Complete novice; been reading but plain n simple overwhelmed!

[Momagain1]

Hello all!

I am so brand spanking new at this; I mean a few months of "thought" into it, but only today REALLY researchinig everything..literally ALL DAY long..

this site has so much info on it, even to a novice such as myself; its lovely to find it all! However, overwhelming!

I guess I want to raise chickens for eggs & to butcher (is that the correct terminology??)..

I have a family of 6, with a elderly neighbor I'd like to keep in eggs as well.

That being said; I also have a family who is a family of 4 that has stated she wanted to buy eggs from us, once we get them..

ok; so with 11 ppl to keep in eggs; how many chickens do we need to do that? I'm in a small farm town, however
I dont know of anyone who sells eggs...soo it may be a way to make a bit of $ to..

And once we decide on how many; that should in essence give us an idea of how big of a coop/run to build correct?

My BIL has free range chickens, but they are producing such STRONG flavor eggs I dont like them..I gag when I eat them..
someone told me they were Americana chickens (blue-teal color shell)..so I'd like to get a milder egg is that even possible???

We have hot summers (central IL) and high humidity; I'm worried that i'll have to put a fan out there; but thats NOT possible..
we have cold, drafty winters....

I've looked at the coop/run design etc..
we do have a decent sized land to put them on; however we do want to make a large garden there too...so, I do have to be
a li'l frugal with our land.

ideas on what to do, what not to do w/the coop/run etc?
My husband says that we dont have to have a tall run; he was just thinking barely higher than the chickens will be full grown..I'm
thinking that is restricitve; so I need to know WHY/WHAT the benefits are to having a taller run..TIA
I'm sorry if there is such a repetition in questions here, I'm excited..but I think I could get to like this..so I do want to make
sure my coop/run is big enough to expand w/the #'s of birds we get...

 

[wannabchick]

Hi ya, I just dived right in..don't stress, it will all come together

I picked upon your comment about amerecauna eggs..and thinking, iam so use tomstore bought eggs..what if I don't like fresh eggs..lol

Nowmiam scared..lol

You mean the eggs will taste different..as in to strong..

Ayyaya


But, hey maybe it's what their fed?... As opposed to more layer feed and less free range..heck I dunno..see iam new too

Lol

But yep totally understand where you are coming from
Xoxo

 

[NonnasBabies]

Bigger is always better. I'd say about 20-25 birds to start with but make sure your coop and run can handle many more in case you want to expand! And you will!!

I would never (now just my opinion) have a run that I couldn't walk in so I can clean it if it gets really nasty, add dirt, leaves, etc. If your going to have a garden and it's not fenced in you want to make sure your run is big enough for them to stay in there. As far as the heat goes you want to make sure they will have shade, that's a must. To me they handle the cold MUCH better than the heat and I live in La. where it get's into the 100's but let mine free range all day and they primarly stay under the shed where it's cooler and I don;t have a fan or anything like that!!

As far as the taste of you BIL's eggs. It could be the feed he's feeding them or what their free ranging on. It's not going to be the chicken itself!!

Good luck with your new adventure!!

ETA: Sorry I forgot to say

&

 

[they'reHISchickens]

First, if you are that overwhelmed by the taste of free range eggs, try them from another source. Yes, they taste different! It's a good difference!
And.... the chicken meat will taste different, too. More chicken-y flavor.
ASK yourself: can you get used to appreciating the taste difference? Can you also convince your family that this is good!
If those answers are YES! Continue reading:
Build the largest chicken coop you can afford to place/build. If you build it, it will fill. It's called chickenmath.
Build the run as large as you can because someday you will be chasing a chicken into the far reaches of it. Murphy's Law of Chicken.
Welcome... keep reading and have fun!

