Brand new to this

[ISA Greg]

Hi this is a picture of the Coop I bought which I hope to house four isa browns I'm getting on the 24th of this month as 19 week old pullets. The other picture is the feeder and waterer I bought for them. Some of the questions I have are, where should I put the food and water during day/ night, is that waterer and feeder suitable? Is that coop big enough for four, how much straw should I put in hen house and how often should I change it? I likely have fifty more questions but that's a good start, thanks in advance for any and all input!

 

[Book Em Danno25]

You can keep the food out in the day, but not at night, it might attract predators. You can keep the water out all the time.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[ISA Greg]

Thx turkenstien, so no water in the coop? What about in winter?

 

[Wyandottes7]

Hi and welcome to our flock!

Glad you could join BYC! I would put both the feeder and the waterer outside of the actual hen house. I keep my chickens' feeder and waterer in their run all the time. When they are hungry or thirsty, they come out of the coop. They don't eat at night, anyways.

The waterer looks good to me, but the feeder might not be the best choice. It is the type of feeder that you'd usually use for young chicks. The older chickens may knock it over and will eat a lot of feed each day. You may want to get a hopper-style feeder, like this one: 11 lb Plastic Hanging Feeder

What are the dimensions of the henhouse (wood enclosed section) of the coop, and how large is the whole wire enclosure? Just looking at it, it looks small, but scale is hard to tell in photos. Each chicken should ideally have at least 4 square feet of inside space and 10 square feet of outside space (sometimes you can get by with less, but this is a good rule of thumb). Many pre-made coops that are sold are too small.

I would suggest using a bedding other than straw. Wood shavings are commonly used and I recommend them. Straw isn't as absorbent, unless it is chopped. It can be used in the nesting boxes, however. If you use wood shavings, a layer of 3 inches should be sufficient. It would probably need cleaning about once a week, but this varies. You'll have to observe it to see how dirty it gets.

Hope this answers some of your questions! Good luck with your future chickens. ISA Browns should be excellent layers and good pets for you.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! For me personaly your 4 birds are going to be quite squashed in your coop and run. Birds that dont have a lot of room can become cranky with each other and start squabbling amongst them selves. Here is a lovely article on space suggested https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need

I have one of these coops and runs and the reccomended amount of birds the seller suggested was way too many. I use it now with an added on run for a grow out coop for chicks. When they roost on a night they don't need food and water but they need to be let out at first light to feed and drink. They would need food and water in the coop if you were not letting them out first thing.

Wishing you the very best of luck with your new chicken adventure. Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat.

 

[ISA Greg]

here is inside view. Yea I was feeling that this was small for four chickens and it was rated for four to six hens. It has three nesting boxes and two roosts as you can see but is only nine square feet inside not including nesting boxes, I was told from a chicken farmer that because isa browns are known for being battery hens they would be OK in that size coop if properly looked after!? As far as the run I am going add on another approximately 80 square feet attached to that so they should be fine as far as that goes, do you think coop will be OK with that size run? If not what about three hens? Where do you buy bulk woodshavings from? I thought I was going to need different feeder, but guy at store I went to knew next to nothing though, thx again for the replies.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! There is a nice article in the Learning Center on figuring out how much space you need for the birds you want. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need X4, that coop is too small for 4 or even 3 standard hens if they are going to be spending a lot of time in there (like in the winter), if you have an enclosed run or live in a warm climate where they can stay in the run most of the time (except to sleep or lay eggs) you may be OK. ISA Browns / red sex links, really do not take well to crowding, most of the commercial battery operations that really crowd hens will debeak them so they can't pick on each other.
Most farm/feed stores will sell pine shavings by the bale (usually it is in the horse/livestock section).

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

The other members have given you all the advice you need. Best of luck with your pullets

 

[drumstick diva]

Generally the ready built or kit coops aren't very durable to weather extremes or predator attacks.. It is really too small for the number of hens you plan to have. It could be a good place to have if you need to isolate or quarantine birds. As to nest boxes, 1 or 2 should be enough. Hen's tend to want the same nest box even if there are several identical ones. Often they will line up to use the same box, or get impatient and lay an egg on top of the present occupant.