BYC: Getting started

[Kingerrrr]

Glad you're here !

A must have for your poultry is a FIRST AID KIT for any issues that would arise. (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/suggestions-for-a-first-aid-kit.1150128/)
It's definitely better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it.

Also, make sure your coop(s) have a proper amount of VENTILATION. (https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop.47774/) Your chickens will absolutely thank you for it!

One last thing, if you're into gardening, feel free to join this years SEED SWAP (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/seed-swap.1220129/)

Awesome thank you, and thanks for the warm welcome from everyone! For ventilation, I currently have drilled quarter sized holes into one side, with a home wall vent on the other to allow for good air flow through the coop. Love any information anyone can give me on all my questions!

 

[DaviJones]

I completely agree with BMRRanchCO. Although for breeds:
GL Wyandotte-A bit skittish but once we catch her she'll sit down and let you pet her as long as you wish. Flaps alot if held, probably from the skittishness, incredibly calm if you let her sit though. If you don't mind me stressing in further, we often take her inside and have her sit on a paper towel and we'll pet her in between whatever we're doing. Complete sweetheart, and my sister's favorite
Easter Egger(Americana)-Curious and friendly. Unique appearance and eggs. Her and three others come running when I open the door.
ISA Brown(sexlink)-Kind of in the middle really, don't shriek like a banshee or attack. Not really affectionate, especially when compared to our Wyandotte, but tolerates handling well like the rest of our birds. One will greet me when I walk out though and sometimes the other as well.
Buff Orpington-Polar opposites, one is very sweet and food orriented(a bit of a pig really) however she maintains all the traits that are boasted of Orps. She's good with the chickens, watching over the baby(Wyan) and has even broken up squabbles, and she good with people as well, tolerating handling and petting. The other one has just a little touch of hellspawn, she's stubborn and displays minor aggressive on occasion. Only really a peck or two and maybe puffing her neck feathers/hackles? She's doesn't chase me or anything and is rather skittish. I can still handle her though.


I suppose the point I mean to make is that breed can be misleading. Wyandottes are considered sassy, aggressive and top dog while mine is a lapdog and lightly trodden upon by the rest of flock. Buff Orps are considered sweeties and passive, but I have one whom acts like a wild bird and screeches when I catch her. So bottom line, be sure to handle them frequently when they're little turds.

Oh, and best of luck with your chickens! It's always a fun experience.

 

[AllenK RGV]

I would say my Sumatra Hens are all sweeties, 2/5 come in the house and knock on the door to be around a few hop on the rocking chair arms to sit with us, but none are snuggly. That could be my fault as I don't want to touch them anyway. Now that they have started laying they do the squats and want butt rubs and since we want them comfortable with us handling them we oblige them.

It is very strange to me as it is a mating behavior, but other chicken keepers here have explained it to me, also I am no chicken psychologist!

Oh the Sumatra males were all hormonal and relocated.

 

[Kingerrrr]

Welcome aboard....first thing that comes to my mind is:
I know quite a few people here on BYC that live up there in Canada..not one of them have added heat in their coop.

Second thing is I haven't meet a mean hen yet. Roosters can be down right ugly though.

Third...and a must IMO, build your coop and run bigger!!!


A couple of good reads:
http://articles.extension.org/pages/69065/feeding-chickens-for-egg-production

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/biosecurity-for-the-rest-of-us.63161/

Skim through the articles here:
maintaining-a-healthy-flock.24

Also...that a few minutes to learn about chicken diseases...and worms and coccidiosis.

I have heard from many people too they don't heat their coops in the winter months but a -30 cold snap scares me. Love the tips and links, thank you so much! Don't worry, the run and coop are quite large, this chickens will be living lavishly. I should also mention I have raised pheasants, quaill, and chickens before all though they were not my own; part of a job I had...I've dealt with some mean roosters! Haha

 

[HoopyFrood]

Great to have you! Definitely get them as chicks and your partner will fall in love straightaway! There's no way you can't Ours are layers and pets, too.

AllenK pinged some of the heavy hitters for you. They've got a lot knowledge to share! For the coop just remember: ventilate, ventilate, ventilate! Common wisdom says 1 sq ft of ventilation per bird. And eliminate drafts too

I'm in Maine like Lazy Gardener and it gets cold here! But select the right cold-hardy breeds and you don't need to worry about heating your coop.

You've got a queue of good info in your thread already! Here's a little more (I hope )

BREEDS
For breeds you'll hear as many opinions as there are chicken keepers. I'd suggest focusing in cold-hardy, dual-purpose, heritage breeds. We have barred Plymouth rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and one black Australorp (we lost her sister as a chick). The barred rocks are zany madcaps - I can't imagine a flock without them! Endless fun... The Australorp is an absolute sweetheart. Very quiet and demur, but so kind. No drama at all with her. If we get any more chickens, they will be Australorps for sure. The RIRs are honestly a pain in the butt at times. We love them dearly, and they can make us laugh a lot (look at my avatar!), but they can be total drama queens. One of them is quite cuddly, which is a treat. But they when they "go off" they can be a handful compared to the calm, sweet Australorp, or the carefree barred rocks. I don't think I'd want any more RIRs. And I don't think I could handle the excitement of more barred rocks! All three breeds are excellent layers.

