Chicken coops and poultry accessories

[Broady2852]

Ive recently purchased a new chicken coop via Adopting Chicks which came yesterday, and although im not a dab hand at DIY i can say that it was easy enough to errect and house my 4 chickens. I was just wandering how long roughly does it take before the hens start laying eggs, and roughly how many eggs am i looking at on a week to week basis ?

Also is it a good idea to sink the coop in the ground to stop predators getting intothe coop?

Any information would be much apprieciated.


The Adopting Chicks website (if this is ok to say here, and if anyone is interested) is: http://adoptingchicks.webs.com/

 

[BigRedNZ]

You're going to find everything you need to know on the BYC learning centre, check it out.

 

[duckinnut]

First of all

. There are a few resources here that you can find out what you need. The learning center tab at the top of the page, the search box by placing the subject in it and just posting a question in the forum.Remember there is no such thing as a "stupid" question,it is a question that you don't know the answer to. Post a question and I will guarantee someone here will have an answer for you. This is an awesome site that has increased my chicken knowledge more than any book could ever do. There are some well seasoned chickeneers here that evoke their knowledge upon us and even today I still learn more than I did yesterday. My only complaint is I wish I knew about this site before I got chickens. Enjoy.

 

[HEChicken]

I'll start with your specific questions.

how long roughly does it take before the hens start laying eggs? It varies according to breed. Most start around 5 months of age - a few breeds take a little longer and you might be looking at closer to 6 months.

and roughly how many eggs am i looking at on a week to week basis ? Again, it depends a lot on breed. A production egg layer might crank out 6 eggs a week for her first year or two. A heritage breed will only lay 3-4 per week and will lay for longer. And some breeds are more ornamental and lay somewhat more sporadically.

Also is it a good idea to sink the coop in the ground to stop predators getting intothe coop? It would help to see a pic of the coop to get a better idea. Usually the coop itself is not buried, but the hardware cloth for the run is buried to discourage digging predators. Are you in the UK? If so, the predators you face may be different than what we have to contend with here in the US.