Beginner from Kentucky

[Kyle Boisseau]

Hello from Kentucky! My wife and I recently purchased a home and 20 acres in very rural KY. We've got a 7 acre yard area and want to bring in a few chickens to give our 3 kids some responsibilities and to produce a few eggs along the way. The plan is to turn an old 12x10 tool shed into a coop and build an appropriate sized run to accommodate around 15 chickens. I would prefer to have the chickens freely roam the yard but in the short time living here we've already had foxes, bobcats and coyotes in our yard. Not to mention a pair of bald eagles that we've seen on multiple occasions.
We have zero experience with chickens so any advice would be greatly appreciated and I'm sure I'll frequent the forums here with many "stupid" questions.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Hello from Kentucky! My wife and I recently purchased a home and 20 acres in very rural KY. We've got a 7 acre yard area and want to bring in a few chickens to give our 3 kids some responsibilities and to produce a few eggs along the way. The plan is to turn an old 12x10 tool shed into a coop and build an appropriate sized run to accommodate around 15 chickens. I would prefer to have the chickens freely roam the yard but in the short time living here we've already had foxes, bobcats and coyotes in our yard. Not to mention a pair of bald eagles that we've seen on multiple occasions.
We have zero experience with chickens so any advice would be greatly appreciated and I'm sure I'll frequent the forums here with many "stupid" questions.

 

[4 ever Orpington]

Hello from Kentucky! My wife and I recently purchased a home and 20 acres in very rural KY. We've got a 7 acre yard area and want to bring in a few chickens to give our 3 kids some responsibilities and to produce a few eggs along the way. The plan is to turn an old 12x10 tool shed into a coop and build an appropriate sized run to accommodate around 15 chickens. I would prefer to have the chickens freely roam the yard but in the short time living here we've already had foxes, bobcats and coyotes in our yard. Not to mention a pair of bald eagles that we've seen on multiple occasions.
We have zero experience with chickens so any advice would be greatly appreciated and I'm sure I'll frequent the forums here with many "stupid" questions.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Been here 4 yrs and still ask questions every day. No such thing as a stupid one !

 

[drumstick diva]

Thanks for joining us at Backyard chickens. Hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.

 

[A.M. Eggs]

Welcome to BYC!!!

 

[Hamiam]

Welcome to BYC. There are tons of ideas in the coop section. Definitely don't buy a prefab coop. Rarely will you find one that is predator proof. Most have to be modified. It can be tricky modifying sheds but can be done. some Important things to remember while building a coop. 1) You can never have enough ventilation. 2) Chicken wire sucks, when it comes to stoping predators. Use hardware cloth/wire. 3) Chicken Math is real. So build bigger than you think you will need. 4) there are no stupid questions! And members here want you to be successful!

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under Kyle Welcome and Congratulations!

Do I have lots of reading material for you!

First up, you might be interested in downloading this free e-book My First Year With Chickens

Next, this article may help you decide on a breed: Pickin a Chicken

BYC has a Learning Centre and also Topic of the Week articles which I have found to be a great resource and a one stop shop for questions which may have already been discussed within the BYC membership group. This one may be of particular interest to you:
Topic of the Week - Getting Started, Keeping Chickens

I do hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock when they arrive, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi Kyle and welcome to BYC. You have some great links from Teila and hopefully they will set you on the right track to keeping chickens in a manner that suits both you and your local environment.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Hello Kyle and welcome to BYC!! It’s so nice to have you join us!
Every question is a valid question because everyone's experiences are different.

This video may help with learning how to navigate the new site.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask one of us.