Can I have chickens too?

[Chugosh]

I've just eaten a wonderful Sunday lunch of eggs from a friend with six chickens. These huge brown eggs are so much yellower and tastier than the white ones from the store. I have a yard. I am technically in the country (about a mile out of the city of Kelso, Washington), though I am governed by the CCRs I signed when I bought my house a couple years ago. They say only "no roosters" and since it is the eggs I am after, I have no problem with that.

I'm thinking a little four by eight chicken tractor is gonna be the way to go for me, but it will take a while to gather the bits and pieces to assemble it. I'm told there are a lot of laying hens to be acquired on Craigslist or the like, so that will be easy enough, and skip the more technical part.

Though little ducks would be awful cute, too.

I'm Mike, and I may yet be a Chicken guy.

 

[BunnyLover44]

Hey if you find a good chicken tractor for inexpensive plz tell me were you got it. I looking to buy about 5-6 chickens… what breed r u getting?
BunnyLover44

 

[noahsmom]

I've just eaten a wonderful Sunday lunch of eggs from a friend with six chickens. These huge brown eggs are so much yellower and tastier than the white ones from the store. I have a yard. I am technically in the country (about a mile out of the city of Kelso, Washington), though I am governed by the CCRs I signed when I bought my house a couple years ago. They say only "no roosters" and since it is the eggs I am after, I have no problem with that.

I'm thinking a little four by eight chicken tractor is gonna be the way to go for me, but it will take a while to gather the bits and pieces to assemble it. I'm told there are a lot of laying hens to be acquired on Craigslist or the like, so that will be easy enough, and skip the more technical part.

Though little ducks would be awful cute, too.

I'm Mike, and I may yet be a Chicken guy.

Hi Mike and Welcome to BYC!
Of course you can have chickens! We have all been there I believe trying to gather the bits and pieces to assemble our coops and runs! Try looking for free pallets, wood being unused, or reclaimed wood on CL for free or cheap. Call around local places as well and ask if they have any wood pallets that they just aren't using and put out an ad on CL for these things. There are a TON of pics of smal, medium, large and even chicken tractor coops on here you can look at to get ideas too!

Good Luck!

 

[redsoxs]

Howdy from Kansas, Mike, and

! Great to have you here! You are so right about the taste of farm raised eggs vs. the plastic tasting store boughts. Laying hens are harder to come and more expensive but by no means unattainable. To find some hens you might post in the WA thread in the link below. Good luck to you!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you

 

[Chugosh]

Hey if you find a good chicken tractor for inexpensive plz tell me were you got it. I looking to buy about 5-6 chickens… what breed r u getting?
BunnyLover44

In the whole ten hours I have been on the chicken trail, I guess I am considering the golden sex-link as a breed of choice, though it may be more fun to have several different types among the flock. It will be a while till I get or make anything, but I'm quite liable to brag on it in these forums.

Thanks, guys, for the welcome and the encouragement!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC!!

So very glad you joined us!!

 

[Chugosh]

Way sooner than expected, I got my chicken tractor, and it was free for the grabbing!

I got the lid off the coop and scraped it out with the shovel and how. It can use a good cleaning besides, and a bit of paint, but it is real solid. I'm thinking a traditional red stain for the painting part as that might seem least likely to have chems harmful to the chickens. Any advice on that? I also asked advice on the coops section of the forum, so maybe the answers to that belong over there.

 

[drumstick diva]

Chugosh

the first thing you need to do is replace the chicken wire with Hardware cloth. Chicken wire keeps them in but doesn't stop any sort of predators. I don't enyy you

scraping all the boo boo out of the coop but, I'm sure it will be unrecognizable after you clean up and paint it. We'll be waiting for the "after" photos.