fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[fuzzi]

A planning and doing thread...

Once upon a time about 30 years ago I went to a flea market with a friend who was planning on purchasing some bantam chickens for her mini farm. She found a trio of hens plus a rooster, very fluffy...I think they were Silkies. I impulsively bought a trio of black rosecomb hens plus rooster. My children named them Eenie, Meenie, Miney, and Moe (the rooster). Miney went broody almost immediately, so we put her in an old fashioned wire chicken cage we'd been given, and so she sat on top of about a dozen eggs while the other chickens had the run of a yard we'd thrown together. Miney was the lucky one, as something killed the other three one night, and I learned about predators very quickly. I then created a chicken coop and run that kept my chickens safe for several years.

The chicks Miney brooded until shortly before hatching became the basis of years of fun with our little feathered friends, and now, for about three years, I've been mentally planning to have bantams again.

I've been there, done that, not technically a complete newbie, but I'm not 30 anymore, I have physical limitations plus my husband is disabled and will not be able to assist in anything but in a superficial way.

I'm creating this thread as a type of journal of my journey back, I hope, to having chickens again. Do feel free to chirp your insights and thoughts along the way.

 

[fuzzi]

First things first...are chickens allowed where I live? Yes. I even hear a rooster some mornings, somewhere nearby, doesn't bother me.

Do I have a place to raise and nurture chickens? Yes, a partially fenced-in third acre lot, half of that a backyard next to a wooded lot that is home to numerous critters such as opossums, raccoons, deer, and foxes (we hear them bark sometimes). Security must be tight.

Do I have the time and energy to do poultry husbandry? I believe so. I'm still working full time, my only concern is when we go on vacation once a year. My chicken will cross that road later on.

Why do I want to raise chickens again? Mainly for fresh eggs, uncontaminated by antibiotics. I had to stop eating store-bought eggs as they made me sick, but the free range eggs that a coworker brought to me caused no issues. And also because I enjoy husbandry. Chickens' little personalities are entertaining as well.

So, the thinking has now progressed into more concrete designing and planning.

 

[fuzzi]

1. The breed

I like bantams, based upon experience. I don't mind little eggs, or broodiness, and I can have more of them in my little third acre. The rosecombs were nice little birds, but I'm considering other breeds as well. I want friendliness, good egg production, and the ability to handle insufferable hot and humid summers. I'm considering Delaware, Plymouth Rock, and that other black feathered breed whose name escapes me at this time. I could look it up, I suppose...

I probably won't add the chickens until the Spring, so I have a bit of time to consider.

Next...the coop.

 

[fuzzi]

2. The coop

I thought about making a coop, but my time and abilities as well as the tools to create one are much more limited right now. Back in the 1990s I had a handy husband who brought home pallets from his employer. Our coop was a welping box, to which we added a hardware cloth floor, and cut a chicken sized door on one side (I'll post photos as I find them). We had a small shed with a tin roof carport on one side, which with the addition of chicken wire and bird netting became the chicken run. I don't have any of that here.

Okay...to buy a coop...what's available?

Tractor Supply, other farm/garden businesses have cute coops, runs, even chicken tractors. The prices are kind of steep, though, and the reviews are bad, about how cheap and flimsy they are, how they rot quickly. Hmm.

Used? FB Marketplace? I've been watching sources for months. The stuff is cheap in build, not price. Homemade coops are in poor shape and overpriced. Sigh.

I do not do Craigslist, but thanks for the suggestion.

Much web searching later I'm discouraged. Really nice and sturdy coops are priced in the THOU$AND$, yikes! The affordable ones are all "Amish" designs (riiight... ) and not what I want, anyway.

Then I found a place that makes what I am looking for: sturdy wood and hardware cloth coops, open bottom, possibly moveable. I can make modifications to suit my needs, I'm still capable of that.

So this is what I am planning on purchasing:

One of the big selling points for me is that it can be disassembled and moved if we sell the house once I retire. I like the cedar siding/roofs. It also has lots of ventilation, very important!

I'm not certain I will be moving it around myself as it weighs about 250 lbs. I may put a hardware cloth floor on it and place it up on blocks. We'll see.

 

[fuzzi]

3. The run/yard

Nope, can't, WON'T consider true free range, not with the woods next door. Also, I've seen Cooper's hawks fly after songbirds at my feeders, don't want to take a chance. I'm still researching options, the back yard is big enough for a temporary or moveable run. Still mulling over this item.

So, what do YOU think so far?

 

[fuzzi]

Photos of our setup back in the early 1990s. Eventually we extended the netting up to the roof of the carport, making it easy to stand up in the run. The chickens' door to the coop was closed and locked at night. When it was opened it became the ramp.

 

[fuzzi]

The girls...

 

[fuzzi]

One more: this was a mini coop & run my husband made. That's Miney-bird and one of her broods.

 

[DickMidnight]

my only concern is when we go on vacation once a year.

looking forward to following along! sounds like you’re getting yourself well prepared.

with regards to the above quoted section, plan for this when you build your coop.

we spend 4-6 months a year either on vacation or at one of our other homes.

our chickens are completely self sufficient for up to 10 days at a time, with a teenage neighbor hired on to collect eggs a few times a week.

1. make your coop and run fort knox. this allows you to leave your pop door open 24/7 so you don’t have to let them out or lock them up every day

2. deep bedding in the coop and deep litter in the run. in more than a year, i’ve cleaned the coop out once and i’ve never had to clean the run.

3. make your run fully roofed, with generous overhangs. if everything stays dry, your maintenance goes down considerably.

4. get a feeder that holds 50+ lbs of food. this one is self explanatory.

5. make a horizontal nipple waterer out of a 6 gallon bucket with a gamma lid. this is my limiter. it holds a week to 10 days of water for my flock, depending on weather. if we’re gonna be gone for 2+ weeks, the neighbor who collects eggs will have to check and refill the water bucket.

 

[fuzzi]

looking forward to following along! sounds like you’re getting yourself well prepared.

with regards to the above quoted section, plan for this when you build your coop.

we spend 4-6 months a year either on vacation or at one of our other homes.

our chickens are completely self sufficient for up to 10 days at a time, with a teenage neighbor hired on to collect eggs a few times a week.

1. make your coop and run fort knox. this allows you to leave your pop door open 24/7 so you don’t have to let them out or lock them up every day

2. deep bedding in the coop and deep litter in the run. in more than a year, i’ve cleaned the coop out once and i’ve never had to clean the run.

3. make your run fully roofed, with generous overhangs. if everything stays dry, your maintenance goes down considerably.

4. get a feeder that holds 50+ lbs of food. this one is self explanatory.

5. make a horizontal nipple waterer out of a 6 gallon bucket with a gamma lid. this is my limiter. it holds a week to 10 days of water for my flock, depending on weather. if we’re gonna be gone for 2+ weeks, the neighbor who collects eggs will have to check and refill the water bucket.

Thanks for the suggestions. Back in the 1990s we put grass clippings in our run, chickens scratching covered up the droppings. You should have seen the nightcrawlers we dug out of the yard!

Today while organizing the shed I found two more rolls of hardware cloth. I shouldn't have to get much, if any.

I'll check into the others.