HEATING
I'd strongly advise AGAINST heating a coop for many reasons but the most succinct: it's unnecessary, and it takes work, and it consumes energy. So why bother? With the right cold-hardy, dual-purpose breeds there is no need to heat. Those temperatures you mention are pretty mild, compare to what some chicken keepers deal with. Many people in northerly climes won't even consider heating until it's around 40 below. Our babies were thrust into the winter at only 7 months old. The next thing you know we had protracted periods of daytime highs around -5F (-20C) and lows around -20F (almost -30C).

I have been battling frostbite on their combs (but not feet or wattles) because they'd rather be outside than in the coop in almost any weather. Winds will be sustained in the cold snaps often in the 10-20 MPH range and they don't seem to mind! We built a sheltered playhouse in the run so they can both be outside AND stay out of the wind. But those crazy cluckers want to be outside when it's daylight! So a heated coop wouldn't be of much use anyway. Plus it's a potential fire hazard. Plus it costs money in materials and heating energy. And there's the labor to install it. And if they become acclimated to a heated environment, what's your contingency plan for power outages? You can't give them heat and then take it away, that could kill them. They're surprisingly sensitive to environmental changes.

COMPOST
Kind of like breeds, there are as many ways to compost as there are people doing it! We do NOT segregate coop cleanings from the rest of the compost. Everything goes into the one active compost pile and chicken manure is one of my main nitrogen sources in the compost pile to break down the carbon-heavy stuff (like pine shavings). I don't allow the chickens to have access to my compost because my compost is PLANT food, not chicken food. If the chicken eats food out of the compost pile, those nutrients that would have gone to my garden plants now went to my already well-fed chickens. It's just not an efficient use of nutrients. Our goal is a zero-fertilizer garden, so I need as rich a compost as I get. And the bugs in the compost that the chickens would love, I need those in my compost and in my garden, too.

That's just my take: Chicken feed is cheap, even the best stuff (if you find it the right way). Fertilizer is not. Eventually I hope to grow all my own chicken feed instead of buying it, but that's a couple years down the road.

GARDEN
Chickens LOVE veggies. And the LOVE green stuff. And they also seem driven to try to eat most anything at least once just to see if it's edible, even if it isn't. So we do let then into our garden, but we keep them in a tight group and let them forage in the wood chip mulch between beds - but we do our darndest to keep them out of the beds! They will happily eat anything they find in there! It takes constant supervision, something most keepers don't have the time to do. Lucky we're homesteaders so we set our own schedules. Or put a fence around your beds, but that makes gardening a pain.

Random Tidbits:
Chickens attempt to eat just about anything they come into contact with. And not just things like bark, sticks, pine needles, wood shavings, straw and sawdust. [In fact I think 30% of my chickens' diet is pine shavings and wheat straw! One of the many reasons we make sure they are drinking copious amounts of water and eating grit. But I digress.] But when I say anything, I meant it: zip ties, weed barrier, hardware, broken glass, insulation, styrofoam - seriously! They are highly intelligent but often seem to exhibit a complete lack of what I'd call "mammalian common sense." So just be vigilant. They can and WILL eat things they shouldn't if given half a chance.

We do not use supplemental lighting to stimulate egg laying. They are pets and they will enjoy retirement once they're done laying. A hen is born with all of her yolks available. She will only lay however many are in her over the course of her life. It doesn't matter if it takes two years or five, the same number will come out. So our philosophy is let them take any laying breaks if they want to. But that's just us However it does have the upside of not having to install a timer on the coop light!

Next, the inverse of my heated coop caution: If you don't heat your coop and they get acclimated to life in the cold winter, be VERY careful at bringing them into a heated environment. If you get a sick or injured bird and have to bring it into the house for treatment and monitoring, that chicken very well may be living with you in the house until winter is over. Also you cannot bring a cold-acclimated chicken immediately into a heated house, especially if it's sick or injured. The shock can be fatal. Find a halfway point (temperature wise) where you can administer care and monitor. From there you can make the decision of re-introduction over winter-house-chicken.

At BYC it's helpful to put your location (in whatever detail you are comfortable with) in your profile. It's an easy shortcut that conveys a lot of information and helps people respond to you more efficiently/appropriately. There are also geographically-specific threads - here's the Canadian one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/canadians-check-in-here.144/

I don't know if they have separate ones for individual provinces, though.

I'm not sure what the Canadian equivalent of the US land grant universities' cooperative extension offices are. But there must be some equivalent? Find your local office and ask them what diseases, parasites, and predators they recommend paying attention to. Marek's Disease, for instance, needs to be immunized against within the chick's first 48 hours of life and preferably the first 24; an important logistical detail! They can help you navigate that maze. Also ask them for a list of local POULTRY vets. Like the first aid kit Smuvers mentioned, you need this information BEFORE you have a chicken emergency.

