Advice before we take the plunge

[TomandBetty]

Good morning,

We’re a retired couple in western Wisconsin who have finally moved into a town where they allow (four) backyard chickens. We have admired others who’ve done so over the years and had every intention of starting right out this spring as soon as chicks began to arrive. HOWEVER… our total lack of experience has caused a great deal of apprehension. We’re not really concerned about the cost or time involved… we’re concerned that we’ll end up sacrificing a lot of helpless chicks because we don’t know what we’re doing.

We’ve spent a lot of time browsing these message boards and are so impressed with the quality of expertise and advice. There is a tremendous amount of information, but applying it to our specific circumstances is difficult. (We’re pretty old.) So we thought, before we venture any further, that a recap of our understanding combined with some specific questions might help us decide whether or not to take the plunge. So thank you in advance for your attention and assistance.

We have a house in a small neighborhood with a (chain-link) fenced yard. We have plenty of heated garage and/or unfinished basement space for the early stages. So we gather that we can select our four chicks and bring them home to the garage or basement with a heat lamp, feeder, waterer, bedding and feed and start them in a small plastic container or kiddie pool. Thus should be sufficient for the first two or three weeks, correct? But we’re not sure what should happen next.

Will it be okay to relocate them to their outdoor coop at that point? It will be late April- early May and we can still have pretty cold nights. If it’s too early for outside, what do we do until then?

We’ve pretty much decided on an Omlet coop. We aren’t handy enough to build our own or adapt a vinyl shed and the only other alternative seems to be the cheap wooden coops sold by the local chains and our reading has pretty much convinced us that these are not sturdy enough. (And please, please feel free to disagree with any of these opinions.) We like to idea and pictures of the Omlet coops, but we’re confused by some of their website information. The Go coop and run seems like a good place to start, but the website suggests that chickens need to be twelve weeks old before they can use it. So once again, what does one do between the time they stop being chicks and when they can go into the Go coop?

We first noticed Omlet’s larger raised coop and thought it looked perfect, but don’t know how early chickens can start using it.

We do have a raccoon that climbs the fence at night and browses the yard. Are the Omlet coops sturdy enough to withstand it?

And finally, for now, is the Omlet coop capable of sustaining our chickens through a Wisconsin winter?

We would greatly appreciate any comments, advice, or suggestions. Thank you again.

 

[SilverBirds]

A kiddie pool would work for the first week but after that chicks like to start using their wings and could easily hop out out the pool. You could put something around it to keep them inside.

I would put them outside at 4-5 weeks old. Depending on how cold it gets, 50F or lower I'd put a heart source for them outside.

I do not know much about the omelet coop so I'll let someone else help you with that one.

When picking out day chicks you can either get them from an online hatchery, a local feed store, or a breeder. Since you have a limit of four (and I'm assuming no roosters) I'd suggest getting sexlink (which means you can tell the gender as day old chicks) or from an online hatchery that can vent sex.

Best of luck!

 

[DobieLover]

So we gather that we can select our four chicks and bring them home to the garage or basement with a heat lamp, feeder, waterer, bedding and feed and start them in a small plastic container or kiddie pool. Thus should be sufficient for the first two or three weeks, correct? But we’re not sure what should happen next.

I much prefer to have the coop and run built and ready to go and THEN get chicks and brood them directly in the coop with a brooder plate, never a heat lamp. The plates offer a heat source closer to what nature intended, they use much less energy and are much safer as a potential fire hazard.

Will it be okay to relocate them to their outdoor coop at that point? It will be late April- early May and we can still have pretty cold nights. If it’s too early for outside, what do we do until then?

See above. I raised chicks in my built-in brooder in the coop in a NY early spring. They were zipping back and forth between their plate and the food buffet on a 23F morning when they were just over 2 weeks old. They did great.

And finally, for now, is the Omlet coop capable of sustaining our chickens through a Wisconsin winter?

