Hello! :-D Building My Own Coop at 70 Years Old. Chickens On The Way in the Spring!

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Cgor54

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Oct 14, 2024
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(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? I'm actually new to chickens. My daughter caught the fever about a year ago. I've watched her raise her backyard crew over the last year and really wanted to be a hands-on chicken mama.

(2) How many chickens do you have right now? None. I'm building my coop that will hold up to 10 chickens right now. I plan on adding my six chickens in early spring. Totally aware of chicken math--thus the 10-chicken house and six chickens to start.

(3) What breeds do you have? After seeing my daughter's lovelies, I've decided on the following breeds: Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, and Wyandott in whatever mixture up to 6.

(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? I love the idea of knowing where my eggs come from. It's not about the $$ saving, it's about having the chickens, caring for them, and quite frankly, having some feathery friends in the backyard.

(5) What are some of your other hobbies? I am an avid quilter. I own a longarm and do work for other people on it. But mostly I just like to create quilts and give them away. I really enjoy shopping for antiques and unusual items at sales. I do like to garden, both flowers and food. And I'll often sue chef alongside my husband in the kitchen when he decides to whip up a new food feast.

(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. I have 4 grown children scattered around Michigan, with one in North Carolina, and I have 7 grandchildren. I'm a retired nurse. I'm 70 years old and learning how to construct my own chicken coop. Love a challenge. I do have two dogs, Bella and Diva. They are going to be the subject of my very first question, if there isn't already an "integrating your current pets with chickens" thread.

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community? :D I found BYC through my daughter, who joined the BYC Facebook page. My daughter is also the reason I caught the "chicken fever". She built her own coop, (soon to be coops) and is currently up to 26 chickens. They are pampered ladies.
 
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Welcome!
I would reconsider keeping RIRs and buffs together as buffs tend to be quite docile and RIRs tend to be assertive and can sometimes be bully birds. Not that it can't work, but you're more likely to run into issues. You can certainly train dogs to be civil around chickens but how hard it'll be will depend on the breeds of the dogs in question and how high the individual dog's prey drive is. Some dogs will never truly be trustworthy around birds, but others will not only be civil but be flock guardians. You just won't know where your dogs will be on that spectrum until you work with them. My own dog is a pit bull named Ranger, he's civil with my birds, but he's a bull in a China shop sometimes hence he's more towards, I trust him enough not to chase them, but not enough to not inadvertently hurt them. I still have the table he inadvertently broke the leg of by running around 'cause I was on the phone with my aunt whom I got him from (my cousin's dog had puppies and I had been wanting a dog for ages so I adopted him from her) and he was super excited
 
Quilting is amazing! I have never done it (the only thing I could sew is my fingers together) and you just give them away?! Wow!

I really hope your dogs catch on to liking chickens (no catching, just liking, lol)! We have always been really lucky with ours and I am not an expert trainer or anything. They still go out and try to find eggs, though.

Have fun building your coop! You have probably found it, but there are thousands of coops for inspiration in the Coop Articles section.

Thanks for joining and the lovely introduction! Welcome to BackYard Chickens!
 
Hiya, and welcome to BYC! :frow

Here, the dogs and cats came before the chickens, but we got lucky that they all acclimated well. The dogs, a border collie and a corgi, watch out for predators, and the cats just ignore them. If the dogs bark at the woods, the chickens adhere to their warning the same way they do when the roosters warn, as they all run for cover.

Best of luck, and hopefully yours will be the same!
 

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