Have chicks coming next month, and no coop!

[gsim]

Quote:
I did it the same way. Ordered them and started the coop. I had to keep adding 8 ft x 2 ft boxes (home made ones) as they grew while I worked on their coop/run. I put them in the coop and kept them shut in for several days while I finished their run. To be fair tho, I also had started a raised 25 x 52 ft garden at the same time,

so I really had to work hard and non-stop to do it.

See 'My BYC Page'

gerry

 

[catchthewind]

Sorry, my daughters have been sick so my computer time has been minimal this weekend.

I didn't mean to minimize any potential predator problems. I know bears can be a problem on parts of the island (cougars too I think), but I don't think they're much of one where I'm at. The forest we are in is actually a big public parkland (undeveloped) that is surrounded on all sides by houses. We are pretty rural, being one of the smallest lots at 1.4 acres, but not that rural. I don't think there's really anywhere else for bears to come from. When I talked to someone about our garbage, she told me that we didn't have to put it in a bin, but that if we didn't the ravens would get it. She didn't seem to think anything else would be a problem, even raccoons surprisingly. And sure enough, most of my neighbours seem to just put their garbage out in bags. I do worry somewhat about hawks, as I know others who have raised chickens in the area have given up free ranging and completely enclose their pens, but our lot is very forested and most of the land we'd rotate the chickens around on has tons of cover. Now I could be wrong and I would hate to learn it that hard way, so I do want to make sure to build something proper that will protect my chickens.

We don't have an ATV or anything to move a coop around with. I'm still thinking and considering. We may just have to plan to only keep 4-6 chickens and that's that. I expect that would still be plenty for our family of four, if not quite as much fun.

I'm going to go out and walk the land when my daughters are feeling better and it's warmer and try and get a feel for how much room I have in various places and think about a permanent coop somewhere too. Or maybe a permanent coop for the bantams and a tractor type for the laying hens, though the plan has been to keep them all together. I did see a coop in the plans on this site that I loved, that had two sides, one that could be used for storage, bantams, or a broody hen.

Anyway, lots to think about, thank you!

 

[nanaimochick]

Did you ever get your chickens and coop going? We are in Nanaimo with 6 chickens and it has been really fun. Just starting to get eggs too. If you need any ideas you can always contact me. Judy

 

[canesisters]

Check on the sister site Easy Garden. There was a post under 'gardening with animals' by someone who had this really cool rotational setup.
They had a henhouse in the center of several pie wedge shaped runs. They had it all worked out so that the things planted in one section would be harvested a few weeks before the next section and so on. As they harvested, the chickens were moved into that section to weed, till & fertalize. Then the section was left alone for a time, then replanted. I was mesmerized....

it was SUCH a great idea!

Just checked, the thread was called "Just sharing my chicken/garden method" by Kassaundra