Hey there from Scotland

[AnobizII]

Hiya,

We are new to rearing our own chickens. We are getting 3 Sussex Chicks delivered w/b 7th April so thought I'd better read up on them as much as I could lol.

They were sent as a gift from my sister, she is also sending a starter pack from Happy Chicks and this contains the following:

This Is Called Our Starter Pack
Which Includes;
1x 25kg layers pellets
1x 20kg mixed poultry corn
1x 10kg poultry grit
1x 3kg/3l feeder/drinker set
1x 25kg bale of shavings
1x 1l apple cider vinegar (monthly health tonic)
1x Paragon (anti red-mite/lice powder)
1 x Pecka block

We are also getting a brooding starter kit: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oldland-Qua...upplies_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=08Z35FRMBSQYQTM6VG80

Since we are new to it all I have spent most of my night researching everything that we may need for them in the future, I have been looking at coops on Amazon also. But if anyone has any recommendations for a cheap entry level coop I'd be more than happy with that.

About my family at the moment:

Myself and my wife have 2 daughters and a baby boy on the way (26weeks pregnant ), we have a blue budgie and a large aquarium...

We have ample garden space so thats not a big issue.

My real concern about the chickens however is my fence separating myself and my next door neighbour is only about 4 foot high, do you think the chickens would be able to jump this?

Any other hints/advice you guys have would be greatly appreciated.

Apologies for the long winded welcome post also lol.

Thanks

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

Yes, chickens fly. So they will probably be flying over this fence in no time. You can try trimming one wing on each bird to make it more difficult to keep control, but this is not always a fail safe way to keep them from flying.

You might want to do some reading in our learning center here on BYC for lots of good tips and hints on raising your new babies and keeping your adult flock healthy and safe...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Good luck with your new babies and it is great to have you aboard!!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! X2 the Learning Center is a great place to start reading! How old are the chicks going to be when you get them? The kit lists "Layers Pellets" you do not want to feed what is usually called "Layer" food to chicks under about 18 weeks, since Layer is usually a high calcium food and it can cause health problems in young birds... chicks are usually fed a crumble type food also, since they are usually too small to eat pellets.
You can generally make (or have made for you) a much better coop for the same price that you can buy those prefab kits for, most of those kits really overestimate the number of chickens that can be kept in them, and generally the materials aren't very good quality... not sure what sort of predators you might have (foxes?) but they are something else to take into account when picking/building a coop and run. With only three chicks, you might consider something like a chicken tractor that you can move around the yard if you can't do anything about the fence height. Some chickens will be able to fly/hop/scale a four foot fence, especially when young, even with their wings clipped, especially if there is some place near the fence to launch off of. The BYC Coops section has a lot of coops and tractors that may give you some ideas. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to the flock. Could you make an enclosed run for them with a top -so no one flies out and no predators fly in? When chickens have the right stimulus (dogs, other predators) they can fly even higher.

 

[AnobizII]

The only main predators we get in our garden are cats, we have an 8ft fence on one side and a 4 ft fence on the other side.

I've never been good at building anything unless it's computer related lol, I'm not sure of anywhere nearby that would build one also.

I'd really like to have the hens run around the garden under supervision during the day and then in the coop when we're not in and at nights.

We have a local country feed store nearby that I was going to visit at the weekend and get some chick feed.

 

[gander007]

Alright

it's great to have you joining the BYC flock

My 15 week old chickens fly right over my 6 foot fence with ease and even roost on it with little effort

The best and least expensive way to do a chicken coop is to just build a frame and wrap some chicken
wire around the frame and secure the wire and by doing it yourself you can save a lot of money but my
favorite way to build coops is to get used materials and repurpose them then if you find the need to build
a castle for your chickens then so be it

Our newest additions

Bob & Aflack enjoying the noon sun

Some of the flock

Feeding time at the zoo

Pullets getting in some nap time

gander007

 

[AnobizII]

Loads of great advice

I'm thinking of building a little lip on my fences just so that if they try to jump onto them they won't be able to get over the lip... I have been looking at building my own coop but looking at plans and actually pulling them off is different lol...

I have been looking at this coop/run - http://www.amazon.co.uk/MARIBELLE-L...OULTRY/dp/B00DO2VUC8/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_1_6G86 what do you guys think?

 

[Kelsie2290]

It does look like a nice starter coop for chicks especially for a while. If it is the normal fir wood, it is going to be fairly thin wood and will not stand up long term to nasty weather. I am figuring the numbers right, the coop itself looks like it is about 2.5x3 feet or about 8 square feet and the run is 3x6 or 18 square feet, the usual recommended size is about 4 square feet per bird inside the coop and 10 outside... so it is a little bit tight for three standard size birds. Since it seems to be easy to get, you could consider this a starter coop and when your girls are bigger go ahead and get a larger/ different coop if you decide they need one... it is always nice to have more than one coop anyhow if you have to separate birds, or want to get new ones etc... if you reenforce this one a little and add wheels or sleds to it, it looks like it may be light enough to be movable and make a nice tractor also

 

[kidcody]

from Washington state glad you joined us!

 

[AnobizII]

Thanks for the welcome peoples

Just had a call from the farm and my chicks will be delivered tomorrow between 7am-8am, we are getting 2 sussex and a speckeldy... Pics will follow shortly