Excited to meet all of you!

[StelleKitten]

Hiya! My name is Stelle. My husband and I have had chickens before but when we lost both our jobs at the same time a couple of years back we sold our entire flock. We were more sad about losing them than our dogs. Lol. Now that we are back on our feet and on solid ground we are planning on having chickens again. We will finally get out of the 'Apartment of Torture' and back out to the country sometime this coming month. The landlord has chickens and doesn't mind us having a small flock to ourselves.

I currently don't have any chickens because the apartment I am living in won't even allow a goldfish! And as far as plants I can have 2-10" potted plants. Anymore than that and she fines us 100 dollars per plant. GRRRR. But I have some that I have ordered.

I decided on meyer hatchery because I don't want 25 chickens. I have placed the order and they are to arrive between sept 11th and 13th. My order has 1 Black Copper Maran Rooster, 2 Cuckoo Maran hens, 3 Rhode Island Red hens, 3 Speckled Sussex hens, 3 Black Jersey Giants hens, 3 Delaware hens, 2 White Crested Blue Polish, 1 Blue Silkie, and 1 mystery chicken. The two polish girls will be going to my landlord. He just lost his whole flock of polish chickens. The silkie is a pet and will likely be a housebird.


I am currently working on designing my coop and run. I have already figured out my basic numbers of an 8x8 coop and a 8x20 run. I have decided to put the coop 2 feet up off the ground with a ramp to the 12"x12" door. As for nesting boxes I thought that four 18"x18"x18" would do just fine. I plan on approx. 14 feet worth of perching room. A little extra will do no harm.

If anyone has any suggestion at all on coop design, let me know. I do plan on making the nesting boxes accessible from the outside and the flooring will likely be pine shaving. I am thinking of adding a liner underneath the shavings for easy clean up.

Thank you so much for reading this.

StelleKitten

 

[gamebirdsonly]

 

[Wishing4Wings]

My goodness, your former landlady sounds like a monster. Glad you are away from there! Seems like you know what you're doing with the coop, although I will add a caution about the use of chicken wire which is not strong enough to keep out larger predators. We buried hard wire cloth around the perimeter to keep out the diggers too.
Enjoy your babies when they come. No one should be forced to live without chickens!

Best wishes!

 

[Kevin565]

 

[StelleKitten]

Thank you! And I have thought about the ground as well, I just forgot to post it. I am digging down about six inches and burying hard wire cloth under the whole perimeter to about two feet in. I will not be using chicken wire for most of the fence as they new landlord has had MAJOR issues with racoons.

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

If you bury the wire, bury it to the outside of the fence instead of the inside, this helps discourage predators better

 

[StelleKitten]

Oh! Dang, that was so obvious. Had it been a snake.... Lol

 

[weimarmama]

&

from Alabama. Glad you joined us. I bet you're so ready to be out of there and in your new place. Lots of good luck with the move

 

[Fierlin1182]

Hi and

You should check out the Coops section at the top for ideas. I know some people who have a flap at the back of the nest boxes which can be opened for cleaning and collecting eggs.
Good luck with the move! That apartment did sound pretty bad for you guys.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have, and enjoy the site.

 

[theoldchick]