Hello... I just adopted 22 Chickens and 1 Rooster and I have no idea what I am doing

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For standard sized chickens, you should have about 4 sqft per bird inside the coop and about 1 linear foot of perch...

So for 23 birds you need about 100 sqft of coop/house space, as said if you have stuff like nest boxes taking up floor space that space is not counted in the total... This means a 10x10, 12x8 or similar sized coop would be ideal, and you would need about 23 linear feet of perch or roughly three 8 foot long perches...

As for the run it should be about 10 sqft per bird, so in your case about 230 sqft or say a 10x25, 12x20, 15x15... If the coop is in the run you don't count that area unless the coop is elevated and the chickens can use the area under it as part of the run...

As for the coop being covered in 'caked' poop, that is poor husbandry and care by the previous owners, that should all be removed ASAP... You will always have poop in a coop, but it should never be cake up or piled up...
 
Don't be afraid of your broody hen, I have a broody hen who will literally attack me. Be firm with her, besides- your the 'parent'
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I get broody hens every season. Some will peck my hand, but most will let me pet their combs and wattles and will calm down. They make noises at me when I get near them, but even when I take the eggs(we aren't letting them hatch any this year) they just let them lift them up. With the pecking ones I just wear work gloves. I hand feed the sitting/broody hens scratch to calm them and spoil them a bit. Even the meanest of my sitting hens appreciate that.
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Welcome to BYC! Everyone else has given great advice and I don't have much to add. The only thing is that in winter when it gets super cold we do put straw in the coop and run for the girls. In the spring, summer, and fall they just get pine shavings. Good luck!
henny1129
 
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I have a similar sized flock and here are pics of our setup. It's more functional than fabulous right now. We have a tarp up until we can add our plexiglass and be able to hook it up for ventilation. We threw those logs around the bottom because we had hens laying eggs under the coop and we couldn't reach them. We have locks on the top and bottom of the door and will likely add them a pop door, as well. Our roost comes up as one piece and has a hook on the roof for easy cleaning. We use pine shavings inside. No run, just a large chain-linked fenced area. They are about to have their yard expanded to a full free range acre with goat(?) fencing.
 
Thank you! These are Buff Orpingtons(1 rooster & 4 hens) and Barred Plymouth Rocks(21 hens). I want to get a Barred Rock rooster, but my BO rooster thinks he's IT. His name is Elvis and he's HUGE. He sounds like a 12lb bowling ball hopping down from the roost! We've given a friend one of his offspring and he says it's the biggest rooster he's ever seen. How's it going with your flock? We have had learning curves with each addition and build, etc, so I can only imagine what it would be like to start with such a big flock! Ask anything-big, small...there was so very much I didn't know in the beginning. I did a lot of reading. Storey's Guide to Chickens and chicken magazines and lots of online searches. BYC has a lot of good info. Do you know what kind of chickens yours are? That can help to know their tendencies.
 
Elvis... That is an awesome name for a Rooster :)

The ladies are adjusting well I think I was in their run most of the day cleaning and playing with them. I did move my brooding hen into a dog crate and I don't think I did it long enough. I read you are suppose to do it for 3 days and I let her out after a few hours to see how she would do. She ate and played for a while then went back to the nest box and didn't want to move again. So I guess I am going to try again tomorrow and actually leave her in the crate for the 3 days.

I have been reading everything I can find online and I am thinking about buying a book but I didn't know which one. I will check out Storey's guide THANK YOU!!

Chickens are such interesting creatures! I am really enjoying them!!!

I believe they are a cross between a Rhode Island Red and I am not sure what else. I have an old storage shed that is roughly 13 x 13 so I think I am going to convert it into a hen house and then fence in a run area for them. How many nesting boxes do you think I need? I read about a dropping board and think that is great idea for under the perch... Do you have any other suggestions that you would suggest adding?


 
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The chicken house is called a coop. The contained outside area is called a run.

The girl you have sitting on eggs is broody...be sure she gets off that nest a couple times a day to eat, drink and poop. She's being protective of her nest when she hisses at you, just calmly and firmly reach in and pick her up and put her on the ground by the food (or you could put food and water next to her but she still needs to get up to poop).

Once my girls reached egg laying, I just kept a side dish of crushed oyster shell available at all times and felt they were getting enough grit from all the pecking around outside.

Once you get the old poop out, the chickens should do a pretty good job of working up the earth themselves so I wouldn't do anything other than clean it up. Chickens love to dig so be prepared to see some real ankle twister size holes!

If you haven't already done so, check out the Learning Center. There are a lot of helpful articles there that could answer questions you don't even know you have yet!
 

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