calling any one from missouri

[Amiti]

Greetings microchick!

Chicken math has become a way of life for me... Lol.

 

[jeria]

HI all! Just joined. I'm in Independence and a transplanted country person. Luckily the city is pretty OK with chickens laws are 5 hens and no roosters and when I bought my house did not even look at any with a homeowners association. I had chickens once years ago in the country but the coyotes made it through the chicken wire and killed the flock. Time to try this again--no chicken wire.

I'm in the research and planning stages of getting probably 3 hens next year. Will need to build a coop and runs by this fall as my springs are very hectic. and of course unpredictable weather. 10
Single for 10 years now a mom of 3, gramma of 8, add a couple steps to that, I live with 2 insane dogs, an even crazier cat, and a nutty quaker parrot. I'm not afraid to tackle things as I'm still working on re-modeling my entire house mostly on my own.

It's a beautiful day so back to work on the yard and gardens, Looking forward to getting to know you

 

[karenerwin]

HI all! Just joined. I'm in Independence and a transplanted country person. Luckily the city is pretty OK with chickens laws are 5 hens and no roosters and when I bought my house did not even look at any with a homeowners association. I had chickens once years ago in the country but the coyotes made it through the chicken wire and killed the flock. Time to try this again--no chicken wire.

I'm in the research and planning stages of getting probably 3 hens next year. Will need to build a coop and runs by this fall as my springs are very hectic. and of course unpredictable weather. 10
Single for 10 years now a mom of 3, gramma of 8, add a couple steps to that, I live with 2 insane dogs, an even crazier cat, and a nutty quaker parrot. I'm not afraid to tackle things as I'm still working on re-modeling my entire house mostly on my own.

It's a beautiful day so back to work on the yard and gardens, Looking forward to getting to know you

Welcome Jeria! We are glad you are here!

 

[jeria]

Hello Karen! This is going to be an interesting journey, building a coop and pen and choosing the breeds then finding them are all going to be challenges to begin with.

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

Welcome, Jeria!
Have you narrowed it down to any particular breeds yet? Good on the city for allowing chickens. There was a 6-hen limit on the books in the city limits here, but over the years it's been relaxed to the point that as long as there is no odor or nuisance (flies, etc) and all of your neighbours are ok with a rooster crowing (yes, some have pushed the envelope THAT far!) you can have as many chickens as you want. However, if someone does complain, the AC officer will come out and knock the offender back to the 6 hen limit.

 

[karenerwin]

Hello Karen! This is going to be an interesting journey, building a coop and pen and choosing the breeds then finding them are all going to be challenges to begin with.

Well, Jeria, you've come to the right place! There are a ton of coop designs, and all kinds of reviews and opinions on breeds. Are you looking for just egg layers? Duel breeds ( can be used for both egg laying & egging) or straight meat chickens? Do you care what color your eggs are? Some breeds lay white eggs, others lay brown, and still others lay blue and even green (olive) eggs. I've seen some that are pink and even 1 person that had hens that laid grey eggs! Are your chickens going to be contained at all times? Or will you let them out occasionally to free range? Or will they free range a lot? or even all of the time?

Once you can answer those questions, you are well on your way to making decisions.

I hope you have fun making all these decisions!

 

[jeria]

Hi Ozark girl and Karen, I'm finding tons of information. I think I'm obsessed with going through the small chicken coops! I'm thinking one about 4x6 raised and the run area 8x8. Laughing at the neighbor thing. right now my neighbor on one side is getting some teen chicks today or tomorrow, I don't think she is prepared at all. She is putting them in a large dog run with no other shelter, a tarp over part of it; a family member is giving them to her. I have an 89 yo woman next door who just laughs at me because I'm 67. single and I'm always tearing something apart on my house and re-doing it, chickens are just one more thing; Another who are considering chickens also, maybe next year.

Just 3-4 layers; I tried butchering a few back in the early 80's when I lived in the country, can't do that again. Then they were killed by coyotes getting into a chicken wire run. A goal is a coop and run that is as predator safe as I can come up with. I'm also planning a tractor type run that I will probably build next spring. I have coons, foxes, feral cats, possums, hawks, vultures, owls, and an occasional eagle plus one of my dogs is a bounding 62 pound lab rotzy mix who thinks she is little and doesn't pay attention to what she is running over. Once they are older and the dogs know them through the fence and I'm outside I will turn them loose but not in-supervised at least until nutty Pepper settles down. My dogs have been raised with a small parrot so I don't think they would harm them on purpose. Also my fenced raised beds will be avail early fall through early spring. Had to fence them, the dogs ate all the veggies last year.

