Chicken Design Project Needs You!

[LukeS-R]

Hi All, my name is Luke from the UK and I am going to make a chicken related project as a school assignment but I need to do a lot of background research. I am currently looking at solutions to problems that make the poultry keeper's life easier and also bring modern features to the (backyard/commercial) poultry keeper. I would greatly appreciate people giving their views on my project and also if you could spare any time, could you please answer a few questions for me.

[*]Do you keep chickens as a hobby or as a business?
[*]How long have you kept chickens?
[*]How many chickens do you have?
[*]What breed are they?
[*]What problems do you face keeping chickens (what is the most time consuming part of keeping chickens)?
[*]Have you had problems with predators in the past? (If so please say what kind of predator and what happened)
[*]What style of chicken housing do you have (material and size)?
[*]Do you find areas of difficulty in different seasons?
[*]What happens to the chickens when you go away?

Many Thanks, Every response is appreciated!! Luke

 

[ThinkingChickens]

[*]Do you keep chickens as a hobby or as a business? Hobyy
[*]How long have you kept chickens? four months
[*]How many chickens do you have? six (three laying, three newer)
[*]What breed are they? Delaware, Jersey Giant, Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Australorp, Rhode Island Red
[*]What problems do you face keeping chickens (what is the most time consuming part of keeping chickens)? Keeping the coop clean and fly free
[*]Have you had problems with predators in the past? (If so please say what kind of predator and what happened) No predator problems thus far (knock on wood)
[*]What style of chicken housing do you have (material and size)? Eglu Go house x2 and building a 6'x9' walk in run
[*]Do you find areas of difficulty in different seasons? Covering run in snow is the only real difficulty
[*]What happens to the chickens when you go away? Haven't left for long, but will vacation after the WIR is complete

 

[ilvmychickens]

[*]Do you keep chickens as a hobby or as a business? Hobby
[*]How long have you kept chickens? Six months at my home.
[*]How many chickens do you have? 24 give or take it seems to change daily, and some in the incubator due to hatch in one or two days, a brody hen on other eggs...
[*]What breed are they? Ameracauna, Aracona, Wellsummer, Delaware, Silver Spangeled Hamburg, Silkie, Polish
[*]What problems do you face keeping chickens (what is the most time consuming part of keeping chickens)? Predators... Predators, and my neighbors dogs, did I say predators. Cleaning the coop is the most time consuming, using proventatives to keep flies and mites under control. One problem I do face and I have been workin on a solution myself, is watering. We are going to build an automatic waterer because the chickens in the summer have been drinking a lot of water. I refill their waterers several times a day. We often find a lot of cedar shavings in the wateres and the juvenile in the past would perch on the waters making the waterer a big toilet bowl! we just raised them to get that to stop.
[*]Have you had problems with predators in the past? (If so please say what kind of predator and what happened) Dogs, racoons. Dogs if they are big enough will pull apart and jump fences, I have even no joke, no lie, seen a dog climb a fence and go over the top! As a matter of fact, he is our family pet. Racoons, having posable thumbs and intelligence as well will and can pry back fencing and climb places that one without experience with them would probably not expect. Not to mention they will keep coming back and with freinds post getting into the coop. First attack was a dog, lost every chicken, second I again suspect dog, lost seven, and this last time only one. It wa partially devoured in the coop, no sign of any other problems, no other death and or injuries. All attacks were in either the very early morning and or daytime, all attacks were whe the coop was open. We lock it at night. [*]What style of chicken housing do you have (material and size)? 10 by 12 enclosed coop, wire fencing and two by four for construction and frame. Roofing is metal roofing, and the coop is enclosed with corrigated plastic. Nesting boxes inside, and a brooder box for the setting hens and a brooder box for the juveniles. Also in my home we constructed a brooder box with heat lamp out of a pie cabinet I was going to trash. But now it is painted up and we can keep the infants in it under the heat lamp . The run frame is contructed with a wood frame and fencing, 1 inch fencing and the bottom is lined with 1/2 inch three foot high so that the smaller birds can not get out and snakes can not get in. The run is 30 by 16 and 20 by 12
[*]Do you find areas of difficulty in different seasons? Extreme heat will cause slow lay rates, and some chickens even cease laying in the heat and winter all together. Cold is a problem as the chickens feathers can and will freeze when wet in the winter, so watering is modified and heaters are added to the coop. A silkie has the large crest and it gets wet in a conventional waterer, in the winter their crests can freeze!
[*]What happens to the chickens when you go away? I have wonderful livestock experienced neighbors and a great family that will come by and do the "dirty work". The neighbors are nice enough to water and feed.

 

[pawsplus]

[*]Do you keep chickens as a hobby or as a business? Hobby only. My girls are pets only.
[*]How long have you kept chickens? 6 years (since my hen Clarice arrived as a stray)
[*]How many chickens do you have? 3
[*]What breed are they? 1 Barred Rock; 1 Red sex-link; 1 Buff Orpington cross (all hens)
[*]What problems do you face keeping chickens (what is the most time consuming part of keeping chickens)? Day to day it doesn't take much time. It's the big projects--making the original run, renovating the hen house, etc. Recently I did a big reno on the run footing and added a pitched roof. That takes a lot of time and energy.
[*]Have you had problems with predators in the past? (If so please say what kind of predator and what happened) Nope. I have made my pen and coop pretty darn strong. There is also a security light over it and it's only 30 feet from the house. So even though I live in the country, I think the predators figure it's just not worth bothering with.
[*]What style of chicken housing do you have (material and size)? Coop: Wood covered with metal roofing. Run: 10x10 chain link dog kennel with hardware cloth apron and 1"x1" woven wire top. Tarped pitched roof (tubular steel) on top of run.
[*]Do you find areas of difficulty in different seasons? It gets very hot here but there is plenty of shade and they seem to stay comfy. Winters aren't terrible--very wet, but generally not too many days below freezing. Some nights. They have a heat lamp for wintertime.
[*]What happens to the chickens when you go away? I hire a farmsitter who stays on my property and cares for all my animals while I am away.

