Hello! New from Oregon

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MelodyC

MelodyC

In the Brooder
Feb 4, 2016
57
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Hi there! We didn't expect to have chickens quite so soon. We bought a coop from a gentleman, and when we went to go pick up the coop, the people who were buying the chickens bailed on him. So we ended up with 12 chickens and no supplies and a coop that is going to take a while to get set up. Luckily we were able to get some supplies the next day.

Surprisingly though, even though their "coop" is a wire dog crate with pvc pipes run through it for roosts and tarped for protection, and their "yard" is expens with chicken wire over the top, we got our first egg yesterday.

Hopefully we can get their coop and their yard put together this weekend so they will be happy chickens.

Guess one main question I have, is how much food does 12 chickens (11 hens, 1 rooster) go through in a day? They seem like they are starving all the time.

Melody
 
Hi :welcome Melody

Glad you could join the flock! That's quite a jump into the chicken world for you! Fingers crossed yiu get your coop finished so they can get moved in. If they are acting like they are starving I would recomend you get a feeder that you can fill up and then they can eat what they want when they want. I use one of these ~
700

It holds 6 kg of feed and last my 8 polish 5-7 days. My polish are mainly bantams so do eat a little less that large fowl. Sometimes they eat more sometimes they eat less. They have food available all the time so there never hungry, this stops bolting of feed too.

Wishing you the very best of luck and enjoy BYC :frow
 
Welcome to BYC, Melody. Glad you decided to join our flock. If predators (including dogs) are a problem in your area, you will need to beef up your coop including using hardware cloth instead of chicken wire as there are just too many predators that can either tear through chicken wire, or squeeze through the openings in the mesh. Hardware cloth is more expensive than chicken wire, but it is cheaper than replacing your flock. There is a good article at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/07/11-tips-for-predator-proofing-chickens.html on predator proofing your flock. If you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.
 
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Hello!
400

Welcome to BYC and the coop! There's a lot of great peeps here! Feel free to ask lots of questions. But most of all, make yourself at home. I'm so glad you decided to join the BYC family. I look forward to seeing you around BYC. You have already received some good advice. Good luck!
 
welcome-byc.gif


I have the same feeder as Yorkshire coop and it is a nice one, especially as it allows for very little waste. I keep it and another feeder full all the time. The chickens will eat as they need to. Be sure they also have 24/7 access to crushed oyster shell since yours are laying age.

Good luck setting thing up right for your new flock. Hope you enjoy them!
 
We shouldn't have issues with dogs. We do have predators, but the chicken wire is just over the top of the expens. And this is just a temporary home for hopefully a couple more days. We are shutting them in the wire kennel during the night, just to have an extra layer of protection. Ideally, we wouldn't have gotten chickens until after the coop was built, but we ended up inheriting them. We're actually lucky we have them all still, as the whole structure collapsed the first day, and when I got home, all were out free ranging. Luckily we were able to get them all back into their run after we secured it better.
 
Hi and welcome to BYC. Sounds like you have been thrown in at the deep end somewhat eh? Its bound to be a steep learning curve, but you seem to have done well so far. If your chickens have resumed laying it suggests that they are happy campers! Good luck with your coop re-build and your new chicken adventure.

All the best
CT
 

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