Hey all, i'm new and looking to start first with building a coop.

[drumstick diva]

Thank you for joining us at Backyard chickens. Please do post on the Canadian thread. Folks there can give you the best info on breeds that can handle the climate, what type of coop works best, and even the best feed stores in the area.

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under Trogdor Welcome!

You might be interested in downloading this free e-book My First Year With Chickens

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

BYC has Topic of the Week discussions which I have found to be a great resource, informative and sometimes entertaining; so definitely worth checking out. These in particular may be of interest to you at this stage:
Topic of the Week - Getting Started, Keeping Chickens
Topic of the Week - Keeping the Flock Safe from Predators
Topic of the week - Winter chicken keeping

This is also a great article: How Much Room Do Chickens Need

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock when they arrive, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out

Best wishes and good luck!

 

[ChickenLover5912]

Anything bantam is what you’re looking for then, I personally find Cochins to be WONDERFUL! Just make sure you get bantam Cochins instead of standard bc it’s quite a difference in size! Great tasting eggs, pretty consistent in laying, friendly! Do some research on them and see if that’s what you’re looking for! Could be the perfect addition to start your new flock!

 

[alexm1822]

There are many breeds that are cold hardy barred rocks and Plymouths are the top two i know of and good brown eggs, as for the coop definitly build for bigger than you need, trust me chickens cab become an addiction and theres plunty you can do for winter, from heated perches to mountable boards and nesting box dividers, what i do for my girls over winter is give them there scratch in the late afternoon to evening, cracked corn by itself is good, something about the way it digest helps keep theyre body temp warmer, a handful per every 10 chicks

 

[alexm1822]

Also probiotics over winter is another thing to help digestion since not much foraging will be possible

 

[rjohns39]

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

 

[Trogdor]

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Overwhelmed! So much information to start getting into, but feel fortunate to have a place to start asking away. THANKS!

Since I'm interested in building a coop first, am I naive that I might find plans for different sizes of the woods style coop that was suggested?

Have to ask but are there materials to stay away from in a build? Wouldn't want to be introducing something that could affect the birds health (wood types, etc.)

Also, do people raise the woods coops or keep them on the ground?

 

[Teila]

Hey Trogdor

Sorry that coop building is not my forte, I leave that up to hubby and just supervise

However, I did find this thread on the woods coop which is fairly recent and active up until the end of February this year so it might be a good place to start with those questions:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/8-x-12-woods-coop-design-plan.1221551/

 

[Trogdor]

G'day Teila,

Thanks for the tip! Will ask away there...

I guess could have started another thread also.

 

[Teila]

G'day Teila,

Thanks for the tip! Will ask away there...

I guess could have started another thread also.

Yeah, you could do that also here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance.9/

I am not familiar with the woods coop but they do seem to be very popular and lots of threads about them.