Boppo
Crossing the Road
Glad to meet you. Those dumped birds were lucky to find a kind home with you guys. My favorite intro to chicken keeping article, which covers soup to nuts, briefly.
Here are some other helpful articles from BackYard Chickens:
1. Ventilation, with helpful links to a number of coop designs based on climate (because what works great for me in New England would be not so good in Arizona or Texas).
2. Protection from Predators; and Electric fencing if you have really large or determined predators.
3. Winterizing (assuming you are in winter territory now); & a second article with links.
4. Cheap (sorta) chicken keeping tips:
a. Look for a coop or a shed on Craigslist in your area that can be used. Don't buy a used coop, though!! That would likely introduce pests and diseases. Sheds are pretty easy to reconfigure into a nice coop. Or you can see if a local handyman can build you a coop and run at a reasonable price. If you are able to use salvage lumber, you can save some money there.
b. If you are handy, there are a ton of diy designs for coops, for chicken feeders and watering systems. Look around at the Coop Design section and use the SEARCH button when you want a project. BYC has a huge collection of designs.
c. Look on Craigslist or local Facebook poultry interest groups for items for your coop and run like hardware cloth, roofing material, lumber, etc. In some places there are organizations that recycle building materials. You sound pretty rural and may not get that where you live, but you may get pallets and abandoned barns and sheds.
d. Do not cheap out on chicken feed, if you can help it. But if you give it to them as a fermented mash, they will waste less, and get more nutritional value out of the feed (this is not uncontroversial, but I do believe it). Wastage discussion. Fermented mash FAQ .
e. If you can let your chickens out to free range some of each day (best to do it when you can watch over them), your feed bills will go down, at least a bit, since the chickens will be finding goodies in your yard. There are risks that your birds may be attacked while they are out of the run/coop area, though, so be alert and watch for hawks, stray dogs, foxes, weasels, raccoons, etc. If you have a flock of crows nearby, that can help with hawks. yay, crows!
5. Where to put the coop?
a. Try to line up the ventilation with the prevailing gentle breezes where you live (as opposed to storm winds!!). If you are not sure, National Weather Service lists by area (use google).
b. Look for the best high ground, and best draining ground you can, because neither you nor the chickens will want to deal with mud and muck in the coop or pen during rainy, snowy seasons. Here is a terrific article about dealing with the inevitable, though.
Here are some other helpful articles from BackYard Chickens:
1. Ventilation, with helpful links to a number of coop designs based on climate (because what works great for me in New England would be not so good in Arizona or Texas).
2. Protection from Predators; and Electric fencing if you have really large or determined predators.
3. Winterizing (assuming you are in winter territory now); & a second article with links.
4. Cheap (sorta) chicken keeping tips:
a. Look for a coop or a shed on Craigslist in your area that can be used. Don't buy a used coop, though!! That would likely introduce pests and diseases. Sheds are pretty easy to reconfigure into a nice coop. Or you can see if a local handyman can build you a coop and run at a reasonable price. If you are able to use salvage lumber, you can save some money there.
b. If you are handy, there are a ton of diy designs for coops, for chicken feeders and watering systems. Look around at the Coop Design section and use the SEARCH button when you want a project. BYC has a huge collection of designs.
c. Look on Craigslist or local Facebook poultry interest groups for items for your coop and run like hardware cloth, roofing material, lumber, etc. In some places there are organizations that recycle building materials. You sound pretty rural and may not get that where you live, but you may get pallets and abandoned barns and sheds.
d. Do not cheap out on chicken feed, if you can help it. But if you give it to them as a fermented mash, they will waste less, and get more nutritional value out of the feed (this is not uncontroversial, but I do believe it). Wastage discussion. Fermented mash FAQ .
e. If you can let your chickens out to free range some of each day (best to do it when you can watch over them), your feed bills will go down, at least a bit, since the chickens will be finding goodies in your yard. There are risks that your birds may be attacked while they are out of the run/coop area, though, so be alert and watch for hawks, stray dogs, foxes, weasels, raccoons, etc. If you have a flock of crows nearby, that can help with hawks. yay, crows!
5. Where to put the coop?
a. Try to line up the ventilation with the prevailing gentle breezes where you live (as opposed to storm winds!!). If you are not sure, National Weather Service lists by area (use google).
b. Look for the best high ground, and best draining ground you can, because neither you nor the chickens will want to deal with mud and muck in the coop or pen during rainy, snowy seasons. Here is a terrific article about dealing with the inevitable, though.
