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Hey there everyone! Well, this chicken raising is a brand new experience for me. I remember having ducks, geese and even a turkey when I was very young and my husbands grandmother had abour 900 chickens when he was a kid but this is our first go at it.
We bought our 5 acres in 2005 and after having the house put in we have spend the past 2 1/2 years clearing brush, junk and other debri and putting up fences.
We had talked about getting some chickens but finally made the decision on a grocery shopping trip when on a very rare occasion my husband Mike actually went with me. Once he actually saw the price of eggs and chickens at the store, he was dead set on raising his own.
We bought our 5 acres in 2005 and after having the house put in we have spend the past 2 1/2 years clearing brush, junk and other debri and putting up fences.
We had talked about getting some chickens but finally made the decision on a grocery shopping trip when on a very rare occasion my husband Mike actually went with me. Once he actually saw the price of eggs and chickens at the store, he was dead set on raising his own.
So we set out first to build a coop.....and here is the result....
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THE COOP
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THE COOP
The coop itself is 10' x 10'. We built the nesting box to hold 4 laying hens. We will however probably have to add on to this since we we given (free) a total of 9 "biddies" and did not know which were hens. Now since we have had them for about a month we know for sure that 2 are Roosters.
The coop and nesting box cost us a total of $75.00 to built, everything we used we already had or got for free. Our only cost was for the Gate, chicken wire and four 10' 2 x 4's.
The coop and nesting box cost us a total of $75.00 to built, everything we used we already had or got for free. Our only cost was for the Gate, chicken wire and four 10' 2 x 4's.
The Nesting Box
Since we are in the Farmland of Central/South Florida we had to be sure to build the coop to protect from predators. We have plenty of hawks, Eagles and Bobcats running through or property.
We used four 10' x 4' kennel panels for the outside walls, cutting out the center section of one and inserting a 3' gate. after framing in the roof trusses, we covered the entire inside with chicken wire. We then added a skirting of chicken wire to the outside which is 6" up from the bottom and extends out 2 1/2 feet where is is then anchored to the ground to keep predators from trying to dig under. The roof is covered with rolled aluminum roofing we have had laying around for about 6 years. It does a great job of reflecting the sun away from the coop.
Updated pics of the chickens:
http://www.lawyerseek.com/Practice/Pharmaceutical-Injury-C1/Zelnorm-P155/We used four 10' x 4' kennel panels for the outside walls, cutting out the center section of one and inserting a 3' gate. after framing in the roof trusses, we covered the entire inside with chicken wire. We then added a skirting of chicken wire to the outside which is 6" up from the bottom and extends out 2 1/2 feet where is is then anchored to the ground to keep predators from trying to dig under. The roof is covered with rolled aluminum roofing we have had laying around for about 6 years. It does a great job of reflecting the sun away from the coop.
Updated pics of the chickens:
