have a question about housing and free ranging birds

[marliah]

Hi there,

I am so excited to be here

Our family has been dreaming of having a small farm for years and just this week we moved into our dream home in the country! I grew up on a small farm and had chickens all my life sil my husband and I were married and we moved to the city. Finally back in the country and happy to be here!

We had been planning on buying chicks in the spring and starting a flock, but it just so happens that a better offer came along.
Our neighbor happened to be ready to part with his laying hens and I am being offered 36 hens for a very reasonable price (including waterers, feeders and the works). Most of them are a year or two old and they are laying now. About 13-20 eggs a day. And they are Rhodes mostly so they will be good for meat as well.

At this time we have a chicken coop that is ready to be lived in that is about 8' by 6' and has 6 laying boxes.

We are hoping to fix up a shed that's about 10' by 10' but that most likely wont be til spring, my question is:

can I keep them in this small coop until then? I plan to free range them all day and only coop them at night.

Which leads to my second question. Since they were my neighbors, how long do I need to coop them before I start free ranging so they realize this is "home"?

Also can you offer any advice for someone free ranging in the country (woods)? I realize I will most likely have some casualties and thats ok with me, I have the chickens for bug and tick control as for eggs/meat.


So please do share any advice/suggestions you may have. Looking forward to seeing what you have to share

- Tara

 

[Manok-Tao]

I'm new also and will only chime in that an 8x6 coop (that's what I have) is good for 8 birds. 36 wow I don't know how you would obtain enough roost space. Gauranteed people with tons of experience will post some responses. Try checking out the FAQ area of the board...click on index on left of blue bar at top of page...tons of info there.
And welcome to BYC!!!!!!

 

[gsim]

Quote:

Too crowded and can lead to health issues and bullying and fighting also. Can cause egg production to drop. You need a temporary shelter, even a lean-to of sorts to block wind and allow a dry roosting place. Min space rule of thumb is 4 sq ft/chook and should be higher if long and hard winters. I am in Tenn and I did a little over 5 sq ft/chook. For my run, I did close to 80 sq ft/chook.

 

[patandchickens]

Your first most basic problem is that, as pointed out, you could BARELY BARELY get enough roost space for 36 birds into an 8x6 coop. You need at least 8" of linear roost space per chicken, preferably closer to a foot per chicken so that they have room to jostle around and sort out their little social 'things' about who does/doesn't get to sit next to who else. At just 8" per chicken, 36 chickens would require 24' of linear roost space. Your best way of achieving this would probably be three 8' roosts, ladder-style, with the lowest one maybe 18" or 2' above the ground so they don't need much horizontal room to get up onto, and down off of, it.

That is really all the roost space you could possibly put into that size coop. In principle it could be "just enough". But only if they are very, very, very friendly and tolerant with each other, and can exit the coop as soon as they want to in the morning.

The other problem is, as you say, needing to learn where they now live. You can't shut them up in an 8x6 coop for days or weeks, that is just ASKING fro big problems. So I would suggest that you quick knock together a good predatorproof run, as big as you possibly can, to let them use for the next few weeks or months while you and they are sorting things out. Chainlink dog-run panels can be convenient, if you have access to some affordable ones (the real cheap ones are not always dogproof, though...). Pin them down to the ground real well, add hardwarecloth on the bottom 2-3' to prevent reach-through accidents, cobble together a mesh top so birds cannot fly in or out, and I guess just rely on frozen ground for digproofing for now. Or any other fairly secure dogproof run you can come up with.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[easttxchick]

You can surely trust Pat on the coop issue-she knows her stuff(I have read many of her informative posts).
I free range my birds all day-they wander only into the edges of the woods behind my house and so far I have had no losses. Thanks to the Good Lord and an excellent rooster!
Good luck with your new flock.

 

[tonini3059]

Since you plan on free ranging I think that the coop would be fine for now provided that you can, as mentioned, provide enough roosting space which my be tough. Also mentioned is a run, which is neccesary to keep them confined so they learn their new home. A few 2x4s and some chicken wire should do the trick. It shouldn't need to be predator proof as long as you lock them in the coop at night.
I had chickens learn in a few days to go in at night, but it may take a week or more. I figure once they go in on their own three times in a row they are fine and they can be free ranged. However if you live close enough to your neighbor so that they can walk to their old range it may take much longer.
You are right in that there will be losses with free ranging, but I feel it is worth the risk. Mine go where ever they please, in the woods, by the house etc. You may want to think about getting a rooster as well, some may protect the hens but mine are mostly sentries, warning the hens of any danger.
I would also think about making the next coop bigger than you think, chickens are addicting. I started out with 12 and have close to 100 now.
Good luck and if you have any more questions just ask.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
True, 6x8 is too small for 36 hens; HOWEVER, roost or no roost they CAN survive in there until it warms up, just be sure that they have lots of wood chips on the floor and diatomaceous earth. The 10x10 is too small too for 36 hens but would suffice if they free range a lot; can you make it larger. Have you considered selling about 10 of those hens? Whatever, if I were you, I'd do whatever is necessary to get the hens and equipment; then I'd thin out the two-year-olds as quickly as possible.

 

[Keri78]

CONGRAT!!!! &

Here's my two cents!

At this time we have a chicken coop that is ready to be lived in that is about 8' by 6' and has 6 laying boxes.

That's about the size of my "chickie barn" and I think this would work fine by simply adding a few ledges(wrap around shelves on the inside walls) I have about nine nesting boxes in here(which you can't see from the pic but they don't even bother with the nest boxes!) They prefer the ledges so that's actually on my Hubby's "To Do List" is adding a few more wrap around shelves! See attached pic.

Which leads to my second question. Since they were my neighbors, how long do I need to coop them before I start free ranging so they realize this is "home"?

I would say to be safe keep them locked up for one week...I did this and mine adjusted fine!

As you can see I bought I CHEAP box of stick laminate tiles and put them on my barn floor and the roosting areas(they will mainly poo in one or two areas and these tiles(I didn't stick down) so I just pick them up and scrape them off every morning...very simple! and this makes clean up a sinch! They just use hay for bedding and it keeps them toasty and they LOVE making nests out of it and pecking it during bad weather days when they are cooped up!

I also live in the woods, my chickens LOVE it!!! I let them out every morning and they free range until dinnertime and then they gradually start making their way back to the barn to go back to bed! I keep a big black rubber bucket(tractor supply) full of feed and another one full of water and they are happy & healthy!

Well, best of luck and congrats on INSTANT eggs!!! Most of us have to wait it out for 6-9mths before ever seeing our first egg so your blessed!

Keri

 

[marliah]

Thanks everyone, DH agreed to finish up the larger shed into a coop, I am guessing its actually closer to 14'x14' so I think that will be ok. Plus a friend of mine said she will take 6 hens, so that leaves me with 30.

I am thinking maybe we will use the smaller coop for guineas or ducks later in the spring. Whats a reasonable amount of free rangers in that coop? 10 too many?

Thanks for all the advice and help! I will remember the idea of building shelves for the birds, what a great idea! and much easier to build imo.

Thanks again, I'll try to share some photos when we get the coop done. It needs a new floor and supports and a few homey touches

(nesting areas, perches and such).

- Tara