Any Tips For First Timers???

[chicklover 1998]

I'm brand spankin' new at this myself and have had my first flock of 25 (16 Barred Rocks and 9 Leghorns) for two weeks tomorrow. I made the brooder and coop/run about 200% bigger than what I originally estimated I'd need since I figured you could always reduce space if need be but making it bigger is a lot tougher, and I'm glad I did. My brooder is a repurposed play set and is 7'X4' but the gals seem happy in it. They've been stretching out quite a bit and practicing flying around which they wouldn't have been able to do in a small brooder. So far I haven't had any problems (knock-knock) and I attribute some of that to low stress due to having enough room. I'm still working on my run but my 8'X8' coop is done and the 8'X24' run should be done in another week or so. The gals seem really used to me and my wife and I think it's because we go out in the garage where the brooder is at and talk to them a lot. They'll take chick feed right out of our hands and greet us when we walk in. I've read a lot about leghorn's being flighty but only some of mine are; most are just as friendly and curious as the Barred Rocks. I'm having a whole lot of fun with this and had no idea it would be so enjoyable. I'm even thinking about possibly getting ducks and turkeys too. I've always been heavy into vegetable gardening and hobby farm stuff but now I feel like I have a complete setup with the birds. I can see doing this for the rest of my days - it's a real blast!

you have a 64 sq. ft. coop with 25 chickens as a min. they should have about 4 sq. ft. per bird inside the coop yours only has 2.56 and a min. for a run is 10sq. ft. per bird you have 7.68, and barred rocks aren't huge birds but they have some size to them too squished of quarters leads to picking so you might want to keep an eye on your chickens.

 

[wamtazlady]

X2

Your plans are calling for some serious overcrowding. Overcrowded birds are stressed, fight, pull out feathers. Stressed birds do not lay well.

 

[kidwithchickens]

I live in New Jersey. We have very cold winters and very hot summers ):
How big (in feet) should I make the coop, run and brooder? We are getting 6 chicks (2 Orpington, 2 Brahma, 2 Australia Lops) Do you guys have any names? I was thinking Lemon Pepper for a Brahma.

 

[ejcrist]

you have a 64 sq. ft. coop with 25 chickens as a min. they should have about 4 sq. ft. per bird inside the coop yours only has 2.56 and a min. for a run is 10sq. ft. per bird you have 7.68, and barred rocks aren't huge birds but they have some size to them too squished of quarters leads to picking so you might want to keep an eye on your chickens.

Well, I'm figuring if we have any problems we'll invite a few for supper till we get where we need to be. I got a few more than we needed in anticipation of an unexpected cockerel here and there and just in case we lost one or two. So far no boys and everyone is healthy so we'll keep the pot on standby for the time being.

 

[aart]

I found this thread to be very helpful:
Coop Builders - What would you have changed or done differently?
Lot's of inspiration here too: BYC Coops and here

Good reference^^^


Check out My Coop page(linked under my avatar) and the Space and Ventilation links in my signature.

 

[wamtazlady]

Access of some kind that doesn't make you have to bend, crouch, twist, duck, etc etc. I saw a fellow on youtube cleaning his coop, and it opened on both sides. All he had to do was push the bedding out into a wheelbarrow parked alongside. If I was building a coop from scratch, I'd do that, have the whole thing able to open up for cleaning.

I saw the same video. The guy who was building my coop wouldn't build the doors quite large enough to open the whole side. The guy is retired and worked for free because he's a friend, so I couldn't argue too much. I have a foot on each side of the door. I don't have a wheel barrow but I have a big plastic tote I put on the ground in front of the door opening. A hoe reaches all the corners of the coop and I just pull all the bedding toward me and into the tote. The boys next door come over and dump the tote for me as it's too heavy for me to lift. We are lucky to have such good neighbors.

 

[chicklover 1998]

I live in New Jersey. We have very cold winters and very hot summers ):
How big (in feet) should I make the coop, run and brooder? We are getting 6 chicks (2 Orpington, 2 Brahma, 2 Australia Lops) Do you guys have any names? I was thinking Lemon Pepper for a Brahma.

I would go 4 as a min. for the coop since you went with larger breeds and 10 for the run you could make it way bigger and then the grass could have time to grow because I had 6 birds make 16.6 sq.ft. of grass per bird bare by the time we were done with summer.

 

[Blooie]

Best tip I can offer is build first, order chicks last. I wish I'd done that. <sigh> I had 22 five and a half week old chicks in one tiny little office space. The dust...the dander....the noise - I couldn't get them out fast enough and they were evicted before the coop was even finished! You can look at our coop and run build by clicking on My Coop under my avatar.

