2+ years to get approval for chickens

[Danielstribe]

Shame on me, forgot to tell you Congratulations on winning the battle with the Supervisors.. That is one of my favorite past times is irritating ours. To many people will just give up if they even bother to try, you stuck it out, be proud.

 

[Danielstribe]

THANKS IT WAS CRAZY!

 

[starri33]

It is very addictive and I am right there with you on the over doing the research (but I've never regretted over building anything... ) and the Lord has me therefore He has this.
Plan is 15 constant birds and introducing more as needed never exceeding 20. Their main purpose will be part of our eco-system. We do "Back to Eden gardening " completely organic as well as with our fruit trees and grapes. The chickens will be our cultivators and will be supplemented with our own organic mix of feed. The eggs will be a bonus. And yes they will be out most days to forge and free range. And with the incubator BECAREFUL there you'll be building a 20 x 50 coop... My brother and uncle both hatch their own chicks as well as turkey, quail, pheasant and whatever other eggs come their way. Happy hatching!

It sounds like you've done your research,and your right, God's got this.. I'd love to do a large garden, I'm still trying the fruit tree's, I live in the desert so water is a challenge, toss in the fact that we are on water haul, makes it even more challenging, we are also in the middle of open range, had a couple of cows come through the other day and they ate my pear tree..lol. I don't have to be to concerned with having to build a 20 x 50 coop, our planning and zoning will only give me 300 sq ft without having to have a permit and with the hike in building permit fee's, I'd never be able to afford materials for a coop if I had to get a permit, but I do have a way around that..lol, just build another one with in the current boundaries of what they allow. We sit on 2.35 acres, my nearest neighbors with the exception of the folks across the street are all 2+ acres away. lol, I have to not get to carried away, health isn't that great and I know if it gets to the point I can't offer the chickens the type of care they deserve, I'll have to re-home.. re-homing a smaller flock will be easier than say 200 chickens. After I find out the outcome of the possible chicken adoption, I'm considering going dual purpose.. right now it's just eggs.

 

[Danielstribe]

It sounds like you've done your research,and your right, God's got this.. I'd love to do a large garden, I'm still trying the fruit tree's, I live in the desert so water is a challenge, toss in the fact that we are on water haul, makes it even more challenging, we are also in the middle of open range, had a couple of cows come through the other day and they ate my pear tree..lol. I don't have to be to concerned with having to build a 20 x 50 coop, our planning and zoning will only give me 300 sq ft without having to have a permit and with the hike in building permit fee's, I'd never be able to afford materials for a coop if I had to get a permit, but I do have a way around that..lol, just build another one with in the current boundaries of what they allow. We sit on 2.35 acres, my nearest neighbors with the exception of the folks across the street are all 2+ acres away. lol, I have to not get to carried away, health isn't that great and I know if it gets to the point I can't offer the chickens the type of care they deserve, I'll have to re-home.. re-homing a smaller flock will be easier than say 200 chickens. After I find out the outcome of the possible chicken adoption, I'm considering going dual purpose.. right now it's just eggs.

 

[Danielstribe]

Wow dessert, i didn't catch that till now. I encourage you to look into the "Back to Eden Gardening" you can watch a video on YouTube about it you will be amazed and you can even turn dessert into fertile ground...Also i will be praying for you starri33. Have a blessed day.

 

[starri33]

Wow dessert, i didn't catch that till now. I encourage you to look into the "Back to Eden Gardening" you can watch a video on YouTube about it you will be amazed and you can even turn dessert into fertile ground...Also i will be praying for you starri33. Have a blessed day.

Thank you, I've been watching a series I guess on you tube called Appalachia's Homestead with Patara on youtube, she talks about doing the back to Eden.. I'd had dreams of doing a "homestead" afraid that the closest I am going to get to that are chickens, fruit tree's and a small garden. 2 years ago, I was ready for a garden, had prepped the soil and ended up in a wheel chair with a broken ankle needing knee surgery..lol, had the surgery on both the ankle and knee, it's going to give me issues but I'm getting there.

 

[The Lazy L]

Congrats!

So some of these chicks will go to others?
Nice coop you've built, but would be mighty crowded with 15-20 birds.

4 square foot of coop (rule of thumb) per chicken. 15-20 birds equals 60-80 square feet needed and OP has 50 feet square. I agree with the "mighty crowded".

 

[Molpet]

I have several coops.. 3 are 8x8... one has 12 birds and it's ok on bad weather days. Another has 20 birds. On Bad weather days some get picked on so much they brave the journey and hide in a dog house.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I think if you stick with 15 you will be okay but I wouldn’t do 20. The rule is usually 4 sq ft per bird inside so with 50 sq ft that equals 12.5 birds. Obviously there is no such thing as half a bird but I think having 3 extra birds won’t be that big of a deal especially considering all the outside space they have and with your plans to free range. However, I do think that adding 8 more birds (20 birds as opposed to 15) would definitely be crowded in there. So I would either stick with 15 or even possibly rehome some of them and just start with 12. 12 I think will be more than enough for your purposes of wanting them to help fertilize the garden and wanting some eggs. I just have 7 now (had 8) and they are all over the yard, scratching stuff up and finding lots of good stuff to eat, and I get plenty of poop and fertilizing lol so I think it will be more than enough and also you don’t want to start with too many and be overwhelmed. You can always choose to add more later if you want to. And they will lay plenty of eggs for you. Also if it is because of a high minimum, some hatcheries and feed stores now have a minimum of only 3 and TSC has a minimum of only 6. But you seem like you put a lot of time and effort into your coop and run and it does look awesome and I know it might seem like some people are maybe attacking or critiquing but they just care about the health and safety of the birds. I do agree that 20 will be crowded in that coop so I would opt for 12-15 rather than 15-20 to start.

 

[Danielstribe]

I truly appreciate all of your great concerns with the size of the coop and about of birds. We've always gone with two square foot per bird for coup this is not living space this is only roosting space they will not be spending any great amount of time in there other than laying eggs and roosting, we have twice the size run that is needed plus they free range on a daily basis. We have done it this way for 30 plus years and never had any issues or problems, yes there are some pecking orders that do take place but that's part of it... as with life . And it will require, for the size of our Gardens and Fruit Tree Orchards, at least 15 chickens to do the composting we need them to do. And we would hardly ever hit 20 full grown ladies in the coop, but it could handle it and has in the past with this 2sqft per bird ratio. Thanks again and y'all have a blessed day.