Hello from Mayberry, NC

Chickencame1st

Chirping
6 Years
Oct 15, 2013
114
4
86
North Carolina
Hello all--

While Mayberry NC is a fictitious small town in the rolling hills of North Carolina, we are in a small town not too far from Pilot Mountain(a.k.a Mt. Pilot), Mount Airy, Raleigh and the best pork chop sandwich can be found at Snappy’s in Mount Airy, NC. It’s nice to live 2 hours from the heart of the Blueridge and 3 ½ hours from the Atlantic shoreline. We area a family of 6 and home school so the house is busy all day. Over the years we have had rabbits, ducks, chickens and dogs but just took the plunge into backyard chickens. From the local feed store we had a start up of 7 beautiful Red Sexlink, 7 White Leghorns and brought home from the fair a RIR which we affectionately have named Dixie.(Dixie Classic Fair) We also have seven 2 week old chicks in our brooder—5 Americanas, 1 Plymouth Barred Rock and a Silver Laced Wyandotte.
Our coop started over rescuing 2 Muscovy ducks in a parking lot where no mom was in sight. While ducks are fun—they are seriously a lot more work and have always thought egg production would be not only fun but an excellent business learning experience for our 8 year old son.


I’ll post pictures and more later of our coop which I converted a 4’ X 9’ end section from one end of our storage out building and utilized a metal patio canopy for an attached 10’ X 10’ completely enclosed with wire and covered with a tarp for the outdoor pen. Just had to add a door to the patio enclosure and the ground is covered with a bed lined with all vinyl linoleum with 4 “ coarse sand. As soon as I introduced the birds into their new yard—the sand was a hit over the wire mesh bottoms these girls were used to. The coop door is on a pulley accessible outside the pen. I had it closed while I was putting finishing touches on the interior and it was amazing. Those birds were pecking on their new door to come in to their new coop.

Never knew how much chickens love to roost. But they do—wire goes from floor to ceiling and there are a handful that prefer the rafter over 9 feet in the air. They have settled in quite well—12 nest boxes with shavings awaiting their first eggs in about 2 to 3 weeks. A nice white golf ball resting in the middle. Hope they get the idea.

Looking forward to the fun! Hard work—but fun work.
 
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan
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Hello :frow and Welcome to BYC! Your area of NC is lovely, Mayberry or not. Your coop sounds like a nice job of re-purposing materials, can believe the chickens love the sand. You've got a nice diverse and colorful flock going there, going to have a nice colorful egg basket when everybody starts laying.
 

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