Lastly let me commend your commitment to "...making sure we are 100% prepared for these chickens before they get here." We were the same way. But you know what? That's impossible You won't be 100% and you CAN'T be. We tried to be - yet we lost our first chick on her sixth day after an arduous three-day struggle. In retrospect it was most likely a congenital condition (avoid bringing home any chicks that act lethargic - you probably can't help them). But that knowledge doesn't make it any easier.

Punctured comb on Christmas day in the middle of a blizzard? Not my best day ever Crazy, unexpected things can and will happen.

But don't worry! Just do you best! Be diligent in research and vigilant in care. If you are committed, you and your chicken will have the best lives you can have. And they are a real joy to have!

Great to have you here! Enjoy the adventure of chickening!

 

[lazy gardener]

Lastly; do you have any great informative websites, guides, videos, etc? Either ones made by you, or just ones you know and like....please share! We are making sure we are 100% prepared for these chickens before they get here. I intend on finishing the coop and run once the winter is done to allow me to trench the coop into the ground (predator proofing) and for warm weather for me to work in!

Thank you so much for taking the time for my lengthy post, which I apologize for! Would also love to see other people's home made coop and run set ups so post away. Have a great day and I look forward to posting updates on our progress![/QUOTE]

First, welcome. We love it when folks come with their questions, especially BEFORE they make their coop and get their birds!

Coop design, I'm sure you've read the general recommendation for 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run per bird. Also, 1 s.f. or an area equal to 10% of the floor foot print for ventilation. A 10 x 10 coop should have between 10 and 25 s.f. of ventilation in it!!! And this ventilation is important in the winter, even with the Canadian and Maine low temps! By far, the best possible coop design would be the Wood's open air style coop. I'd suggest you take a close look at it before going any further with your coop plans.

While insulation is good, it is not at all necessary. The reason being that your coop NEEDS to be open, with good ventilation, even in the dead of winter. So, the insulation is really not gonna help a whole lot when the vents are open!

More important than ventilation is a lot of natural lighting which is oriented to catch the most sunlight. My 10 x 12 coop has windows and doors on East and South walls, the door is full length thermopane, insulated metal, and the 3 windows are also thermopane. I also have soffit vents, gable end vents, and a floor level vent, as well as the pop door, human door, clean out doors and a set of doors that open to the back of the broody pen. Nest boxes are within the foot print of the coop, but have door for outside access. You can see my coop in my interview which can be found in the signature line. My temps are similar to yours, and I do not provide any winter heat. However my coop does have electric for heated dog bowl, supplemental lighting, and MHP style brooding.

When designing your coop, plan for snow load management. Design it so that the snow that falls off your roof (if a metal roof) lands in an area that will not be troublesome, or force you to work harder at snow removal. If you can cover at least part of your run with a metal roof, this will be fantastic. Many folks have a covered run, and wrap plastic around much of it. This allows the birds to have a warm "sun room" that they can enjoy even in the dead of winter. My birds have a sun room, but I have to remove snow during and after every storm b/c the roof is a green house tarp spanning some trusses that hubby made for me.

Compost: This is the main reason why I got chickens. The eggs and meat are simply a by product. My 500 s.f. run as well as the coop are managed with deep litter. There are many threads dedicated to this topic. The ideal deep litter coop actually has a soil floor. This allows the microbes and beneficial insects to have good access to the litter. It also helps to ensure the correct amount of moisture to ensure that the process works well. The ideal DL in coop or run is made up of a variety of natural materials of wide variation in size and texture. Aged wood chips, grass clippings, hay, straw, dry leaves, garden debris all make wonderful additions. Shavings are a last resort item. I only purchase them when I've run out of dry leaves which I collect and hoard to be doled out a bag at a time through the winter. Shavings simply don't compost very well.

You commented that you don't want the chickens to have access to the compost you will use in the garden.

I do some composting outside of the chicken run. This includes some trench composting in the garden, some sheet composting in a new area that I am working on re-claiming, and on top of my Hugel Kulture mound.

But by far, the most productive and most valuable compost is that produced by the chickens in their coop and run. When the litter gets deep in the coop, I simply shove a lot of it out the clean out door under the perches, where it lands at the back of the run. I also bring in many wheel barrow loads of compostable material which gets dumped in the front of the run. My goal is to have at least 6" of deep litter compost covering the entire run. I've been working at it for 3 years, and have not achieved it yet, b/c the stuff simply melts into the soil. I am able to harvest loads of rich black fragrant compost out of the front of the run. This stuff is 100% richer than any compost I could build without the chicken's input and constant churning of it. Every fork full has hundreds of worms in it!

So, I suggest that you revisit your composting goals! Give the best to the chickens, and let them filter it through their guts! They will make a vast improvement on the quality of your compost, and they will totally minimize the amount of effort you put into producing good compost!

Finally, here's a video for you. I'm convinced that bare soil is soil that is either sick soil, or it is in the process of becoming sick soil. I've been a proponent of permanent mulch in the garden for years. First following the Ruth Stout method, and most recently following Paul G. Here's his video. This man is well tuned to the way soil has built it'self since creation.

https://www.backtoedenfilm.com/