Hello from Southwestern Ontario, Canada

[Summersam87]

Hello! I'm Mandy, I've never raised chickens before but I'm building a coop and have ordered my first batch of chicks

I hope to gain new information as well as some tips and tricks for raising these little guys.

I've ordered dual purpose hatchlings, I think they're the black factored kind.. I cant remember the breed exactly but they're black with red combs

I've also ordered ducklings... mainly to keep the duckweed from overtaking the pond lol.

Anyways! Talk soon!

 

[redsoxs]

Hello, Mandy, and

! Pleased you joined our community! Sounds like you are well on your way! Are the chickens you ordered Black Sex Links (Black Stars)? If you - great choice - they are friendly, calm, great foragers, and SUPER layers of brown eggs! On your coop - you probably have predators more formidable than most folks - bears, martens, etc? Invest in high quality latches and hinges and hardware cloth (although it won't do much to stop a bear). I wish you all the luck with your chicks and your ducks! Enjoy the journey!

 

[Summersam87]

Hello, Mandy, and

! Pleased you joined our community! Sounds like you are well on your way! Are the chickens you ordered Black Sex Links (Black Stars)? If you - great choice - they are friendly, calm, great foragers, and SUPER layers of brown eggs! On your coop - you probably have predators more formidable than most folks - bears, martens, etc? Invest in high quality latches and hinges and hardware cloth (although it won't do much to stop a bear). I wish you all the luck with your chicks and your ducks! Enjoy the journey!

Hi Redsoxs!

I (thankfully) live in an area of SWOntario that doesnt have bears, however we do have a LOT of raccoons, coyotes, foxes, weasles, bobcats, and feral cats and dogs.

How big of a coop would you recommend for my birds? I havent built it yet, but have a ton of pallet/skids coming on the weekend and will be building my own coop then. I will definitely be putting in a fenced off outdoor area for them to come and go into the coop as they please during the day so that they can eat fresh grass and insects.. we live in the country and dont have to worry about pesticides or anything like that.. it's mainly the risk of predators that'll harm them.

I have 10 hens and 2 roosters day-olds coming, as well as 6 ducklings... I basically ordered the minimum that I could that gave me free delivery.

I hope that all survive, but I do not expect all of them to because of how many creatures there are around here that want to eat them.

Hopefully I build my coop secure enough for them :S

 

[redsoxs]

I'm not sure on ducks, but the recommended space for chickens is 4 sq. ft. per bird in the coop and 10 sq. ft. per bird in the run. I have a smaller coop but a larger run - my birds only use the coop for sleeping and laying. But I would recommend you make your coop the requisite size - in the cold of Canada they might be "cooped up" and you'll want them to have space. In fact, you may want to make the coop larger - for adding birds down the road (and you will!!

). A word of caution with ducks - if you have any drakes and they try to mate with the chickens, it can really harm or even kill the hen - they don't match up anatomically). Also, try and keep the duckling are separate from the chick area - ducklings make a huge mess of their water and soak everything!
Glad you don't have bears! For me it's raccoons and coyotes mostly - sometimes hawks are a threat. I worry most about any stray dog that comes around. I free range my bird and, where a coyote will snatch a single bird, even a lone dog will kill the whole flock. Good luck to you!!

 

[Summersam87]

I can build a separate coop altogether for the ducks. I honestly only want them in the coop while they're tiny.. once they're bigger, I'd be more than happy to have them live outside of it altogether and in the pond.

I forgot to mention that we also have hawks and because we live next to a river, we also have to contend with Kingfishers, Eagles, Falcons and Martins... gosh.. we have a LOT of predators around us. How did I not realize this before???? lol

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Hello, and welcome to BYC!!

Glad to have you aboard!!

 

[redsoxs]

I can build a separate coop altogether for the ducks. I honestly only want them in the coop while they're tiny.. once they're bigger, I'd be more than happy to have them live outside of it altogether and in the pond.

I forgot to mention that we also have hawks and because we live next to a river, we also have to contend with Kingfishers, Eagles, Falcons and Martins... gosh.. we have a LOT of predators around us. How did I not realize this before???? lol

And they all like chicken dinner!! Hard ware cloth and vigilance are the key. Maybe a good chicken protecting dog. That's the job of the big fella in my avatar!!

 

[Summersam87]

I have a big german shepherd, she's a wonderful family dog who chases away the stray dogs and cats.. I also havent seen a fox at all this year or a coyote (although, I DO hear them).. Saw a raccoon recently, he was trapped on my porch by my shepherd, she was barking at him and he was too scared to run away but he also REALLY wanted to get into our garbage bin lol

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[muscovy joe]

Hey, I'm from goderich and had 15 ducklings last summer with a mom watching them, I lost some of them due to creatures of the night. I would recommend a good strong coop, weasels can get into some small holes. Keeping ducks out at night is tricky too because all the owls in SW Ontario eat ducks too, hope this helps