HELP! Where do i begin?

[jesusfreak806]

Hey everyone!

My wife and I want to get started in raising some hens for eggs. I am brand new to the chicken game and would like some advice.

I have already checked and I can raise back yard chickens in my area.

I have a great place to put a coop at the back of my property behind my garage. The area is about 12'x20'.

I am looking for ideas on how to build a coop / pen area for as little $ as possible.

I don't know anything about the different breeds.

Overall... i am starting from square 1.

What all do i need to do to get things going?

Thanks,

Dana

 

[HEChicken]

Sounds like a great start so far. For coop building ideas, I would start in the coops section. You may find that your vision changes the more you look but that's okay! If nothing else, you will find some great tips and advice on things you may not have thought to ask, just by reading through the descriptions of people building their coops.

For breeds, you can also look through the breeds database to see what kinds of breeds are available. As food for thought, ask yourselves these questions:

Do I want large fowl (standard size) or bantams (minis)?
Do I want one breed or a variety of colors?
Climate in my area? Do I need cold hardy or heat hardy birds?
What is my main goal in keeping chickens? Eggs, meat, ornamental or a combo?
Do I want hens that are likely to go broody and raise chicks, or those that are less likely?
Do I care about egg color? Size?

Your answers to these questions will help you to narrow it down to a few breeds that most appeal to you and you can go from there.

Last, hang around on the forum, read as much as you can, and ask questions when you can't find the answers. Use the search tool to seek answers to questions prior to posting, as many questions are asked and answered on a daily or weekly basis and you'll be able to find the answers already out there.

Have fun!

 

[ailurophile23]

The best thing you can do is read, read and read some more on this site - there is so much terrific information and so many helpful members. I have seen a number of threads about building coops from recycled materials - you might search recycled coops. For the breeds, check out the breed threads and I think there is a "Pick a breed" app somewhere on the home page. You can also look at some hatchery websites to get basic pics and details of breeds (there are links on the right for various poultry sources). If you come up with specific questions as you are reading, post them in the right forum and you will get lots of answers.

 

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

you can always build your own coop, with any wood you find. You can seek the highways for pieces of wood, and an internet site I looked up said you can also go to a construction site and ask kindly if you can use any unneeded parts of things to build a coop.

It's great you are raising hens for eggs.

Welcome to the site.

Well, the area of yours being 12x20 should work out, all you got to do is work out how many hens you got. And hens do like to have choice in where they roost. I been having chickens, raising them for two years now. I just joined this site like last month.

Usually, starter chickens are considered to be chickens like Rhode Island Red, or Barred Rock. They are easy to obtain anywhere in USA practically, and probably other places too, maybe. Anyways, those are easy to raise breeds and could either be free range or cooped up. I have always free-ranged. Having your own chicken eggs tastes better than store-bought eggs.

If you get day-old chicks, you will need to put them in a small bird cage and keep them warm, in a warm room, like with a heater. You need a chicken water feeder and bird food and bird food feeder. They need to have a flooring that they can grip and not slip. Such as hay, a blanket or towel or towelette(put a few to cover ground.) they will poop on it, but I washed it just once and it comes out fine. use an old towel or blanket would be better. I used just any towel we had, but not a good blanket, just a medium-sized orange one we never use. They supposedly can slip on newspaper, but I once had baby chickens on that and I had no problem, I didn't know that it could harm their legs at that time. You have to change that newspaper frequently too. Well, I had 12-15 chicken babies then. For a towel, it takes 2-3 days to have to refold or wash.

When in a small cage, my babies didn't have a chicken feeder in their, too big. i used small container bowls but they always spill it.

When your birds start to grow feathers, then you can put them in outside in their coop. Hmm, maybe you need to have a heated coop for them to survive right away outside. But I just love my chickies. Put a heater in the coop. There's a word for another option most people do: brooder. It's a large tin holder that has two lights to keep them warm without my heater, but my heater worked for two years just fine. It was when the heater was off, I had a few suffer hypothermia from them spilling the water. I saved 2 chicken babies from putting them to the heater sometimes and my chest alternatively till it got warmer and breathed. You need to be prepared for that, because it happens a lot with chicken raising, somehow you lose chickens to predators or health problems. It is sad. If you feel real sad, that just means you are dedicating yourself a lot to raising and caring for chickens. I love my chickens I have today. If none of them died, I'd have like 30-35 chickens now, but I only have 15 now, thanks to 6 new babies. and a guinea included.

And P.S. dont be jesus-freak to me. I didn't need Jesus to help me raise chickens. I have thanked God for my 6 babies though.

 

[jesusfreak806]

This site is freaking awesome!!!

I just wanted to update everyone.. we did get our chickens and i should be starting construction on the coop in the next week.

 

[Vickilynn45]

Awesome! You are going to love them, we had no idea how much fun they would be but they are a blast to have around. Enjoy!

 

[StormyMoon]

I got my wood from craigs list in the free section people dump wood all the time the only thing I did buy was the wire mesh, roof and the walls.
The frame is all recycled wood.