I wouldn't want to use this style coop because of the Wisconsin winter. They will need more space.
Have you looked at the OverEZ coops?
Can you hire a handy person to build something for you?
He/she could attach a large predator proof run with a solid roof over it to an OverEZ coop and cover the walls with 1/2" hardware cloth and extend out a 2' apron. Having a walk-in style coop and run makes life SO much easier for maintenance and care giving.
Or a handy person could convert an existing shed into a coop and attach the run to that.
I converted a shed into my walk-in coop and built a predator-proof attached run and my chicken keeping chores have never been anything other than pleasant.

 

[junior67]

if you choose to brood them inside an xl dog crate would work as well and will last until they are old enough to go outside without heat. I did this last year and loved having them inside but this year I decided to brood them in the coop with a MHP (you can look that up on this site and get great information on it) for a heat source. I did this mainly because I now have older chickens that I need to combine the chicks with and it is easier, from what I have read, to do this if they are raised out there "with them"..... If you go with the dog crate you will need to put cardboard or something around the sides for the first couple weeks or the chicks can get out through the bars.

others have given advice on the other things and have more experience than me with that.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

I am not familiar with the specific models of Omelet coop, but I know that though they are better-built than many prefabs, they are badly ventilated and wildly exaggerate the number of birds they can appropriately house. Also, the runs have openings that are large enough that a raccoon can reach through, grab a chicken that's resting near the fence, and start pulling it through -- so at least the bottom 2 feet should be reinforced with 1/2" hardware cloth.

For 4 hens you need:

• 16 square feet in the coop. 4'x4' is the only really practical build for this given the common dimensions of lumber.
• 4 feet of roost
• 40 square feet in the run. 4'x10' or 5'x8'. 6'x6' is a bit too small, 6'x8' is more generous and easier to build than 5'x8'.
• 4 square feet of ventilation. A 2'x2' window is theoretically enough, but in practice doesn't create any air FLOW so better to spread the venting around (and even better to exceed the minimums, especially in warm climates).
• 2 nest boxes, to give the hens a choice

This coop was specifically designed to meet all the minimums for a flock of 4: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-little-monitor-coop.76275/ For the cost of a prefab plus the necessary alterations to add ventilation you might be able to hire a handyman to build it for you.

As mentioned above, an OverEZ coop, though still plagued with bad ventilation and claims to house double the birds it really should have, might be an option and, being wood, is easier to modify than the plastic Omelet coops. Beware though -- they include the nest boxes in their measurements and you have to subtract that in order to get the true square footage.

Whatever you get, you want the airflow to end up looking like this:

Heat and ammonia both rise and airflow is just as critical in the winter as in the summer because draft-free ventilation over the birds' heads carries away the moisture that causes frostbite.

 

[SilverBirds]

There are a few online sites and places that build pre made coops. They are a bit pricer then the omelet one but wooden coops tend to be sturdier, more predator proof, and all around safer.

 

[Ebony Rose]

You mentioned a raised coop that you liked the looks of, but also mentioned that you're retired.
I'm retired.
I had an elevated coop once... my hips and knees cannot handle the climb up into the coop to gather eggs and perform housekeeping. I now have a walk-in (without the climb up) type coop and am MUCH happier.

 

[3KillerBs]

You mentioned a raised coop that you liked the looks of, but also mentioned that you're retired.
I'm retired.
I had an elevated coop once... my hips and knees cannot handle the climb up into the coop to gather eggs and perform housekeeping. I now have a walk-in (without the climb up) type coop and am MUCH happier.

When we were placing nests and roosts in Neuchickenstein DH questioned the height I'd chosen until I explained that I was thinking about how much arthritis I already had and didn't want to bend down to get eggs 3 times a day.

 

[rwilliams296]

I started with a Tractor Supply coop then graduated to a walk in coop that my husband made from a 20' carport. We still use the small TS coop. It is in the run of the 20' coop and that is where the chicks go at 5 weeks for gradual introduction to the older members of the flock.

 

[Dharmachick]

I finally bought an OverEZ coop and it is so much better than all the others. Very sturdy and great for cold winter days.