The Concept: 4 or 5 families sharing in the costs, chores and fruits of raising a small flock of chickens.
Resources: BackyardChickens.com, "Story's Guide to Raising Chickens," the great folks at AslinFinch (our farm supply store.)
The Coop: The overall plans came from one of the coops on BYC, with a few minor modifications. The neat part was that about 80% of the materials were recycled from an old sheep barn located on the property. Shingle and siding were about the only new products used. The spot chosen had been a dog run, so all we had to do is rehang the fencing, rig some poles to close in the top and run a hot wire at the base (we have lots of hawks and other chicken loving critters in the area).
Sorry, I accidentally posted this before it was done. Here's the rest!
The Chicks: After a bit of research and just because I liked their looks, I decided on a small flock of RIRs. I was able to easily furnish the brooder (a large box located in my basement) and order the chicks from Aslin Finch. They were picked up on May 16th at approximately 1 week of age. After about 8 weeks of enjoying the friendly peeps and watching them grow to adequate size they were moved to the coop. It only took a few days before they were enjoying the great outdoors.
The Excitement: We did have a bit of excitement/anxiety along the way. Seems at least one of our girls is the adventurous type and managed to escape. We were sure on both occasions that we would never see the stray again, but as luck would have it; or we have some very smart fowl, the first was discovered hiding in the garage a day later, and the second was spotted hunkered down under a tree. It was scooted out and captured with my long fishing net. A joint effort of 4 of us. Wish I had a picture of that.
Anyway, all is well. Our RIRs are looking fantastic and seem to be enjoying their digs. Hopefully in another 8 to 10 weeks they will begin rewarding us with some fine brown shelled eggs.
Will try to keep you posted.
If this was too long, or had too many pictures, please let me know and I will be sure to keep it tidier. I just wasn't sure what the protocol is for that sort of thing.
Resources: BackyardChickens.com, "Story's Guide to Raising Chickens," the great folks at AslinFinch (our farm supply store.)
The Coop: The overall plans came from one of the coops on BYC, with a few minor modifications. The neat part was that about 80% of the materials were recycled from an old sheep barn located on the property. Shingle and siding were about the only new products used. The spot chosen had been a dog run, so all we had to do is rehang the fencing, rig some poles to close in the top and run a hot wire at the base (we have lots of hawks and other chicken loving critters in the area).
Sorry, I accidentally posted this before it was done. Here's the rest!
The Chicks: After a bit of research and just because I liked their looks, I decided on a small flock of RIRs. I was able to easily furnish the brooder (a large box located in my basement) and order the chicks from Aslin Finch. They were picked up on May 16th at approximately 1 week of age. After about 8 weeks of enjoying the friendly peeps and watching them grow to adequate size they were moved to the coop. It only took a few days before they were enjoying the great outdoors.
The Excitement: We did have a bit of excitement/anxiety along the way. Seems at least one of our girls is the adventurous type and managed to escape. We were sure on both occasions that we would never see the stray again, but as luck would have it; or we have some very smart fowl, the first was discovered hiding in the garage a day later, and the second was spotted hunkered down under a tree. It was scooted out and captured with my long fishing net. A joint effort of 4 of us. Wish I had a picture of that.
Anyway, all is well. Our RIRs are looking fantastic and seem to be enjoying their digs. Hopefully in another 8 to 10 weeks they will begin rewarding us with some fine brown shelled eggs.
Will try to keep you posted.
If this was too long, or had too many pictures, please let me know and I will be sure to keep it tidier. I just wasn't sure what the protocol is for that sort of thing.
Last edited:
