First go at chickens - A few questions

My family and I are finally going to be moving to a new home in a few weeks with enough room and privacy to have some chickens. I have two little girls, one is five and one is eight months. I've always wanted to have some livestock, but we've lived within city limits on .3 acres every since the kids were born. The new house has five acres and is perfect for livestock.

I have been reading and reading and doing all the research I can. Short of buying a book, I have covered a lot. I think I have narrowed down what I want, but I wanted to give a little bit of concerns so that I can be sure to get the right breeds to begin with.

1. First of all, the main reason we will have the chickens is for the entertainment. I want the kids to learn about them and have fun with them. It will give them a sense of responsibility, so that they are being constructive and outdoors, vs. indoors watching cartoons. I work a lot, so I will have time to tend to them, but I don't want to have breeds that require crazy attention and are not very self sufficient. In other words, I'd like to get some that are easy to take care of - for the most part. Traits that I know would be of interest are birds that are mostly calm, friendly, and not very flighty. Since we will be in the middle of the woods though, I do want birds that can be fairly alert to danger. I have no problem handling the chickens every day, including the rooster - which I will mention in a sec.

2. Egg production is not a necessity. I would like for them to start laying, but we are not big egg eaters. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if I only got a few eggs a week. The last thing I want to do is be throwing away eggs or giving them away because we can't eat them all.

3.A rooster. I really want a rooster because they are a lot of fun to watch. Also, flock security is another big reason. I know he will keep an eye on my hens. I am concerned about him becoming mean though. My five year old is only about thirthy pounds, and the last thing I need is her being scared of the rooster because he charges her every time she goes out to tend to the chickens (with myself of course). I don't want her to become scared of the chickens. Somebody mentioned a bantum rooster for this reason..maybe he wouldn't be such a handful.

4. Also, I'm concerned about the rooster fertilizing the eggs. I don't want a bunch of baby chicks running around. Is there a way to have a rooster and him not fertilize the eggs? Would I need to keep him separate from the hens? Wouldn't this defeat the purpose of having him for protection?

5. I'm not sure what a decent number would be, but I was thinking maybe four or five chickens and a rooster.

6. As far as a coop, I am leaning more towards a chicken tractor because I can move them around and I don't have to worry about cleaning out the coop all the time. As I said before, I don't want to devote a ton of time to them. I was thinking that a tractor may be less maintenance, because I can just move it around. I do have a covered area with a concrete slab on the property that was something like a dog kennel, and it would make a good coop with some modification, but again, I don't want to be cleaning it constantly. Not sure what to do here.

7. Not sure if we want to do day old chicks or what. I think we can get up a little raising station for them..like the plastic crates I've seen in pictures with a heat lamp and all. I would probably need two big crates for them if I get six like I'm considering. The house has a big garage, and I was thinking this could be a good place for them to be brought up. Again though, I'm still not sure if we should maybe get some already grown birds though. The chick idea appeals because My girls will like to watch them grow.

I know that's a lot to cover, but any help would be appreciated.

That is a lot to cover. On breed, I suggest you go to Henderson’s Breed Chart to look at the traits, then to Feathersite for photos. Try to avoid birds that can’t fly like Silkies and birds that can’t see like the crested breeds. Smaller chickens are normally more nimble, but anytime you free range you have a risk for loss. Some people are quite successful at free ranging in what you describe, but some people get their flocks wiped out. The first three years here I free ranged and lost a total of two to a fox. But then someone abandoned two big dogs out here and I lost eight in one afternoon while I was gone. A few months it happened again and I lost five. I wound up with electric netting which has worked great.

Henderson’s Breed Chart
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Feathersite
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html

What you do with the eggs is up to you. I give mine to a food bank and they are grateful to get them.

I’m not going to get into telling you how to raise your rooster to be non-aggressive or which breeds are best. There are enough people with enough different experiences that will give you totally conflicting advice. My suggestion is to supervise your children when they are out there until they are old enough and mature enough to take care of themselves. You are dealing with living animals. There are no guarantees. I was raised on a farm with a free ranging flock of chickens and never was attacked, so I don’t buy into it that every rooster will attack. But some will. Supervise your children instead of relying on your good luck.

A rooster will fertilize the eggs. That’s what they do. If you don’t want chicks, don’t incubate them. Even if they are fertilized they won’t hatch unless you or a hen incubates them.

