased 2 Wyandottes, 2 Americana's and a Silkie.... the smallest Americana caught a cold or something and was extremely weak...she didn't want to eat or drink any water and ended up being trampled by the rest of the flock...so now we're down to just 4 birds.

It was kind of heart breaking because she was the nicest of them all and belonged to our youngest daughter but, we're getting over the lost. Our little Ariel will be missed dearly...

They're all about 8 to 10 weeks old now and becoming extremely cramped in the "baby coop" that I built so, now I'm working on completing the main coop. It's 6' wide, 9' long and 8' tall with a decent size nesting box that will house 8 nesting boxes stacked on top of one another consuming one half of the nesting box across from the entry and ramp....

We plan to add 4 more chics to the group in the next couple of weeks to bring us to 8 chickens in total. I have been lobbying the idea of a couple of Turkeys but, that's still up in the air... just depends on the rest of the family and some research into the compatibility of the two different birds :)

Well, I don't want to get too long winded but, I'm glad to be here and thank you guys in advance for any help we get towards our goal of healthy birds and a happy family...

God bless!
 
Alright Baker,
welcome-byc.gif
great to have you joining the BYC flock
frow.gif



BYC has a very useful learning center
caf.gif




8 nesting boxes is enough for 20 chickens or more I have 15 hens and 3 nesting boxes ...


The chickens can have 10 nesting boxes and 1 box will still
be a favorite spot chickens are just funny that way and even
now I have two geese one one nest of egg's as I moved one
to a different location as three was just to much for one nest..


I have noticed that Turkeys do better if they are some distance
from the chickens as the chickens seem to get sick easier with
the Turkeys near by .....







gander007
old.gif
 
Last edited:
BAKAR said:
Hello Back Yard Chicken Members.

My wife and I decided to get some baby chics at Easter for our children and it's turned into an all out farming excursion, lol...

We originally purchased 2 Wyandottes, 2 Americana's and a Silkie.... the smallest Americana caught a cold or something and was extremely weak...she didn't want to eat or drink any water and ended up being trampled by the rest of the flock...so now we're down to just 4 birds.

It was kind of heart breaking because she was the nicest of them all and belonged to our youngest daughter but, we're getting over the lost. Our little Ariel will be missed dearly...

They're all about 8 to 10 weeks old now and becoming extremely cramped in the "baby coop" that I built so, now I'm working on completing the main coop. It's 6' wide, 9' long and 8' tall with a decent size nesting box that will house 8 nesting boxes stacked on top of one another consuming one half of the nesting box across from the entry and ramp....

We plan to add 4 more chics to the group in the next couple of weeks to bring us to 8 chickens in total. I have been lobbying the idea of a couple of Turkeys but, that's still up in the air... just depends on the rest of the family and some research into the compatibility of the two different birds :)

Well, I don't want to get too long winded but, I'm glad to be here and thank you guys in advance for any help we get towards our goal of healthy birds and a happy family...

God bless!
Click to expand...
Welcome! I'm sorry about your little Ariel. Don't know if it helps but almost every one of us has lost a chick or two along the way so when we express our sympathy we are speaking from experience. I might have a suggestion that could save you a little time and a little space in your coop. You really don't need 8 nesting boxes for 8 chickens. Most of the time they share just a few of them regardless of how many you put in, waiting in line until their turn to use the nest. It's not unusual to have them use only one or two out of an entire bank of nest boxes! Silly birds! For 8 chickens you can easily get by with 3 nest boxes, or four if the even number works into your plan better. I was planning on one box per bird as well, but wiser heads than mine here on BYC prevailed, and it has saved us a lot of valuable space in our coop to go with fewer boxes, saved us money on materials and saved us from any more banged up thumbs building more than we needed.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
frow.gif


So sorry for your losses. It is never easy to lose them. X2...you don't need a nest box for each bird. Generally they say 1 box per 4 hens, but I have found I need 1 box for every 2 hens as you can have broodies that will hog up boxes and a lot of waiting lines. So if you have 8 birds in total, you can get away with 3 or 4 boxes. Keep a fake egg in each box at all times so they use every box.

Enjoy this new adventure you are on and welcome to our flock!
 
Thanks for the kind words everyone... I will definitely rethink the nesting boxes... or I'll just get more birds... either way, thanks again for the heads up:)
 
So here we are... still trying to complete the new chicken coop... whew.. what a job this is turning out to be,
400
lol...
 

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