First time chicken owner

[Happycamper07]

I'm getting chickens soon and I'm wondering the basic info I need to know for raising chickens and when to move them to a chicken coop. I'm trying to get all the information before I get them.

 

[janiedoe]

Where are you located? I prefer to raise my chicks outdoors.
A brooder inside their coop is perfect, as long as it is secure from predators.

 

[Tonyroo]

If you have a coop, make a section for the chicks to grow in. Just provide them with heat, chick feed, and water.

 

[BlueBaby]

Hello, and welcome! Good luck with picking out your future flock!

 

[Saveria]

Check out this page to start you off. I probably sound like a parrot on here because I am always saying this, but these articles are so useful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/learning-center.11/

Post again if you have any specific questions, but here are some general tips.

- Build your coop if you can, or get one built by an actual person that can supply glowing references. Everyone I have ever heard of getting a prefab coop regretted it. What your climate is like may also inform what features your coop will need.

- Think about what you are looking for from owning chickens, and that will help inform with breeds are right for you. Do you want as many eggs as possible and don't mind if they live short lives? Do you want pet chickens that barely lay, but may be with you many years? Do you want chickens that are friendly and/or nice to each other? Do you want ones that will brood chicks? Do you want colorful eggs? Do you want ones that will make your window turn into chicken TV? Folks will describe these as some of your goals. Once you figure them out you can get pointed in the right direction on breeds and setup.

- If you learn about good management there will be less problems. You will have to deal with cleaning up after them, keeping them safe from predators, food and water, collecting eggs, adding new birds, making sure they have enough space, keeping them healthy, etc. There are lots of ways to go about making sure all this gets accomplished, you will probably want to hear what others do and formulate what you think will be best for you. If you research and formulate good management practices by creating a plan for the things listed above (and probably a few I missed), things will go more smoothly, and there will be less problems and snags getting in your way.

Sorry that got so long. Hope that helps in a tip of the iceberg sort of way. Let us know if there is anything else we can do to help.

 

[Happycamper07]

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Where are you located? I prefer to raise my chicks outdoors.
A brooder inside their coop is perfect, as long as it is secure from predators.

Live in Oregon near the coast. So lots of rain. We have coyotes and hawks too.

 

[Saveria]

The coop I wish I had built is called the woods coop. The design gives the birds optimal ventilation in all seasons. A lot of folks on here would be happy to tell you about it, here is some info to start you off.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ready-to-go-building-plans-for-a-woods-style-coop.1565110/

If you want to eliminate hawk attacks you can have a covered run. We lose birds to hawks only when we aren't here, and we pasture in electronet fencing with a lot of places they can run for cover normally.

Coyotes aren't a huge problem for us, since they only come up at night when they are secure. A fox has sneaked up and run off with one of ours when they are out for the day twice, but pretty minimal losses there.

You want to make sure that the coop is tight enough that no kind of weasel/ermine/mink or the like can get in, because they are really destructive predators. You want to find out what weasel family creature(s) you have there and make sure it can't fit it's head through any crack or opening. 1/2 hardware cloth is your friend here, because not even a racoon paw is getting through that.