Many people will try to tell you that you have to have certain ratio of hens for every rooster or civilization as we know it will be forever changed. That’s really not the way of the world. One rooster with five or six hens will be fine.

If you build it right you’ll find a fixed coop will require a lot less work than a tractor. With a tractor you have a commitment to move it fairly regularly. That’s not always easy or convenient. If you build your coop bigger than you think you need it and keep it dry, you don’t have to spend a lot of time cleaning or maintaining it. Many people on tiny urban lots clean their coop daily. You are not in that situation. You have a lot of room. The last time I cleaned the bedding out of my coop I had gone four years. The only reason I did it them was that I wanted that stuff on my garden, not because the coop needed it. I do use a droppings board under the roost and clean that off maybe every two to three weeks, depending on how many chickens I have and how humid the weather is. If it starts to smell, I’ve gone too long. That poop is great in a compost heap. I do suggest you start a compost pile as a priority when you move in. That gives you a place to put a lot of waste, plus that stuff is black gold when it comes to growing things.

I personally like day old chicks, but you can do it either way. You can raise them in the garage or, if you build your coop and have electricity to it, you can raise them in the coop from Day 1. I have a permanently built-in brooder in my main coop. The top is my droppings board. With kids the garage may be a good place for you, but the chicks will create a lot of dust, might be loud, and unless you keep the brooder dry, it can stink. The kids will most likely interact and enjoy the chicks a lot more in the garage though.

Good luck with it. Many on here will envy you of your opportunity.

Buff Orpingtons and Easter Eggers are often favorites for people who want tame chickens, but there are plenty more. A bantam breed might be a good idea for you, and I don't know anything about bantams. There is information about this in our Breeds section -- see the brown band at the top of the page. If you happen to have a good breeder in your area, they will tell you how tame their birds are, and often they are tamer than hatchery birds. Mostly, though, being tame is a matter of careful handling from day one. Here's one article on this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-socialize-baby-chickens Your best chance at friendly chickens is to raise them from chicks, unless you happen to acquire a flock from someone who has pets, probably not a likely thing to find..

Hatcheries breed for good egg production, though some breeds still produce better than others. The breeds section, again, can give you an idea of a yearly average for a breed, as can this chart. You'll have more eggs in summer than winter, and they will store for many weeks in your refrigerator. We have a section of the forum with lots of good egg recipes, too. 4 or 5 chickens and a rooster might inded be a good number for you.

Fertile eggs is the easy question. Most of us on BYC who own a rooster eat fertile eggs routinely. You will not get chicks, or even a slightly developed chick, unless the eggs are incubated, either in an incubator or under a broody hen, who you will notice because she will sit in one place almost continuously for the 3 weeks it takes for them to hatch. I've had chickens off and on for many years, and I have never cracked an egg and discovered a partly developed chick. A percent of store bought eggs are also fertile, expecially from the more naturally kept hens.

As for a coop, I'll give you a link to show you the kind of open air setup that I feel works best, by far, in the south where we are. Chickens are much more sensitive to heat than cold, and our summers can be very rough on them, even causing death. Shade and plenty of breeze will be a necessity in summer, and we have nothing down here that really feels like winter to them, in the sense of uncomfortably cold. We occasionally get lows into the 20's where I am, and their coop is as open to fresh air as a 3 sided structure. Also, a 3 sided structure with an attached fenced in yard gives you excellent predator protection. Having chickens will bring raccoons, coyotes, stray dogs, even animals that may surprise you to your property in short order.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/163417/please-show-me-your-hot-weather-coops/0_20

I hope some others will come along and fill in things I don't know about, like bantams. Good luck, and enjoy!

(Haha, I didn't realize Ridgerunner was typing, too. You will get excellent advice there!)

+1 for bantams. One of our 4 is a barred bantam cochin. This little chicken is absolutely adorable to watch and is the most tame I've ever seen. You say "Wolfram don't move!" and she hunkers down and lets you pick her up. ( Think that is the mating pose? ), either way she is very personable as well. We didn't do anythiing special with her when we got her like focusing on taming her, she just was this way.

I didn't realize there was an option of giving to a local food bank - good idea. I'm sure I could give the eggs away..not really a problem at all. I just don't want to have so many they are a burden to keep collected and given away.

