Hello from Albemarle Co.

[Patty from Ivy]

G’Day from down under Patty Welcome! and Congratulations!

If I can, just a few words of warning; those prefab/kit coops are normally over rated when advertising the number of chickens they can accommodate and in general, it is usually about half what they say

This well written and informative article may be helpful to you at this stage:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

Also, chicken wire is great at keeping chickens in but pretty much useless at keeping predators out so some reinforcement may need to be added, depending on what the coop is constructed with.

You also might be interested in downloading this free e-book My First Year With Chickens

I do hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

You may want to also Find Your State Thread and pop in and say hello.

BYC has a Learning Centre and also Topic of the Week articles which I have found to be a great resource and a one stop shop for questions which may have already been discussed within the BYC membership group. One in particular I recommend for you is: Topic of the Week - Getting Started, Keeping Chickens

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock when they arrive, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out

Best wishes and good luck!

Thanks for all of your advice - I will definitely use it. Regarding the need for additional protection - we intend to dig in around the perimeter and insert hardware cloth or a similar barrier to deter predators. And thanks for the State Thread info.

 

[drumstick diva]

So glad you joined us at a Backyard chickens