I agree with what has already been said about space requirements. Also, when you build, make the run so spacious and practical that they'll be perfectly happy to spend most of their time in there. Make it airy, cover the top to keep them dry and provide shade. Put boredom busters in the run. Roosts, dust bath bin - heck I even have a swing and they all spend time on that. I have a half log in there that they love to climb on, and it's hollow underneath so little chicks can escape the big chickens if they have to. Even if your chickens get out into the yard to forage daily, you'll be so glad that you have run during inclement weather or if you can't be out there to supervise outside time. My pop door between the coop and the run is open 24/7. So the chickens are only in the coop to sleep and to lay eggs....the rest of the time they spend in the yard or in their run. Cuts down on how much poop accumulates in the coop, too, if they aren't always jammed in there.

I raise my chicks outside in the run from the start...I have a pen in there so that the big chickens can see and get used to the little ones, and the little ones learn how to be chickens by watching the big ones. I never have to worry about "when to put them outside" because they're already out there. They are used to being active all day and going to bed when the sun goes down, so I don't have to stress about them freaking out when they suddenly go from a lit space inside to the big, scary world outside. Talk about raising calm chicks!

The coop is important, of course. Build it strong, build it with lots of ventilation, and make it comfortable and safe. But for my money the run can be even more critical to happy, healthy chickens. Good luck with your project!

 

[DRnNC]

Hi, I'm fairly new to laying birds. Back in the day I had lots of game roosters, no hens.They were pretty tough, never lost any except when the kids left the gate open. Now that I've got these laying hens and a few roosters to go with them I realized there's a few things that you can do to make things easier and safer. I live in the foothills of NC. We have lots of predators here, coons and hawks mainly. I live on a lake. Any kind of wildlife you can think of is around here. Use a heavy gauge wire for your run. 1"x2" or 1"x1". A coon can rip apart regular chicken wire like it's nothing. If you use 2"x4" gauge wire, things like skunks,coons and mink can reach through and pull the chickens over. If you have a roost in the coop and the run, I would suggest placing a piece of plywood or painted OSB board on the ends of the roost in the run. I have 4 coops/runs inside a 50' triangle lot. I used the 2"x4" wire on that. 5 foot high. That keeps dogs out. Use 2 different types of latches like someone said before. Coons are really smart, they can figure it out. Use pine shavings for bedding instead of cedar. And the best thing since sliced bread or Joey or Kyle is sand. Sand is so much cleaner. It's like a cat litter box. Easy clean up, if any. I get loads on strained creek sand. Now there's no need for grit, and they still take dirt bathes, but it's sand. They love it. When I gather my eggs there's no poop or mud on them. I work 4 days, off 4 days. I try to let them out on my days off. Free range. When I'm working I'm gone about 14 hours a day. That kind of sucks. I would like to let them out more. But it is what it is. I love my chickens, and they seem happy and healthy. I'm not much help, but the stronger wire and sand really makes a difference.

 

[Blooie]

@kidwithchickens doesn't say where in the country their coop will be located. There are lots and lots of people on here who agree wholeheartedly with the last post - that sand is the ultimate in easy cleaning - and they have good reasons for loving it. I know all of the positives about sand....the cleaning, the appearance, the drainage, the dust bathing...I get that and if it's working for someone then they should by all means keep it going, and encourage others to try it if their climate allows!

But for me where I live, in Northern Wyoming not far from Yellowstone Park, sand is just sorta a waste of time and effort. After a while, little "poop crumbs" begin to accumulate. Those are the poops that break up when you try to scoop them with a litter scoop or screen, or the bits that the chickens stomp into little pieces. And what would I do with all the poop I screen out? I'd have to put it in a poop bucket and let it accumulate in there all winter. Then in the spring I'd have a sloppy, smelly pail of thawed poop to try to add to compost, or do something with. If I'd ever have to change out the sand for some reason, I'd have yards and yards of it, with all of it's little poop crumbs, to get rid of somewhere somehow.

The biggest reason I don't use sand is because it's cold. Yep, cold. Now, that cool sand might be nice in the springtime, but not so good when it's 20 below for a week or more. It absorbs moisture from the chicken poop, respiration, and from waterers, which is why it is so effective, but it freezes solid after it has absorbed that moisture. That doesn't make a very forgiving surface for my birds - especially my heavier ones like the Brahmas - to land on when they fly off the roosts or off the nests. Frozen sand is a lot like concrete.

Now, as I said, I won't argue with anyone who is using it successfully. It does do a very good job for lots of people and there are plenty of good reasons why folks love using it. But I'm finding out that it can depend on where you live, as it seems to be better in warmer areas than it is here in the mountains of Wyoming. If @kidwithchickens lives in an area where the climate would be conducive to sand, then by all means, they should give it try. In the bitter cold of Wyoming, deep litter is better for me and my chickens. The important thing here is that we are giving them options to research so they can make a wise decision based on their situation. Everyone's input is valuable.