Hello from NE Illinois

[dyebat]

At this point I'm chicken raiser wanna-be. I'm in a Chicago suburb that allows up to 6 hens, and will be moving into a small house as soon as it's finished with the rehab, hopefully by Mother's Day. Although it's in a small city, the house is next to a park and a river that provide habitat for lots of predators, including foxes, owls and red-tailed hawks. My back yard is small, and I want a vegetable garden as well, so 2013 will be my research year,with the goal of adding chicken housing and hens next year. Because I'm a small-sized 75-year-old, I'll be looking for options I can manage on my own (no raised-bed gardens made with concrete blocks!) I'm looking forward to getting good advice from this really informative site, and hope to "pay it forward" with my own suggestions in the following years.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, dyebat, and

! Pleased you joined our community! Have fun with your flock and garden!

 

[drumstick diva]

I read you loud and clear, I am vertically challenged at just about 5' tall and - somewhat younger than you and arthritic. Maybe you could have a small coop raised so the floor is about waist height & opens wide for you, to make it easily to clean out and change food/water. Underneath could be an enclosed run area for the chicks, so they have somewhere secure to be when the weather is bad.

There are tons and tons of coop plans for almost every type of situation, I'm sure you could find one agreeable to you and maybe a local person would build it.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC!!!

Glad you joined us!!

 

[thasista]

Hi from Kentucky!