Advice for a newbie: Chicks or Pullets?

[Aunt Angus]

Three ways you can do it, Fast - Cheap - Good
Pick two
If it’s Fast and Cheap it won’t be Good.
If it’s Good and Fast it won’t be Cheap.
If it’s Cheap and Good it won’t be Fast.

I LOVE this!!!

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I LOVE this!!!

Not mine but not sure who said it. I love it too!

eta: Wikipedia says origins unknowns but dates to the 1950s. Called the Project Management Triangle, Triple Constraint, Iron Triangle.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Not mine but not sure who said it. I love it too!

It's so true!

I was thinking about how this applies to my coop. I chose cheap & good. It certainly wasn't fast to make it! Ha ha!

 

[LythrumSalicaria]

You can always look for a prebuilt shed that you can modify. I’ve even seen them used for fairly cheap.

Three ways you can do it, Fast - Cheap - Good
Pick two
If it’s Fast and Cheap it won’t be Good.
If it’s Good and Fast it won’t be Cheap.
If it’s Cheap and Good it won’t be Fast.

I mentioned earlier that I have a shed on my property. Modifying it was my original plan, but then I realized that with how much the project is going to cost I likely wouldn’t be able to finish it before winter. That would have been easy to miss though, with the way I tend to ramble.

That’s why I was thinking about getting the pre-fab coop for now. But based on what some people have said, it’s not likely to work out too well; and I don’t want my chickens to be uncomfortable just because I was impatient. So I think I’m better off either saving up money and doing the modifications next year, or working away at it slowly this year and not even think about getting chickens until next spring. I’m a little bit bummed about that, but I’d sooner suck it up, be patient and start off on the right foot rather than rush and risk the health and safety of the chickens.

 

[Eggscaping]

I mentioned earlier that I have a shed on my property. Modifying it was my original plan, but then I realized that with how much the project is going to cost I likely wouldn’t be able to finish it before winter. That would have been easy to miss though, with the way I tend to ramble.

That’s why I was thinking about getting the pre-fab coop for now. But based on what some people have said, it’s not likely to work out too well; and I don’t want my chickens to be uncomfortable just because I was impatient. So I think I’m better off either saving up money and doing the modifications next year, or working away at it slowly this year and not even think about getting chickens until next spring. I’m a little bit bummed about that, but I’d sooner suck it up, be patient and start off on the right foot rather than rush and risk the health and safety of the chickens.

Probably the best decision. For us, we're probably going to do something similar (once we move and get the house put in the lot and fenced - those things come first cause 'house to live in' and then two little elderly dogs that must have a fence) - but we will be mad-keen to GET chickens. New Boots plans on making the coop and run from scrounged and/or bought lumber, lots of enthusiasm and all the knowledge that is on this site. I will help her with boundless enthusiasm and one of those wooden jig-things that lets you join corners with pilot holes. All this while learning to make soap (for me) and planting native shrubs and trees for hedgerows. And a few fruit trees. Oh - and she's going to learn to can. And we want to do lots of fishing, or course. And the rabbit hutches/procuring stock/breeding will be my responsibility. Whee!

 

[feathermaid]

What I’m thinking I’ll do instead is start with a small pre-fab backyard coop. TSC has a nice one on clearance that I can afford to buy right now. I’ll start out with just 4 or 5 chickens

Why not start with only 3 chickens? It's a good number, will give you a fair amount of eggs and will also teach you a great deal in what works for you and what doesn't, without being too overwhelming. I'm a big advocate of getting chicks. I've just heard way too many stories of folks getting older birds that have turned out to be sick, parasite infested or carriers of an ugly virus you don't want on your property... I'm just paranoid, that's me.

Chicks that come from a hatchery or feed store, essentially also come straight from a sterilized environment and haven't had a chance to be exposed to any diseases, very safe in my opinion. Sexed pullets are usually 90% accurate whereas straight run are 50/50. You could also get sex-links for guaranteed females. Others here have already mentioned Mama Heating Pad and I strongly recommend that or a similar method for their heat source. I think you'd find it very fun and rewarding.

About that particular prefab coop: Dimensions: 84L x 40W x 57H in.
It's basically only 7'x3' which comes to 21 SF, barely enough for 2 birds if you consider the 10sf per bird rule. Although I did get by with a similar prefab myself, but I also let my girls free range in my backyard every day before I built my new larger coop. Here's an insightful article that will help you decide how big is big enough:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

but sumac is stubborn and I don’t want any shoots coming up in the run. As long as I don’t build the run directly over the cut bushes and keep on top of cutting back any new growth, that shouldn’t be an issue.

Sumac is difficult to get rid of and severe pruning can actually encourage new shoots to pop up quite a distance away from the original location. You would be better off cutting once and applying herbicide directly to the fresh cuts immediately after... the chemical will kill the roots and it's less likely to return. I used something called Ground-Clear for sumac and blackberry vines and neither returned.