Also, great advice on the rooster being living animals and there are no guarantees. I had not thought about it like that, but it makes sense. I will be supervising my kids at all times. I'm just trying to do whatever I can up front in picking a decent breed or taming them by handling them every day, etc. I don't want my rooster to become a monster, and then be a pain in the butt.

As far as eating fertilized eggs..I didn't even know that lol. I did notice on youtube where someone had their coop nesting boxes set up where the eggs roll out. I guess this was the reason, so they hen had no real time to sit on them. I guess it also makes it easier to get them, especially if the eggs are routed outside of the roost by a pipe or something of that nature.

I'm still undecided on the coop. As mentioned, the property already has a long concrete patio which is covered, and even divided in a few spots. It has a corrugated tin roof and even has some fencing or wire around parts of it. It is my understanding that this was where they raised dogs of some sort. I know I could easily convert part of this into a nice little coop, but the issue is that it has the concrete slab floor and also that it is about 200' from the house. Personally, I was kind of thinking that closer to the house would be better, that way they are near by.

The house is in a wooded area. About two acres or so of the land is yard or exposed, and the rest is mostly hardwoods with an occasional pine. The whole five acres is fenced with barbed wire, but I know this won't stop things like coyotes or foxes or other predators. The house does have a small area that is probably a half acre or so - of fenced in back yard. The problem is that the fence is very flimsy, and will need some updating. It is also only about 4' tall. I have a three year old female (spayed) bluetick coon hound, and I have been contemplating exactly how we are going to keep her in this fence. If she ever gets on any wild anumal whether it be a squirrel, coon, or whatever, she will chase it until it is treed. I'm worried about the abundance of wildlife we are going to encounter and how I'm going to keep her contained until I get the fence in good enough shape.

In any case, what I was getting at is this. I don't know how she will act around chickens, but I'm sure that we might be able to tame her to them. She is a pet and does live indoors with us and our two cats, who absolutely are her boss. She does not mess with the cats for any reason. lol. I thought maybe if the chicks were raised at the house and she knew about them all along, maybe she will become acustomed to them. I know there are no guarantees, but that is what we hope. Anyway, I was thinking I could put the chicken tractor or even a permanent coop (built from materials of the existing structure mentioned above) in the backyard with her. If this is done, the chickens will have that added layer of protection from the fence and the dog, provided she stays in the fence and gets along with them. Of couse they will be protected by their coop, but them being in the fence and close to the house could help us keep a closer eye on them.

Just some thoughts.

At this point we are leaning towards chicks. I didn't realize it was so inexpensive to raise them up in a simple home built brooder. It doesn't look difficult to do at all. That will also give me time to get the coop designed and built.

Also, thanks for the tip on how the chickens will bring in undesirable guests. That is very good advice. Not something I had thought about, but it makes sense.

This is a picture of one of my silkies. Silkies are really the teddy bear of the chicken.they are so tame, cuddley, and docile. Mine often sleep in my lap or on my stomach and they will purr when they are petted. Yes chickens purr when happy.the correct term is called trilling. The pur like a cat when being petting or when they eat something tasty or sun bathing. Silkies are a excellent breed for kids and they are so soft and feathers lack barbicels so they look furry. I would really consider this breed! If your going to get silkies find a breeder. I hope this helps and best wishes to you!

You've gotten some really good advice here! I"m just going to chime in with a couple of things...

If you really don't want/need eggs, consider getting some older hens. Lots of folks age thier birds out around 2 years old, and those girls have several years left.

My other thought was a bantam breed. Bantam cochins are a personal favorite. Not much is prettier than a mille fluer d'uccle. Silkies would fit everything except situational awareness, lol. They're naturally a bit handicapped in the vision department. I'd also advise to get an assortment of breeds. This makes them easier to tell who is who, better for your littles to tell apart.

The problem with getting bantam chicks is they're not sexed. If you want to go that route, I'd say get older birds where you can tell males from females, over 2 months old.

As far as too many eggs--your dog and cats will enjoy them, if you find you get too many. Plus, the bantam eggs are always cool to give to others with younger children, kiddos like the eggs that are small like they are!

Good advice here. I'd add Buff Brahma bantams to the list, and for big birds, Speckled Sussex hens. Both are beautiful and friendly. Your adult dog may or may not work out with the birds, and having her fenced in with them is a very scary idea. Mary