Hi all new here and to chickens

jeffreybas

Hatching
Feb 27, 2017
6
0
9
So I don't have any chickens yet since I want to really research it a bit more first and need to make some room in my backyard. I currently am raising meat rabbits and wanted to start raising a couple chickens as well. My goal for right now is to get 2-3 chickens to test the water out and get some experience in before we move in a year or two and have a lot more room to raise many more animals for our own personal use.
I've looked at some prefab coops and even read a little bit here about how cheaply made they really are in the long run. For 2-3 chickens what should I aim for in size? I'd like to have something similar to this
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But I do have some pretty decent wire pen I made for my rabbits I plan to attach to a side door and letting the chickens have more room during the day to wander outside this.

My rabbits are in cages about 30" or so off the ground if I let the chickens run under these cages will they mess with the rabbits?

Due to the way my backyard is set up I plan to have the main coop on concrete and the pen will lead to the grass/dirt next to it. I can't keep the coop on the dirt due to the sprinklers and don't want to deal with our Gardner so I plan to close the side door and move the wire pen on those days.

So I guess any advice, tips and suggestions would greatly help me out before I jump in on this. I don't have a set start date yet as I still need to downsize my rabbits a bit and see what the start up costs are gonna be
 
So I don't have any chickens yet since I want to really research it a bit more first and need to make some room in my backyard. I currently am raising meat rabbits and wanted to start raising a couple chickens as well. My goal for right now is to get 2-3 chickens to test the water out and get some experience in before we move in a year or two and have a lot more room to raise many more animals for our own personal use.
I've looked at some prefab coops and even read a little bit here about how cheaply made they really are in the long run. For 2-3 chickens what should I aim for in size? I'd like to have something similar to this

But I do have some pretty decent wire pen I made for my rabbits I plan to attach to a side door and letting the chickens have more room during the day to wander outside this.

My rabbits are in cages about 30" or so off the ground if I let the chickens run under these cages will they mess with the rabbits?

Due to the way my backyard is set up I plan to have the main coop on concrete and the pen will lead to the grass/dirt next to it. I can't keep the coop on the dirt due to the sprinklers and don't want to deal with our Gardner so I plan to close the side door and move the wire pen on those days.

So I guess any advice, tips and suggestions would greatly help me out before I jump in on this. I don't have a set start date yet as I still need to downsize my rabbits a bit and see what the start up costs are gonna be
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That looks fine for two or three chickens, but may I suggest you get three? Chickens are flock birds and if you were to get only two and something happened to one, you would have a singleton. If you start with three and something happens, you still would have two.
 
Ya I am leaning more towards 3. I have 4 kids but one is only a year old so the older 3 already do chores with the rabbits so figured they could each get a chicken as their own to take care of, with my supervision of course.
 
G’Day from down under jeffreybas
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Welcome!

Kit coop manufactures are notorious for advertising way over the number of chickens their coops can actually house. That coop looks OK for three.

The recommended area per large chicken is 4 square foot of coop space and 10 square foot of run space with 12-18 inches of roost space each.

I agree with the suggestion of starting with 3. Sadly, we lose chickens along the way and if you only have two and lose one, your remaining hen will be very lonely. I have been there, done that and got the T-shirt! Had to race out and find my lone chicken a friend, waive quarantine etc. Now, I have 5 and make sure I never drop below 3.

I recommend a visit to the Learning Centre; lots of good tips there: https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

You might want to also pop in and say hello on your local thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you ‘Find your State’s thread.

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. Unlike non chicken loving friends, family and colleagues, BYC’ers never tire of stories or pictures that feature our feathered and non feathered friends
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Greetings from Kansas, jeffreybas, and
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! Great to have you aboard! The above posts provide a wealth of information so there isn't much I can add other than to say bigger is better when it comes to coops in case you ever want to add birds down the road....and you will!
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Best wishes and thanks for joining BYC!
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You've already received some good advice so I'll just say hello and it's nice to have you here!
 

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