Hello From Sunny Florida! (when it's not raining... lol)

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Hi and welcome to BYC :frow We're so happy you've decided to join us :ya

We have a contest going on right now just for new folks like you. In order to enter you'll need to copy the link from your first post in this thread and post it in the contest thread.

To copy your link address, right click on the link to your thread and click copy or copy link
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then click on the following URL
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...t-new-byc-members-win-a-byc-calendar.1287752/
Go down to where it says "write your reply..." tell us this is your entry and then click on the link button
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Paste your URL into the box and click "insert", then click "Post Reply".
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That's all there is to it. Once you've finished this, you're eligible to win a nice BYC Calendar.
 
Sunshine_Chick said:
I have navels, tangerines, satsumas, tangelos, meyer lemons, limes & grapefruit and she won't touch them. The dogs, however, pick their own, peel them and eat them spitting out the seeds its hilarious to watch. In season they hardly eat dogfood they are so full of citrus.
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We had a Satsuma growing up and it was the juiciest! Funny how your dogs pick their own :lau
 
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Sorry my welcome is so late. I'm glad to hear you're loving your chickens and having a great time! But I'm sorry to say, you will have to add quite a bit to 8x10 to be able to house all the birds you have. Maybe if you triple the size... 24x10 gives you 240 square feet, which doesn't quite come to the general 4 SF per bird rule. But, if configured so you have at least 4 roosts (maybe ladder style) along the long side, (24'x4) will give you almost 100 linear feet, enough to sleep 90 to 100 birds. It could work. Even building a few separate coops could also work. You have 3 roosters so they will likely divide your flock into smaller sub-flocks anyway. Please read this article:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

Your run space would have to be so large you might as well free range. Typically 10 SF per bird is enough, unless you want to operate on tight factory conditions. Birds can usually get along fine for 5 or 6 months, but hormones and cramped conditions over time can lead to severe pecking and even cannibalism. Thinning out your flock early would be a good idea, especially if you have an abundance of young cockerels. I recently found this article which offers a compassionate look into culling your own birds for meat:
Pets VS. Livestock & Respectful Chicken Harvest

Meat birds (broilers) are generally harvested around 8-10 weeks old as they're bred to gain weight so quickly they usually succumb to organ failure before they reach full maturity. It's also advised to strictly limit their feed intake, while layers and dual-purpose thrive much better with free access to feed all day... a reason why broilers are usually raised separately.

You have quite a lot of chicks to start with, and they grow so fast, I hope you don't get overwhelmed. It's easy to find yourself in a pickle. Don't be afraid to ask for advice... there's lots of helpful people to offer ideas and solutions.
Good luck in your crazy new chicken adventure!
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FlappyFeathers said:
View attachment 1680270

View attachment 1680271 Sorry my welcome is so late. I'm glad to hear you're loving your chickens and having a great time! But I'm sorry to say, you will have to add quite a bit to 8x10 to be able to house all the birds you have. Maybe if you triple the size... 24x10 gives you 240 square feet, which doesn't quite come to the general 4 SF per bird rule. But, if configured so you have at least 4 roosts (maybe ladder style) along the long side, (24'x4) will give you almost 100 linear feet, enough to sleep 90 to 100 birds. It could work. Even building a few separate coops could also work. You have 3 roosters so they will likely divide your flock into smaller sub-flocks anyway. Please read this article:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

Your run space would have to be so large you might as well free range. Typically 10 SF per bird is enough, unless you want to operate on tight factory conditions. Birds can usually get along fine for 5 or 6 months, but hormones and cramped conditions over time can lead to severe pecking and even cannibalism. Thinning out your flock early would be a good idea, especially if you have an abundance of young cockerels. I recently found this article which offers a compassionate look into culling your own birds for meat:
Pets VS. Livestock & Respectful Chicken Harvest

Meat birds (broilers) are generally harvested around 8-10 weeks old as they're bred to gain weight so quickly they usually succumb to organ failure before they reach full maturity. It's also advised to strictly limit their feed intake, while layers and dual-purpose thrive much better with free access to feed all day... a reason why broilers are usually raised separately.

You have quite a lot of chicks to start with, and they grow so fast, I hope you don't get overwhelmed. It's easy to find yourself in a pickle. Don't be afraid to ask for advice... there's lots of helpful people to offer ideas and solutions.
Good luck in your crazy new chicken adventure! View attachment 1680304
Click to expand...

Yes, thank you, We are going to work on enlarging the coop this weekend. I hope to be done with it in a couple of weeks :th since that part is mostly in the shade we won't be putting insulation in it. We already relieved ourselves of two of the original roosters as that was too many rooster for only four hens... they were getting pecked on plus they were just plain mean. Next will be the meat bird coop then onto the turkey coop.... at least they won't be ready until May. The run is quite large and will be easy to expand as needed. :weeI'll remember to raise them separately next time, for now they are all together. Thank you for the links, I'll check them out :pop
 

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