Welcome to owning chickens! You've done the easy, and cheap part, buying the birds.....now comes the work part.
In terms of numbers, we've got 7 laying hens. We average 5-7 eggs a day in the summer, dropping to 1 or 2 in the winter. It's all about the amount of light.....less light, less eggs.
I don't think you will be able to mix bantams and regular-sized chickens. We went to a bird show last year, and my wife wanted to get some bantams ('cause they were so so cute), but the breeders there told us we shouldn't mix them......chickens are real jerks, by the way....they pick on the smaller, weaker ones all the time.
For size, our coop is 4 x 6, roughly. For the 7 we have, it's adequate, though if I were to build again, I might go a little bigger....just as a 'quality of life' thing.
Our run is 8 x 16, and is fine for what it is. They have access to the run all day, every day, and spend all their time outside in the summer, except at night when we lock them in the coop. We let the birds roam in the yard all summer, as long as we're at home. They generally don't roam more than a hundred feet or so from the coop. They go out into the run on warm days in the winter. They won't walk on snow, so they stay in for 90% of the winter.
I have 2 ceramic bulb heaters in the coop for the winter. Many will tell you that you don't need to heat your coop, but here in Winnipeg, I just don't feel right about leaving birds to cope with -40....again, it's a quality of life thing. The heaters only prevent the temps from getting colder than -10C (which is around 10F)
We've only been doing this for 2 years, but in that time, I've learned a lot.
The biggest things I can recommend are:
- Have an area where the birds can get into the shade and/or out of the rain. We have our coop raised, so there is a 2-foot space for them underneath it. It's their favorite spot to be. They take their dust-baths there, and just kind of hang out.
- Place roosting bars (2x4s or 2x2s) in their coop that lets them get up off the floor, and if possible, right up near the ceiling. Ours immediately found how to jump/fly up into the rafters of the coop, and sleep there exclusively.
- Handle your birds often. Not only will it make them less skittish, but it'll let you inspect them for injuries, missing feathers, bald spots, mites, etc.
- Take them treats. As soon as I walk out my back door, they start squawking, anticipating something yummy. Pumpkin guts, pineapple, oatmeal, leftover potatoes, meat scraps, yogurt, raw hamburger, pasta, lettuce......almost anything.......they LOVE it! The BEST thing in the world, though, are the crickets that get caught in our pool skimmer! Crickets are Chicken crack!
- Go get a scrap piece of linoleum, and line your coop floor with it. It makes cleanup MUCH easier, and the wood floor doesn't get saturated with ..... nastiness.
- Dust your chickens a couple times a year with Sevin dust......it prevents/treats mites. I also liberally dust the coop with Diatomacious Earth......you can get it at any farm or livestock store......I also add it to their food once in a while.......helps kill/prevent mites.
- Keep water both inside and outside their coop. Chickens drink a LOT of water.
- Don't put your coop right next to your house, or your neighbor's house.......chicken coops stink. Chickens can also make a lot of noise, even without any roosters. Keep your neighbors happy by giving them eggs.
- If you have a pool, make sure you supervise them when they're patrolling around the pool for crickets. Chickens, when frightened by running dogs, will usually fly into the pool. Chickens are excellent swimmers......for about 15 seconds......then they become very poor swimmers.
That's about all I've got for now.......feel free to PM me if you have any questions at all.......I'm no expert, but I'm happy to share what little I know......good luck!
Brian
