Hello Everyone!

[SueD]

Hi,

We are building our first chicken coop for our first chickens (yet to get) We will be first time chicken owners, and want to say hello to everyone. If anyone has advise for us, we would be happy to hear from you. I hope the chicken coop my hubby is outside building, works out ok. And we are using an old dog run for the pen. I would like to know what you put donw on the flooring of the house though. any suggestions?

Thanks
Sue and Mark in NJ

 

[BeckyLa]

Welcome to BYC!!!

I have 2 coops with wood floors and use pine shavings for them. I buy them by the bale (also called horse stall shavings) at our local feed store. But I have other coops with dirt/sand floors that I just add sand to and rake out periodically. I also sprinkle everything good with food grade DE to take care of mites/lice, etc.

My only advice for a new chicken owner is to make your coop & run at least twice as big as you think you need it to be. This will give your birds plenty of room during the hot summers and leave room that should some sweet hen hatch her eggs so they will not be over crowded.

 

[JudyMcKinn]

Welcome to the world of chicken addicts. LOL
What size coop are you building, and what style? I have wood floors in mine, and use pine shavings, also.
If you have a camera, we would all love to see pictures of your coop as you build, and when it is done.
What kind of chicks do you plan to get?

 

[ThunderStruck]

Welcome to the fun Sue and Mark

I give a 3rd vote for wood floor with PINE shaving...not cedar, they are toxic to poultry. you will need a brooder. there are a number of threads devoted to em. Just read as much as you can about everything. at times ya may feel a lil over whelmed about the whole thing but after a while it becomes second nature. How did you hear about BYC?

GOOD TO HAVE YA, AND GOOD LUCK

Forrest

.

 

[SueD]

Thank you everyone for your help and kind responses!
For our house, we bought an 8x10 wood shed at home depot. My hubby has it almost built and putting the shingles on it now. He cut two vents in the side wall with hinged doors, and an opening at the bottom for them to enter and exit with a sliding door to close them in at night. I had an old 6x10 chainlink dog run with a closed in top we are going to attach to the house. we checked out a chicken house at the store and took the measurments of the shelf and boxes on the inside. We bought six baby chicks.(i hope 6 is not to many for the space we are making) a few weeks ago from a lady but I lost her phone number(dummy), and she has not contacted me lol. I think they were called silkys. I am going tonight and see if we can find her house again, and see if she still has my chicks. If not, I already met someone on here in nj that is over run with her chicks and said I could have some from her. I found this site just doing a chicken search on the web, and I just LOVE it! I have learned so much since finding it just yesterday! I'm always up for advise! Thanks again!
Sue

 

[MissPrissy]

Welcome to the addiction, SueD!

 

[JudyMcKinn]

It is sort of standard to have 4 sq. ft. of space for each chicken in your coop, so your 8 X 10 shed (80 sq. ft.) should be good for 20 chickens. (not to give you any ideas. LOL But you may hatch some besides the 6 you plan, when things get going.) However, your outside pen isn't as large as some, so wouldn't really recommend 20 chickens for the 6 x 10 pen. But you have lots of space for 12 to 15, especially if you get silkies, as they are smaller, and not an active bird, usually. Quiet, sweet birds. I love my silkies.
However, if you are getting chickens to have eggs, the Silkies only lay a bantam sized egg--you will need about 2 Silkie eggs to make a regular sized egg, for eating or cooking.
Some of the others will be getting on here with more advice, I'm sure, or maybe to give their experience. Good Luck.

 

[SueD]

20+ chickens? OMG...I think hubby would FINALLY kill me lol. 3 dogs (waiting for another one to get here), 2 horses, Inherited 7 feral cats outside (over a grand to catch and spay) 2 cats inside...now chickens? Trust me when I say, I'm pushing it lol
I wont tell him how many we CAN have if we wanted. I wont mention them having any babies either lol. Thanks again everyone!
Sue

 

[SueD]

After reading what you said about my pen not being very big for chickens, I just bought another dog run from my neighbor. It's 6x 10, so I will add that to the 6x10 I already have and give them more room when they get here. I think I'm already a worry wart lol

Sue

 

[JudyMcKinn]

Oh, PLENTY of room for about 20 now. LOL Maybe more. (Am I getting you into trouble?? LOL)
Seriously, you have a really nice setup now, in my opinion.