 

[karenerwin]

Hi Ozark girl and Karen, I'm finding tons of information. I think I'm obsessed with going through the small chicken coops! I'm thinking one about 4x6 raised and the run area 8x8. Laughing at the neighbor thing. right now my neighbor on one side is getting some teen chicks today or tomorrow, I don't think she is prepared at all. She is putting them in a large dog run with no other shelter, a tarp over part of it; a family member is giving them to her. I have an 89 yo woman next door who just laughs at me because I'm 67. single and I'm always tearing something apart on my house and re-doing it, chickens are just one more thing; Another who are considering chickens also, maybe next year.

Just 3-4 layers; I tried butchering a few back in the early 80's when I lived in the country, can't do that again. Then they were killed by coyotes getting into a chicken wire run. A goal is a coop and run that is as predator safe as I can come up with. I'm also planning a tractor type run that I will probably build next spring. I have coons, foxes, feral cats, possums, hawks, vultures, owls, and an occasional eagle plus one of my dogs is a bounding 62 pound lab rotzy mix who thinks she is little and doesn't pay attention to what she is running over. Once they are older and the dogs know them through the fence and I'm outside I will turn them loose but not in-supervised at least until nutty Pepper settles down. My dogs have been raised with a small parrot so I don't think they would harm them on purpose. Also my fenced raised beds will be avail early fall through early spring. Had to fence them, the dogs ate all the veggies last year.

Definitely DON'T use Chicken wire! The name is misleading. It keeps chickens in but nothing else out!! We have used field fence to enclose our uncovered runs. The small chicks can get through but not the bigger chickens. We also have used cattle panels to enclose a bigger area, but that will just keep big dogs away. The chickens can all step through the spaces/squares, but I figure if a dog or coyote is after them that will stop or at least slow the predator down some. For the coops we used 1/4 welded wire mesh. We put it over the windows in place of screens. Most of our coops have an attached small covered run. We used the welded wire mesh on the walls of the run part as well. We also made doors, framed wood covered with that same wire. We had used the field fence but found out that raccoons could fit through and could also reach through to grab chickens off of perches. It's not pretty what happens to a chicken that a coon tries to pull through the fence.

Another hint, build a coop big enough for 3 or 4r more chickens than you intend to keep. That way when chicken math hits you, you already have some extra room. Your predator list sounds a lot like mine. I haven't seen any Eagles yet... and our dog has kept the coyotes away. We have lost a couple of chickens to roaming dogs, I think they belong to someone and were getting out and running as a small pack. Most of our losses have been to hawks and raccoons. We have had possums and skunks and black snakes. The black snake was just after eggs, although if I had had any small chicks, I'm sure it would have gone for them as well. I felt bad for 1 black snake. It ate the ceramic egg that was in the nest box. I didn't realize that was what the 'egg" shape was until I had already released the snake. I'm sure it died. I don't see how it could have regurgitated or passed the ceramic egg.

Our black lab has also "played" with some chickens to death, but I think she has learned now, although she will still chase them on occasion, she doesn't usually do anything to them when she corners them (other than bark).

 

[jeria]

Karen, I didn't even mention skunks and snakes. LOL I have a park behind my house with a creek and simply think woods. The creek goes down a couple miles to the Missouri River, so anything goes as far as animals. I haven't seen the wild turkeys for a year or so, foxes maybe?

NO NO no chicken wire, had that on my run when chicks were killed: didn't know better then. , I'm thinking welded wire, I even have the 2" welded wire around my raised beds. Maybe adding some "bars" as well if I put in windows in the coop, solid doors with strong clasps that the coons can't open. Not sure that hardware cloth is strong enough, haven't looked at it closely yet.

I'm not sure what chicken math is yet. .

 

[katatonic123]

@jeria chicken math = When I'm going to buy a small coop and 3 or 4 hens turns into 14 hens, 5 roos, 9 chicks in a brooder, and 14 eggs under 2 broodies with the addition of a 4x12 hoop coop, and 10x8 portion of the shed turned coop with 15x15 run attached.