 

[LythrumSalicaria]

Probably the best decision. For us, we're probably going to do something similar (once we move and get the house put in the lot and fenced - those things come first cause 'house to live in' and then two little elderly dogs that must have a fence) - but we will be mad-keen to GET chickens. New Boots plans on making the coop and run from scrounged and/or bought lumber, lots of enthusiasm and all the knowledge that is on this site. I will help her with boundless enthusiasm and one of those wooden jig-things that lets you join corners with pilot holes. All this while learning to make soap (for me) and planting native shrubs and trees for hedgerows. And a few fruit trees. Oh - and she's going to learn to can. And we want to do lots of fishing, or course. And the rabbit hutches/procuring stock/breeding will be my responsibility. Whee!

That all sounds like a blast to me! Lots of work too, of course, but sometimes the work is half the fun. Hope you’ll keep us posted when this grand adventure of yours begins; I’d love to hear about your progress.

 

[feathermaid]

Do you have photos of the shed you were planning to use? That's usually the easiest way to go. What are the dimensions in inches or feet? Is it wood, plastic or metal? If you have an already-built structure, I can't imagine how it could possibly be too expensive to modify into a chicken house. That's exactly what I wanted to do originally but most sheds around here were upwards of $1000.

You only need to add some upper vents, a roost bar and a couple nest boxes. Of course a window and a pop door would be nice too. The run could be as simple as a used dog run you find on craigslist. It seems to me you could do all that for the price of the prefab from TSC.

There are many articles and threads here on BYC about cheap economical ways to repurpose items into chicken feeders or nest boxes etc. Tree branches or an old ladder could be the roosts. I even have a plain old wood crate on the coop floor that one of my girls prefers to use as her nest box.

 

[LythrumSalicaria]

Why not start with only 3 chickens? It's a good number, will give you a fair amount of eggs and will also teach you a great deal in what works for you and what doesn't, without being too overwhelming. I'm a big advocate of getting chicks. I've just heard way too many stories of folks getting older birds that have turned out to be sick, parasite infested or carriers of an ugly virus you don't want on your property... I'm just paranoid, that's me.

Chicks that come from a hatchery or feed store, essentially also come straight from a sterilized environment and haven't had a chance to be exposed to any diseases, very safe in my opinion. Sexed pullets are usually 90% accurate whereas straight run are 50/50. You could also get sex-links for guaranteed females. Others here have already mentioned Mama Heating Pad and I strongly recommend that or a similar method for their heat source. I think you'd find it very fun and rewarding.

About that particular prefab coop: Dimensions: 84L x 40W x 57H in.
It's basically only 7'x3' which comes to 21 SF, barely enough for 2 birds if you consider the 10sf per bird rule. Although I did get by with a similar prefab myself, but I also let my girls free range in my backyard every day before I built my new larger coop. Here's an insightful article that will help you decide how big is big enough:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need


Sumac is difficult to get rid of and severe pruning can actually encourage new shoots to pop up quite a distance away from the original location. You would be better off cutting once and applying herbicide directly to the fresh cuts immediately after... the chemical will kill the roots and it's less likely to return. I used something called Ground-Clear for sumac and blackberry vines and neither returned.

Starting with just two or three chickens in that little pre-fab coop is exactly what I was thinking of; preferably some sort of Bantams (like Bantam Bearded d’Uccles! OMG they’re too cute for words ). I’d be letting my birds free-range often; giving them opportunities to forage and scratch frequently is important to me. The only thing is some other people in the thread made good points about keeping that little coop secure and warm enough for them in winter. It would be easy enough to make it dig-proof, but unless I see it in person I can’t know how solid or predator-proof the openings are. Then again, it probably wouldn’t be especially difficult or expensive to reinforce the points of entry.

Regarding using herbicide to get rid of the Sumac, I had thought about it but I was a little bit concerned about the impact the residual chemicals might have on the birds and the groundwater. Did you use it where your chickens forage? And if so, did you notice any difference in the behaviour of your birds or the quality of their eggs?

 

[LythrumSalicaria]

Do you have photos of the shed you were planning to use? That's usually the easiest way to go. What are the dimensions in inches or feet? Is it wood, plastic or metal? If you have an already-built structure, I can't imagine how it could possibly be too expensive to modify into a chicken house. That's exactly what I wanted to do originally but most sheds around here were upwards of $1000.

You only need to add some upper vents, a roost bar and a couple nest boxes. Of course a window and a pop door would be nice too. The run could be as simple as a used dog run you find on craigslist. It seems to me you could do all that for the price of the prefab from TSC.

There are many articles and threads here on BYC about cheap economical ways to repurpose items into chicken feeders or nest boxes etc. Tree branches or an old ladder could be the roosts. I even have a plain old wood crate on the coop floor that one of my girls prefers to use as her nest box.

I don’t have pictures at the moment; the path leading up to the shed is buried under about 3 feet of snow. But it’s an old tool shed built from chip board and logs. It’s 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall. I wanted to add some 2x4s for extra support because so far as I know it’s been standing for at least 50 years, so it could probably use some TLC. I also wanted to replace the chip board with plywood and add some insulation. I’ve seen temperatures get as low as -40C here in winter; insulation will be a necessity.

The biggest expense would be the run. My plan was to build one from scratch, at least 150 square feet with a full roof to protect the chickens from flying predators, rain and snow. A used dog run could work for now as long as I could figure out a way to put a roof on it and make sure it’s predator-proof. In terms of predators we’ve got just about everything up here, from snakes, raccoons and skunks all the way up to coyotes, wolves and bears. Of course because of this any time I let them free-range they will be closely supervised.