 

[stubbornhill]

Quote:

 

[farmgirlforever18]

[*]Do you keep chickens as a hobby or as a business?
Mostly a hobby but sell some of the chickens
[*]How long have you kept chickens?
About 6 years
[*]How many chickens do you have?
23. 2 laying hens 20 almost ready to lay and a rooster.
[*]What breed are they?
Buff Orphington, red sexlinks, 2 EEs and 2 bantams

[*]What problems do you face keeping chickens (what is the most time consuming part of keeping chickens)?
Cleaning and building new runs or coops and the fly’s wish they would leave
[*]Have you had problems with predators in the past? (If so please say what kind of predator and what happened)
skunks and coyotes. Broke in my coop or got my hens that were free ranging and snakes they get my chicks and eggs.
[*]What style of chicken housing do you have (material and size)?
Wood and about 8’x12
[*]Do you find areas of difficulty in different seasons?
The summer it gets really hot so they have a tarp over the run for shade, The rainy season when we get one it can flood sometime and it gets cold in the winter sometimes so if it gets below 0 we put a heat lamp in there coop.
[*]What happens to the chickens when you go away?
They are locked in there run with food and water to last them and we usually have someone come check on them if were gone more than a couple days.

 

[harveyhorses]

Quote:

 

[allieloveschickens]

[*]Do you keep chickens as a hobby or as a business? As a Hobby
[*]How long have you kept chickens? a little over one year, maybe one year and 3 months
[*]How many chickens do you have? currently 5
[*]What breed are they? 1 standard cochin, 1 cuckoo maran, 1 red star (red sex link), 1 black australorp, 1 welsummer (possible game mix)
[*]What problems do you face keeping chickens (what is the most time consuming part of keeping chickens)? they are really very easy, but every week or so I clean the coop and run- so that is the most time consuming. Gaining their trust took a while too, for a while it was like herding cats trying to get them back in the coop!
[*]Have you had problems with predators in the past? (If so please say what kind of predator and what happened) I had an opossum try to get in the coop, but I hit it with a rock and it has yet to return.
[*]What style of chicken housing do you have (material and size)? I have a playhouse style coop and run, made of 2x4s, plywood, welded wire, and corrugated Sun Tuf roofing. (you can see my coop on my page) It has a 5' x 10' run and a 5' x 4' house.
[*]Do you find areas of difficulty in different seasons? It gets very very hot in San Diego in the summer, so I have to always make sure the girls have plenty of shade and fresh water.
[*]What happens to the chickens when you go away? I have a friend who comes to chicken sit for me.

 

[Noymira]

[*]Do you keep chickens as a hobby or as a business? Hobby mainly, and for food!
[*]How long have you kept chickens? 3 months
[*]How many chickens do you have? 14
[*]What breed are they? Partridge Rock, White Rock, Rhode Island White, Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshire, Barred Rock and Black Copper Marans
[*]What problems do you face keeping chickens (what is the most time consuming part of keeping chickens)? Planning and building the coop and run, lots of time and some money involved.
[*]Have you had problems with predators in the past? (If so please say what kind of predator and what happened) No predator problems yet.
[*]What style of chicken housing do you have (material and size)? I have one large coop and run, plus 2 smaller pens for quarantine and growing out different ages.
[*]Do you find areas of difficulty in different seasons? Getting to the coop in the winter with lots of snow, and replacing frozen water, will be a problem for me in the winter.
[*]What happens to the chickens when you go away? I have to ask someone to come and check on my birds for me, luckily my neighbors raise chickens too, so I'm sure we'll help each other when needed.

 

[CarolynF]

[*]Do you keep chickens as a hobby or as a business? Hobby
[*]How long have you kept chickens? 2 months and counting
[*]How many chickens do you have? 2
[*]What breed are they? Ameraucana and Black Sex Link
[*]What problems do you face keeping chickens (what is the most time consuming part of keeping chickens)?
First, building a predator proof coop & run
Second.... hmmm studying about how to give them a healthy happy life. (I obviously haven't had any problems yet)
Taking care of these 2 chickens takes very little time or effort. Mostly it's play.
[*]Have you had problems with predators in the past? (If so please say what kind of predator and what happened)
Not yet
[*]What style of chicken housing do you have (material and size)?
Coop is wood, 3' x 4' and 3' up off the ground. Run is 4' x 12', and 6' high (see my BYC page)
[*]Do you find areas of difficulty in different seasons?
Not yet, but rain blowing into the coop may be a problem in the wet season
[*]What happens to the chickens when you go away?
I have a watering system that will keep them for several weeks
The feeder will keep them for about 2 weeks
They can go in and out of the coop any time they like, but I have neighbors that will look in on them.
Treats and cleaning will probably be left until I return home.

Hi Luke, hope this helps. Share your results with use, okay?
I'm from Washington state, in the NW corner of the US, near Seattle. Our climate is very similar to the UK.