- May 3, 2013
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- 24
It's official. As of late afternoon yesterday, 5/2, I kicked off my first go at a backyard chicken family. My wife and I have talked about doing it for some years now but in talking with our younger neighbors, they were also pretty gung-ho about doing it, as well. We decided to go joint venture and actually now have 3 small households involved to share the cost of initial infrastructure and maintenance of a 6 bird flock. Yesterday, I took delivery of 6 chicks that had just arrived by mail to our local Farm Supply. We chose 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Silver Lace Wyandottes, and 2 Plymouth Barred Rocks. As of this post, they're all doing quite well in there makeshift brooder under a heat lamp (bottom half of my Labrador's pet porter). I even talked a friend into picking up a few chicks as he was on the fence about doing it but just didn't really know where to start. It's now a local movement!
A week ago, I started construction of a 24 square foot raised coop with an additional 24 square foot of fenced open ground underneath. They will also have access to an additional 30 sq ft of open ground adjacent the coop that will come in handy when it comes time to muck the coop. We'll consider occasional backyard releases under supervision. Aside from about $24 worth of new 2x2 framing material, the entire coop is built from older, reclaimed 2x4, 4x4, plywood, and poultry wire that was acquired from old projects and neighbors that were trashing the unused materials. I'm typically one of those types that wouldn't spend the $500+ on one of the newly manufactured coop that inundate our local craigslist but without second thought, I'd go buy $500 worth of material and build my own super fortress! Not this time. Money is tight, I'm not working as I'm recovering from recent c-spine fusion surgery and I simply said "no way" to the big funding. I'm almost done with the coop, another days work should see completion as I wrap the necessary sections with wire. So far, we're into this whole project for about $60! That's chicks, 25# of medicated feed, feeder, waterer (chick sized), shavings, and coop material. Of course, we'll all be overlooking the $20,000 in labor costs that I have put forth in this recycled chicken palace.
I'll have to post up some photos of our project when I find the appropriate forum here. In the meantime, I look forward to sponging as much info as I can from those more experienced here and will be glad to give back when I have something constructive to offer.
A week ago, I started construction of a 24 square foot raised coop with an additional 24 square foot of fenced open ground underneath. They will also have access to an additional 30 sq ft of open ground adjacent the coop that will come in handy when it comes time to muck the coop. We'll consider occasional backyard releases under supervision. Aside from about $24 worth of new 2x2 framing material, the entire coop is built from older, reclaimed 2x4, 4x4, plywood, and poultry wire that was acquired from old projects and neighbors that were trashing the unused materials. I'm typically one of those types that wouldn't spend the $500+ on one of the newly manufactured coop that inundate our local craigslist but without second thought, I'd go buy $500 worth of material and build my own super fortress! Not this time. Money is tight, I'm not working as I'm recovering from recent c-spine fusion surgery and I simply said "no way" to the big funding. I'm almost done with the coop, another days work should see completion as I wrap the necessary sections with wire. So far, we're into this whole project for about $60! That's chicks, 25# of medicated feed, feeder, waterer (chick sized), shavings, and coop material. Of course, we'll all be overlooking the $20,000 in labor costs that I have put forth in this recycled chicken palace.
I'll have to post up some photos of our project when I find the appropriate forum here. In the meantime, I look forward to sponging as much info as I can from those more experienced here and will be glad to give back when I have something constructive to offer.
