New to BYC, still fairly new to raising chickens. Have had most of my girls for about a year or so but still have lots of questions and hoping for some advice. Just a little background to give you guys an idea of our setup and home stead in the making- Currently I have around 2 acres that joins in to my parents farm that is about another 38 acres. My parents keep horses on the rest of the land but I currently have 6 hens, 4 goats, 2 small dogs and a pot belly pig. The four goats have about 1 acre or slighty more to themselves and there is a fence dividing them from the backyard, the house, the garden and the front yard. The pig and the 2 dogs are inside/outside animals so they have free roam of the backyard (1/2 an acre) and this is where their outside shelter is. Every one gets along great for the most part so the dogs and pig will often go down to the goat lot with us and lounge around on Sunday evenings. Erecting the fence between the goats and everyone else quickly became a necessity due to the amount of goat poop everywhere, also due to the fact that they make it impossible to get their feed out if there is not a fence between them and the place that you store their feed. We also had to take into consideration how to feed everyone in a practical manner which the goats try to eat everyone's feed so the easiest solution was to separate them from the rest of the herd. Other wise I'd love to just give them all free range of the entire place and have everyone live in harmony but as I'm sure most of you know that's apparently not very practical in most cases. The rest of the land consists of our front yard, fish pond and orchard. As of now none of the animals have access to this part. Sorry for the long back story just felt it may be necessary for my question.
Im currently plotting a new setup for my girls. Experiment #1 with everyone all in the same fence was a failure. In the beginning I only had 3 chickens and a small 3 hen coop that was very basic. No nesting boxes just a wooden frame with chicken wire on 3 side and solid wood on the back and a roost that ran the length of the coop. The chickens abandoned sleeping in the coop pretty quick in favor of sleep on the back steps. Not sure if this was because they liked having the porch light or just because it was closer to the house and made them feel safer or what their reasoning was but never the less this was their new roost and would occasionally switch between the steps and our heatpump. In the colder months the pig and the dogs were inside the majority of the time and slept inside at night so the chickens then decided the dogs/pigs condo was their new residence as it did provide more adequate shelter from winter weather as it is made from osb and covered in metal siding, fully enclosed other than the 2 openings for small entry doors. Once we got the goats in the spring they decided they would take over the dog and pigs house while we were building their new house. The chickens were back on the porch and heat pump during this time so then we were on to Experiment #2.
Since we were already building a shed for the goats we decided to make the chickens a luxury loft in the top of the goat shed so that they were separated from the goats but all under one roof. The chickens enter from the back of the shed the goats entered in the front. Unfortunately this meant when we fenced the goats out we also had to fence out the chickens. I'll admit I liked the perks of not having goat or chicken poop in my back yard but my girls were not fond of their new home. The new shed had been placed at the bottom of the hill about midway in the pasture with a small creek running behind it and there is a large pond about 50-60 feet over to the right and separated by a fence. The chickens haven't spent the first night in there new home since it was built in the spring. They barely even leave the fence line that borders the back yard. And not only that but they've started jumping the fence going into to horse lit that borders and winding up in my unfenced front yard. In the entire time I've had my girls they've never offered to even try getting out before but as soon as the divider fence went up they all started flying the coop so to speak. Any idea as to why they may not like their new coop? I'm thinking it's either too far away from the house or perhaps they just need extra light down there. Could also be that they don't like sharing a pen with the goats.
So now we are on Experiment #3 and I need some help from people that may have similar experiences before I spend another several hundred dollars on a new chicken condo.
Any opinons on if it would it be best to build the girls a new coop in the backyard and give them free roam and access to the garden and back porch? Other than the inevitable poop here and there what could be some other pros and cons that you may have experienced? Not sure if they would wreck my raised beds in the spring. And I'm not sure that they would even use a new coop or just continue with their old habits of sleeping on the steps and heat pump.I like having them close by and I don't want to confine them to a run.
Sorry for the life story, would appreciate any advice that can be given before diving into a new project and I'm about out of ideas and know how at this point.
Im currently plotting a new setup for my girls. Experiment #1 with everyone all in the same fence was a failure. In the beginning I only had 3 chickens and a small 3 hen coop that was very basic. No nesting boxes just a wooden frame with chicken wire on 3 side and solid wood on the back and a roost that ran the length of the coop. The chickens abandoned sleeping in the coop pretty quick in favor of sleep on the back steps. Not sure if this was because they liked having the porch light or just because it was closer to the house and made them feel safer or what their reasoning was but never the less this was their new roost and would occasionally switch between the steps and our heatpump. In the colder months the pig and the dogs were inside the majority of the time and slept inside at night so the chickens then decided the dogs/pigs condo was their new residence as it did provide more adequate shelter from winter weather as it is made from osb and covered in metal siding, fully enclosed other than the 2 openings for small entry doors. Once we got the goats in the spring they decided they would take over the dog and pigs house while we were building their new house. The chickens were back on the porch and heat pump during this time so then we were on to Experiment #2.
Since we were already building a shed for the goats we decided to make the chickens a luxury loft in the top of the goat shed so that they were separated from the goats but all under one roof. The chickens enter from the back of the shed the goats entered in the front. Unfortunately this meant when we fenced the goats out we also had to fence out the chickens. I'll admit I liked the perks of not having goat or chicken poop in my back yard but my girls were not fond of their new home. The new shed had been placed at the bottom of the hill about midway in the pasture with a small creek running behind it and there is a large pond about 50-60 feet over to the right and separated by a fence. The chickens haven't spent the first night in there new home since it was built in the spring. They barely even leave the fence line that borders the back yard. And not only that but they've started jumping the fence going into to horse lit that borders and winding up in my unfenced front yard. In the entire time I've had my girls they've never offered to even try getting out before but as soon as the divider fence went up they all started flying the coop so to speak. Any idea as to why they may not like their new coop? I'm thinking it's either too far away from the house or perhaps they just need extra light down there. Could also be that they don't like sharing a pen with the goats.
So now we are on Experiment #3 and I need some help from people that may have similar experiences before I spend another several hundred dollars on a new chicken condo.
Any opinons on if it would it be best to build the girls a new coop in the backyard and give them free roam and access to the garden and back porch? Other than the inevitable poop here and there what could be some other pros and cons that you may have experienced? Not sure if they would wreck my raised beds in the spring. And I'm not sure that they would even use a new coop or just continue with their old habits of sleeping on the steps and heat pump.I like having them close by and I don't want to confine them to a run.
Sorry for the life story, would appreciate any advice that can be given before diving into a new project and I'm about out of ideas and know how at this point.
