Terry Huston
In the Brooder
- Apr 1, 2020
- 3
- 18
- 21
Hi Y'all,
Being one of the 2 males in my 8 member family (the cat doesn't count..well...because he ain't any longer a he
, I'm looking to increase the male count by adding a few roosters. I know that won't help the male/female percentage but I'm ok with that. We will be new to chickens, I had them as a kid on the farm but don't remember much of looking after them. We still have 2 feet of snow where the coop and run will go but next week I hope to start building the coop inside my shop. I'm thinking of 8' X 12' building with a 3' X 8' bedding/food storage area and 9' X 8' coop with 8' walls. When the ground thaws I'll screw in some piles with cross beams then skid the coop out close to location and use a large wheel loader with forks to set it on the piles. Lastly I'll build an enclosed run. I envision letting them free range a bit but will have to see how that goes, we have foxes and coyotes. The coop will be insulated and we'll start with a few adult birds (thinking Brahma's for eggs and maybe a few silkies...well...cause my ladies who give the orders want them. I hope to hatch out some Brahmas and see where it goes. Thinking of maybe 10-12 birds by fall and maybe up to 15 or so at peak. In Alberta we have been triple hit by low oil prices, Covid-19 virus and a Trudeau virus
. We're thinking the only thing worse is a zombie invasion and therefore we need to be self sufficient. Two of my daughters have already told me that if we eat any of the chickens they'll turn vegetarian so that amount of birds should last us for a long time. If it wasn't for this chicken project I had plans to spend the summer "self isolating" on my Harley or at the lake practicing gainers and rolls on my hydrofoil. BTW, my "chicken file" started several years ago but always got put off. I always google back into BYC. Now that things are getting "real", I realize I'm going to have to find folks with more experience than me. BYC has already given me lots of direction! Cheers Eh
Being one of the 2 males in my 8 member family (the cat doesn't count..well...because he ain't any longer a he
, I'm looking to increase the male count by adding a few roosters. I know that won't help the male/female percentage but I'm ok with that. We will be new to chickens, I had them as a kid on the farm but don't remember much of looking after them. We still have 2 feet of snow where the coop and run will go but next week I hope to start building the coop inside my shop. I'm thinking of 8' X 12' building with a 3' X 8' bedding/food storage area and 9' X 8' coop with 8' walls. When the ground thaws I'll screw in some piles with cross beams then skid the coop out close to location and use a large wheel loader with forks to set it on the piles. Lastly I'll build an enclosed run. I envision letting them free range a bit but will have to see how that goes, we have foxes and coyotes. The coop will be insulated and we'll start with a few adult birds (thinking Brahma's for eggs and maybe a few silkies...well...cause my ladies who give the orders want them. I hope to hatch out some Brahmas and see where it goes. Thinking of maybe 10-12 birds by fall and maybe up to 15 or so at peak. In Alberta we have been triple hit by low oil prices, Covid-19 virus and a Trudeau virus. We're thinking the only thing worse is a zombie invasion and therefore we need to be self sufficient. Two of my daughters have already told me that if we eat any of the chickens they'll turn vegetarian so that amount of birds should last us for a long time. If it wasn't for this chicken project I had plans to spend the summer "self isolating" on my Harley or at the lake practicing gainers and rolls on my hydrofoil. BTW, my "chicken file" started several years ago but always got put off. I always google back into BYC. Now that things are getting "real", I realize I'm going to have to find folks with more experience than me. BYC has already given me lots of direction! Cheers Eh
Glad you joined.
