HI,
I've trolled around on this forum long before taking the plunge into backyard chickens. The help has been invaluable and even the varying opinions help me make better decisions. One of my cochins moulted immediately and I thought she was sick. The forum educated me to this natural occurences in the hens.
Along with this forum, and some kind people in my community, we did purchase a coop and 6 young hens. I have a wonderful wife and a 3 1/2 yr old daughter and 1 1/2 year old son. We built a house on 5 acres last year, which is now 10 acres. Our motive isn't to make them pets but has occured, somewhat. We aren't interested in trying to make money off eggs or birds. My personal goal is to simply utilize our land and resources (Compost, Garden, Chickens, Pecans, Fruit trees, etc), and ultimately give my kids memories, perhaps give them some responsibility eventually, teach them about life and death through poultry, and benefit from having our own eggs. Both of my kids prefer to be outdoors and that will always be better than video games inside- in my opinion.
About 6 weeks ago, I purchased a 6 x 14 tractor coop from Heritage Farms in Shelbyville TN and it has worked out great. It has a full size human door and 7 1/2 feet tall, so my kids stay cleaner and I dont have to get on my knees or bend over much. It was constructed well and after all my research, I believe I made the best purchase for us.
Last week one of our cochins gave us our first egg, and the same bird has produced another 3 since.
We let the hens roam a few hours a day and all seem to be thriving, gaining weight and get along really well. I did have one wynadotte I gave away because she was a feather picker. The rest of the flock now have their bald spots filling in nicely and the wounds have healed.
We have 3 cochin hens. 2 of which are extremely friendly and personable, and the other seems to be a loaner. There is no fighting, she just tends to stay to herself (Humans and chickens) . 1 Americauana and 2 others that are some kind of wynadotte.
I dont have any roosters and chosen to not get into the hatching chicks part. I probably never will. I simply have my hands full with work, family, garden, etc. Never say never.
6 hens is a good number for us. The coop seems overly big for them, but I tend to think in terms of space and comfort, and foolishly apply the same principle to the birds. The clean up behind 6 of them is minimal and I like that.
I do have a question. It pertains to them roosting in the evening. They have a large Hen house. Supposedly will accomodate 20-25 hens, and I have 6. They do not use the roosting poles and prefer to lay on top of the nest boxes. The one loaner cochin stays on one side of the coop, and the remaining 5 pile on each other, on the opposite side. It's this way every evening at 7 pm when they go to bed. Its this way at 2 am. The dropping confirm it's this way every single night. They seem happy with this arrangement and no drama, so I probably shouldn't question or over think it. Given the space, why is one adamant about being alone and the other 5 are adamant about suffocating each other?
Anyhow, thanks for the all the good info and 100% of the time my questions are answered simply by searching the forums.
Travis
I've trolled around on this forum long before taking the plunge into backyard chickens. The help has been invaluable and even the varying opinions help me make better decisions. One of my cochins moulted immediately and I thought she was sick. The forum educated me to this natural occurences in the hens.
Along with this forum, and some kind people in my community, we did purchase a coop and 6 young hens. I have a wonderful wife and a 3 1/2 yr old daughter and 1 1/2 year old son. We built a house on 5 acres last year, which is now 10 acres. Our motive isn't to make them pets but has occured, somewhat. We aren't interested in trying to make money off eggs or birds. My personal goal is to simply utilize our land and resources (Compost, Garden, Chickens, Pecans, Fruit trees, etc), and ultimately give my kids memories, perhaps give them some responsibility eventually, teach them about life and death through poultry, and benefit from having our own eggs. Both of my kids prefer to be outdoors and that will always be better than video games inside- in my opinion.
About 6 weeks ago, I purchased a 6 x 14 tractor coop from Heritage Farms in Shelbyville TN and it has worked out great. It has a full size human door and 7 1/2 feet tall, so my kids stay cleaner and I dont have to get on my knees or bend over much. It was constructed well and after all my research, I believe I made the best purchase for us.
Last week one of our cochins gave us our first egg, and the same bird has produced another 3 since.
We let the hens roam a few hours a day and all seem to be thriving, gaining weight and get along really well. I did have one wynadotte I gave away because she was a feather picker. The rest of the flock now have their bald spots filling in nicely and the wounds have healed.
We have 3 cochin hens. 2 of which are extremely friendly and personable, and the other seems to be a loaner. There is no fighting, she just tends to stay to herself (Humans and chickens) . 1 Americauana and 2 others that are some kind of wynadotte.
I dont have any roosters and chosen to not get into the hatching chicks part. I probably never will. I simply have my hands full with work, family, garden, etc. Never say never.
6 hens is a good number for us. The coop seems overly big for them, but I tend to think in terms of space and comfort, and foolishly apply the same principle to the birds. The clean up behind 6 of them is minimal and I like that.
I do have a question. It pertains to them roosting in the evening. They have a large Hen house. Supposedly will accomodate 20-25 hens, and I have 6. They do not use the roosting poles and prefer to lay on top of the nest boxes. The one loaner cochin stays on one side of the coop, and the remaining 5 pile on each other, on the opposite side. It's this way every evening at 7 pm when they go to bed. Its this way at 2 am. The dropping confirm it's this way every single night. They seem happy with this arrangement and no drama, so I probably shouldn't question or over think it. Given the space, why is one adamant about being alone and the other 5 are adamant about suffocating each other?
Anyhow, thanks for the all the good info and 100% of the time my questions are answered simply by searching the forums.
Travis
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from Ohio. So glad to have you aboard. Good advice given. 
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