Hello from Nebraska

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Craftygirl

Craftygirl

Songster
9 Years
Nov 30, 2013
135
11
146
Nebraska
Greetings...!

I am from Nebraska and plan in the next few weeks to start my backyard chicken adventure. I currently do not have anything purchased so I will just tell you all what I have planned and if anyone has helpful suggestions, I'd be happy to hear!

My husband and I are empty nesting parents with 7 kids and 12 grand-kids. I work from home peddling my home sewn creations on Etsy. We love gardening, outdoor living and country life so.. Backyard chickens will just make a great fit...

We have a house/yard on the edge of a small town. It's a great little town and I do have a neighbor who has chickens. :) So my plan is to have a brood of 6 laying hens and no rooster.

We have a 15x15+ fenced dog kennel (no dog) behind our garage which is where I plan to have my coop. I am going to buy the Precision Pet hen house locally and put it in the dog kennel. My chickens will have the entire kennel to roam during the day and when they go in at night I will secure them in the coop. I wonder how often I will need to clip their wings to keep them from flying out?

The same store where I get my coop will be getting their baby chicks in soon. I was planning on keeping them in the house till they are old enough to go outside. I am having questions on what food should I buy.

Does feed store food have hormones in it? Is fortified with vitamins a bad thing? I want to be able to get my feed locally rather than have to purchase it by mail. What do I need to watch out for?

Thanks in advance for all help. :)
Barb
 
Welcome you've found the BEST place for advice on all things chicken!

The first advice I can give is ALWAYS plan on more than you thought
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YOu will hear the phrase "chicken math" quite a bit and boy will it get you. For me chicken math is 10=27, 27 will soon = 35
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Sounds like you have a good plan though! As far as wing clipping, if you research your breeds you will probably find some that will fit your needs and tend to stay put. I have a mix of breeds and for the most part only need to clip my Anconas, and RIR's. My Brahmas are too concerned with food to want to leave it so I have NO problems with them!

With feed, I use the local feed supply (I am in a small ranching and farming town), they carry starter (chick feed) both medicated and unmedicated (which I prefer). If you want to go organic you would probably be better off with a chain feed store.

Good luck on your Chicken Adventure
 
Welcome to BYC! If your dog run is just chain link, I recommend fortifying it with 1/2 inch hardware cloth (very strong mesh wire) all the way around it and over the top. Predators can reach through chain link and it's not pretty what they will do to your chickens. Good luck to you!
 
liz9910 said:
Welcome to BYC! If your dog run is just chain link, I recommend fortifying it with 1/2 inch hardware cloth (very strong mesh wire) all the way around it and over the top. Predators can reach through chain link and it's not pretty what they will do to your chickens. Good luck to you!
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You mean during the day I need to worry about predators? They will be in an enclosed coop that does have a little run for night time, and that run is made of strong mesh...
 
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Welcome to BYC! Even during the day there are things lurking around that can hurt your babies. So you need to be sure that even a paw can not enter their run area. I don't use any chicken wire. Things can chew thru chicken wire. Go with hardware cloth. 1/2 is usually suitable for covering things. I use chain link on my quail aviaries and covered the entire thing with hardware cloth. Predators are always on the look out for a chicken dinner and you don't want to be worrying about them day or night.

As for feed, get some chick starter from the feed store. It has all the vitamins and minerals that babies need for good growth. When the birds are of laying age, feed them layer feed.

You might want to do some reading in our learning center here on BYC for some tips and hints on raising, keeping your birds safe, feeding them and keeping them healthy...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Good luck with all you poultry adventures and enjoy BYC!
 
TwoCrows said:
I don't use any chicken wire. Things can chew thru chicken wire. Go with hardware cloth. 1/2 is usually suitable for covering things. I use chain link on my quail aviaries and covered the entire thing with hardware cloth. Predators are always on the look out for a chicken dinner and you don't want to be worrying about them day or night.
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Ok, advice has been noted! :) I will build a larger run inside the kennel and use hardware cloth. That is what the run on the coop is made with. It's just too small in my humble opinion..to keep 6 chickens happy..I want them to have space.. There certainly is enough dust back there...

Thanks so much for the advice. The link was very helpful. :) I'm so eggcited to get started..
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There are different predators out day and night a covered run prevents the jumpers, climbers and those dive bombing from the sky, from getting to your chickens.

You will also find predators that either dig under your run or pull parts of birds through fencing and eat off anything they can grab.

Everything loves chicken., and not in a good way.
 

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