 

[tinychicky]

get a flock of maybe 15-20 hens of a mediteranean variety-they do well in heat and cold (it's still a good idea to put a heatlamp out) and are great layers. meditaraneans include leghorns, minorcas, anconas, javas, and several others. from 20 hens you'll get roughly 10-15 eggs a day, so that's like 7 dozen a week. if your family goes through 2 dozen a week, the family of four goes through one dozen, and your neighbor goes through 1/2 a dozen, you'll have an extra few dozen to sell, give away, or make lots and lots of angel food cake out of

it seems like a lot, but i have a family of five and our 14 layers give us just enough eggs so we don't have to by any. as for getting eggs with weaker flavor, just don't free range them-feed them only commercial layer feed. this will keep the flavor from getting too strong. at for the meat birds, cornish/rock crosses are a classic combo. each chicken should have 2-4 square feet of space to themselves, minimum, outside run included.

also, CHICKENS FLY. you WILL need a tall run, preferably with a top. if it has a top it can be smaller.

 

[txhomegrown]

First of all, welcome to a great forum. I have learned so much here. I had chickens a long time ago, and just became able to get more this year. A good place to start is the BYC homepage.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/

There are coop designs and info on getting started.

How many hens you need to supply 11 people depends on how many eggs a day they will eat. Then add eggs for baking and other stuff.
If they eat one a day, you would need about a dozen a day. That would give you 7 extras a week to cook with.
A conservative estimate is 2 eggs a day from 4 hens. You will most likely get quite a few more, but I find it better to figure low and be happy with the extras. You can always sell them. You could easily do it with 20 hens or so.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
You will want a top to your run, not only because chickens can fly, but hawks, eagles and owls can fly too. And will fly in and take your chickens if you do not put a top on the run. (Didn't someone post a picture of a hawk INSIDE their covered run...had found a hole in the net?)

Also, your garden. Your chickens will eat the whole thing if you don't either keep the chickens fenced in or the garden fenced in. On the plus side they will eat any and all weed you pull from the garden and that is good, cuz the more weeds they eat, the less feed they consume.

Others have suggestions on how many chickens. I'm new, I don't have a clue on things like that, But I can tell you that I am already expanding my flock and I don't own ONE SINGLE chicken yet....so build the biggest coop you can afford. You'll fill it. (I've increased my planned coop's size twice already)

 

[Momagain1]

Thanks! I did read that page; I'll reread it tho! Could always learn more..I'll probably pick up on things i missed first time reading it!

secondly; DH says that he thinks he wants to put the run up against the fence to start

here is what we have avail. for the land; but we'd like to use the land for the garden too in these dimensions:

30 feet wide by 48 feet long;

last yr our garden was 25x30

However; from the road to the back of the lot is 150 feet..so we do have more yard to use; I just dont want to have it come up to the road
and past the house...

I just got off phone w/Dh (hes on his way to work) he now says 20 chickens would be good; gee whiz..when he went to bed it was like
8 chickens LOLOL

ok so with that lot size and that amt of chickens; how large of a run/house? I'm gonna go back and read replies; I'm sure there are new ones!

 

[The Fairy Godmartyr]

You have already gotten some great advice. The one thing I would say is that I would recommend buying MORE chickens than you think you will need. I started raising chickens in June. I asked my husband if he thought I was crazy ordering 13 chicks (I ended up with 3 roosters

) when our normal egg consumption suggested that 4-5 chickens would suffice. We decided that it was easier to get rid of some chickens if we wanted to than it would be to add more.

I'm ordering six more chicks this week.

It turns out that I don't have near enough chickens to sell eggs to everyone that wants to get them from me and keep my kids from giving me the stink-eye for not letting them eat *their* eggs.

The other suggestion I would make (and this is just me) would be to experiment with breeds. I currently have four different breeds, and I'm going to try three more breeds with this batch. I'm not a breeder, so I'm not worried about concentrating on one type, and it keeps the flock interesting for me. Plus, I figure that gives me a chance to find out what ones I like the best. Order a catalog from a hatchery to see what birds have which qualities (I get mine from Meyer, and their catalog tells you each bird's size, egg size, how often they lay, what climates they do well in, egg color, personality, etc., etc.).

Good luck! Owning chickens is a lot of fun.

 

[Momagain1]

oh..ok reallllyyy dumb question here...how do we make sure we dont get a rooster??? we are NOT wanting to hatch our own eggs...
DH says NO NO NO to a rooster (for now..we'll see)...I dont want to have to worry about a fertilized/not egg...
thats a whole other ball of wax I'm not ready to learn at this time..

we can have egg layers w/o a rooster right?