Greeting and some help!

[kyjohn68]

First of all, greetings to all, I love BackYardChickens.com!

My wife and I bought this old farm, and it has a chicken coop inside our old barn (about 12 x 18 inside and 12 x 16 outside), I'm planning on having 10-15 laying hens for the eggs.
As soon as I can post pictures, I'll post them and let you see what I have to work with. Any suggestions for newb chicken raiser is coveted, I'm reading all the areas of this site now.

Thank you in advance,

John

I know it needs work, so help me out!

John

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

&

from Michigan. Good luck with the coop project. Do you know what breeds you want yet? Check out the link in my siggy showing my coop. I got a lot of ideas from here.

 

[Emmalion]

First of all

Looks like you have a nice little area to play with. First I would get some new wire where needed and double check the bases to make sure they are animal proof. Next some nice nest boxes and some new perches will really spruce up the place

 

[kyjohn68]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

WOW Hillbilly Hen, that's a nice coop!

As far as the breeds, I'm thinking maybe half leghorn the other half rhode island red, I just want lots of healthy eggs, but remember, I'm some what of a newbie in the chicken department. I'm thinking of repairing all the bad wood on the old coop, then wrapping the old wire with new chicken wire (man that stuff got expensive) and making sure no critters can get in, box design and placement is what I need the most help on.

 

[peterlund]

They will love it just as it sits... They are nor fussy, and it looks predator proof and they have a place to stay dry... the tree will give shade in the summer... Looks perfect!

 

[CopperCT]

Welcome!!! That looks great........you are lucky. I see green grass but no leaves on the trees yet. How cold or hot does it get where you live? Besides nest boxes feeders waterers and roosts you might want to consider some ways to control the cold coming into the coop in winter and/or too much heat in the summer. Maybe some flaps or awnings that can be raised or lowered over the big windows. It would depend on your climate and which direction the coop faces and how much sun/shade it gets. Best of luck with your project.

 

[kyjohn68]

I was thinking about a way to close off the upper part to keep the weather out, I live in North Eastern KY, so it's fairly mild, but we do get snow, and single digit temperatures at times. Not a lot of sun shines back there, we are in a "holler" as we call em here, but the cold would be nice to control a bit. Great suggestions so far!

 

[gryeyes]

If you're looking for eggs, Leghorns are the way to go as they are layers but if you also want some personable chickens, why not replace that breed choice with Plymouth Rock - Barred (commonly called Barred Rocks), and instead of RIRs, choose Black Australorps.

Leghorns can be very flighty and RIRs in groups can be aggressive. With that said, I have a couple of the former and one of the latter in my very mixed flock. I also have BRs and BAs (told ya it was a mixed flock) and they're great dual purpose birds layers with a lot of personality (if you're into processing your own chickens for meat). I am not, but I still prefer the dual purpose breeds to the straight laying breeds.

And

 

[speckledhen]

Lucky you! I do find that some of these awesome old barns are hard to predator proof, so pay special attention to that when you fix it up. I love old barns! Welcome to BYC.

Of course, everyone has their favorite chicken breed, but I don't think you can beat a Plymouth Rock for laying consistency and a pleasant personlity. I have Barred Rocks, Blue Rocks and even one Black Rock. Great girls.

 

[Bi0s]

that will turn out to be a real nice coop for sure looks great how it sits now