First chicken coop

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Texas Kiki said:
The older family friend birds...could be healthy birds at there current home.
The stress of moving them to a new place could bring out symptoms of a hidden illness.

I would hate for you to suffer quarantining them at your place for a month then have to deal with and ugly intergration (it's not always and easy process) just for them to infect your new birds.

Again...this may not happen but know that it can.
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How long do I need to quarantine the new hens?
 
Memes_chicks said:
How long do I need to quarantine the new hens?
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At least 30 days but unless you house them a football field length distance from your current birds and are very careful about changing clothes/shoes/washing yourself in between dealing with each flock...it won't matter.

It is almost impossible for most of us 'regular' backyard chicken owners to do a proper quarantine.

Illnesses travel through dust blown on clothes and through the air.
 
Welcome to the flock. As you will be getting the adult birds from family, that gives you an advantage, to go look them over ahead of time. Look at husbandry, is the coop clean and cared for? Check the birds for mites and lice, feel their weight, look at their eyes and nostrils for discharge, are their vents clean? Ask if they've been wormed, had Mereks vaccine. look at their droppings. Of course, still quarantine for a month, at least, but if they don't seem healthy where they are now, you may need to pass. Stress of transfer can make even healthy birds break with latent disease, but sick birds will be further stressed. Consider starting with just the older birds, and see how that goes, before any new birds are purchased.
 
townchicks said:
Consider starting with just the older birds, and see how that goes, before any new birds are purchased.
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Disregard this, I see that you already have the young ones. Nice coop, but you need to add way more ventilation asap. Is that going to be your main coop, as in you will add the new birds to the older ones in that? (or vice versa?) Your quarantine coop NEEDS to be a different coop from where you plan to permanently house your birds. You will also want to consider how you will integrate the birds.The best way, IMO, is look but don't touch, where the birds have a divider between them for possibly weeks, to get used to each other. So, with that in mind, a separate sleeping area and run area will need to be added or set up close to your main run. After quarantine, of course, which should be a far as humanly possible, from your main run. If you can't manage this, reconsider the older birds, or wait, at least, to pick them up until you can.
 
Memes_chicks said:
We have just finished our first chicken coop. I will be getting 5 hens that are approximately 2 yrs old this weekend and I currently have 15 chicks growing bigger each day. I am open to any advice I need to know. TIA
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This is going to be a tight fit for just the 15 birds.
20 is too many for this size coop. ( by looks)

What are the dimensions of it?
 
Memes_chicks said:
We have just finished our first chicken coop. I will be getting 5 hens that are approximately 2 yrs old this weekend and I currently have 15 chicks growing bigger each day. I am open to any advice I need to know. TIA
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Welcome!! Im so excited for you! You will love it!

Take note of the info on coop size and quarantine. I feel for you in how stressful it must be to hear that you should quarantine (if you weren't already planning to), but after that time is over with you will be glad you did it.

Does anyone know about foxes ripping through this type of chicken wire? My coyotes would, but OP says she only has foxes. Anyone have knowledge on this?
 
townchicks said:
Disregard this, I see that you already have the young ones. Nice coop, but you need to add way more ventilation asap. Is that going to be your main coop, as in you will add the new birds to the older ones in that? (or vice versa?) Your quarantine coop NEEDS to be a different coop from where you plan to permanently house your birds. You will also want to consider how you will integrate the birds.The best way, IMO, is look but don't touch, where the birds have a divider between them for possibly weeks, to get used to each other. So, with that in mind, a separate sleeping area and run area will need to be added or set up close to your main run. After quarantine, of course, which should be a far as humanly possible, from your main run. If you can't manage this, reconsider the older birds, or wait, at least, to pick them up until you can.
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I was going to put the hens in the coop (My only coop) while the little ones are in the brooder in my basement. And of course will intergrade them in with the older ones over a period of 1-2 weeks. (Will that be long enough quarantine?)
What kind of ventilation do I need? Ideas?
 

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