FLORIDA!!!!!ALWAYS SUNNY SIDE UP!!!

[kwol]

Hello! I am in Pace (Santa Rosa County) where chickens are legal. I can't deal with this area & want to take a job in St. Augustine. Are chickens legal there? I want to take my girls and roos with me.

I am in St. Johns. I heard that in the city of St. Aug. chickens are not legal, I know someone who moved from the city and had "illegal" chickens. But I would check ordinances outside city limits.

 

[gypsyhorsefan]

Hello! I have horses and our horse trainer recently bought her farm and has lately been looking into getting chickens, and so I've been reading up on chickens but have a few area specific questions since most of the books I've seen go into great detail about cold weather, but not so much hot weather, which is much more of a concern here in central Florida. She does have a lot of dogs, so total free range would not be possible, but on the flip side, there probably won't be much of a predator issue either (I have never seen so much as a mouse out there, though I've heard that she does get coyotes in the far pastures - not where the chickens would be). I was just wondering what breeds do well in hot parts of the country as well as what sort of coop design is best. She does have a lot of grassy area, so a portable "chicken tractor" type coop would be a definite possibility, but my main concern is how to balance ventilation with the fact that it rains all the time in the summer/fall. I am also concerned about where to get chickens. I know that most people order chicks in the mail from large hatcheries, but since she is set on raising chickens mostly from an animal welfare standpoint I don't think that would fly. How does one find local chickens to buy?

Thanks,

gypsyhorsefan

 

[cmom]

Here are my coops. You may want to check out the BYC coop pages too for ideas. I do have sprinklers in the pens. I also put pans out with water for the birds to wade in.


The roosts are over wire. The birds poop a lot when on the roosts. This makes it easy to clean out.


This is a coop that was given to us. We renovated it and it is also moveable.

 

[ropergirl]

Hi, from Avon Park in Highlands County!!!! Just adopted a big Red rooster that appears to have been abused. Some jerk cut off all of his wing feathers so that when you look at them it appears that they held out his wings and cut right along the border of the bone. They also cut all of his tail feathers off. He is very odd, he is scared to death of most all of my hens and the other Roos. They will chase him and he will head to a corner and just crouch there and let them peck at him (I don't allow it any longer) I keep him segregated in his own pen. When he jumps up to try to get away, he flaps his wings and he does a back flip...could that be because he has little to no wing feathers?? His tail feathers are growing back. It appears that some of the wing feathers are coming back, does anyone know if they will completely re-grow?? I would love to integrate him into my flock, but right now he is just a big red target...any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[ropergirl]

To add to the above...my chicken pen is a quarter of an acre of fenced chicken heaven....they have a giant oak and a 600 sq ft barn to hang in. They also have free range of our 20 acres in the evening and on weekends. I have about 30 hens and 2 big fat Roos....Jake and Duke....(subtle John Wayne references there!!)

 

[Shawneegyrl]

Look at LOTS of coops and plan for one bigger than needed. If she is thinking she will get 6 chickens, she should plan a house for 24

(or so)

Ventillation is important even if they will free range, roofs with a lot of overhang help. I know some people have fans.

Chicken wire keeps the chickens in but does not keep predators out.
Good thing she has dogs, but she will have to be careful of the dogs. Some are great with chickens and others see a warm meal to be had.

BYC folks often have chickens to sell so check here first for what you want.

FB also has chicken lovers and farm swap pages that you should check out.

I cannot find it right now, but there was a chart (I think on BYC) that showed attributes about chicken breeds and how they compared on several points i.e.. hot or cold extremes, egg production, broodiness, egg size and so on.

Good luck to your friend and welcome!

 

[dezziy]

Here are my coops. You may want to check out the BYC coop pages too for ideas. I do have sprinklers in the pens. I also put pans out with water for the birds to wade in.


The roosts are over wire. The birds poop a lot when on the roosts. This makes it easy to clean out.


This is a coop that was given to us. We renovated it and it is also moveable.

wow very nice!!!!!!

 

[dezziy]

Hi, from Avon Park in Highlands County!!!! Just adopted a big Red rooster that appears to have been abused. Some jerk cut off all of his wing feathers so that when you look at them it appears that they held out his wings and cut right along the border of the bone. They also cut all of his tail feathers off. He is very odd, he is scared to death of most all of my hens and the other Roos. They will chase him and he will head to a corner and just crouch there and let them peck at him (I don't allow it any longer) I keep him segregated in his own pen. When he jumps up to try to get away, he flaps his wings and he does a back flip...could that be because he has little to no wing feathers?? His tail feathers are growing back. It appears that some of the wing feathers are coming back, does anyone know if they will completely re-grow?? I would love to integrate him into my flock, but right now he is just a big red target...any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

wow poor rooster im so happy you saved him and gave him a great home... makes me so sad people do that i just wanna do what they did to the birds to them .... im pretty sure they will grow back.its sad that he reacts like that he must of been thru a lot now that you have him im sure he will come around will takes ton of TLC good luck with him and keep us updated and pictures please

 

[dezziy]

To add to the above...my chicken pen is a quarter of an acre of fenced chicken heaven....they have a giant oak and a 600 sq ft barn to hang in. They also have free range of our 20 acres in the evening and on weekends. I have about 30 hens and 2 big fat Roos....Jake and Duke....(subtle John Wayne references there!!)

Also

 

[Delight30]

Looking for some Roo information...... I have 5 22 wk old hen and 6 18 wk old EE one being a cockerel. He has just started crowing and not everyday.... he is so afraid of the older girls. Will he ever take over the as lead bird or will he always be afraid of them?