Hello from Climax, NC

Date sort Score sort
Kate+chicks

Kate+chicks

In the Brooder
8 Years
Jan 2, 2012
17
1
24
I am new to raising chickens and just acquired my first "girls" and their companion rooster. I have been using BYC for reference and info gathering and it has been helpful and very interesting which is why I joined now that the chickens have landed. I am thinking I will need lots of help and what better place to get it. My husband built me a beautiful coop that has the capacity for 32 chickens with an outside pen that would hold 74 (according to his calculations
wink.png
). Currently we have 7 chickens that we bought from the farmer down the road who also runs the local feed and seed store. We now have 4 Dominique's (3 hens and 1 rooster), 2 red sex links and 1 mystery chicken. We were told she was supposed to be a turken but she does not have a naked neck and has heavily feathered feet, almost like a skirt. Those feathers are black while her body is a brown and black tortoise shell pattern. She is quite pretty except for her bare butt which he said was molt. I see the same thing starting on the back of one of the dominiques. We have had the chickens for 3 days and already have had 3 eggs! They are confined to the coop for the first week. I get to release them to the pen this coming Saturday!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan
th.gif


I would check those birds carefully for mites and lice if I were you
wink.png


Usually you size your chicken facilities according to how many can fit In the coop - most people plan for 3 square feet per bird; you can get by with a little less, 2 SQ per bird if you have an outdoor run and decent year-round weather. If the weather is bad at certain times of the year (like up here) you need more room per bird inside because they will be inside more. So for 32 birds you need 64-96 square feet of inside space, depending on your outdoors facilities and weather.

Good luck with your hens - Mary
 
Thanks for the advice Mary. I will check for lice. The coop is 100 sq ft and really well built. My husband is an artist as well as an engineer and is sooo analytical it hurts! I will be posting pictures as soon as I am allowed.
smile.png
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom