Hello All,
My husband and I already have quite the collection for animals for living in the city (5 cats, 2 frogs, and a saltwater reef tank). We have been kicking around the idea of chickens, but our city has frowned upon them up until recently! A few chicken "activists" as our council calls them has made strides towards making urban chickens welcome in our city (6 hens, no roosters, in a coop, etc.). Now that our council is warming up to the idea we decided to take the plunge with three chickens!
This weekend we are starting work on the coop. On May 7th the breed of chicken we want to get (Ameuricanas are on the label, but they are probably just an Easter Egger of some sort) will be available at the local farm supply store so we will get the chicks then. We have a 100-gallon stock tank with walls about 2 feet tall that we will use as the brooder with some bedding, warming lights, food, and water.
We have been reading like crazy and have found this website to be a treasure trove of information! I especially like the coops section which has been great to read through. Now we know which feature we want to build into our coop! Our hope is to have 3 sq. ft. of room per chicken inside the coop and 10 sq. ft. of room per chicken in the run since due to city ordinance they can't be free range. We are building the coop to house 6 chickens total (the most our city would allow with the proposed ordinance), but for the first 5 years only plan on having the 3. Then we will get three more and have a "production" group for eggs and a "retiree" group for bug eating and manure. The run will be enough room for 3 chickens initially, but we will put it in any area to expand easily for 6 chickens (I don't want too much space for them to run around in). That is the plan anyway, but I know how that goes.
Maybe if we build a pretty cool coop I will throw some picture up!
--
Ashley
My husband and I already have quite the collection for animals for living in the city (5 cats, 2 frogs, and a saltwater reef tank). We have been kicking around the idea of chickens, but our city has frowned upon them up until recently! A few chicken "activists" as our council calls them has made strides towards making urban chickens welcome in our city (6 hens, no roosters, in a coop, etc.). Now that our council is warming up to the idea we decided to take the plunge with three chickens!
This weekend we are starting work on the coop. On May 7th the breed of chicken we want to get (Ameuricanas are on the label, but they are probably just an Easter Egger of some sort) will be available at the local farm supply store so we will get the chicks then. We have a 100-gallon stock tank with walls about 2 feet tall that we will use as the brooder with some bedding, warming lights, food, and water.
We have been reading like crazy and have found this website to be a treasure trove of information! I especially like the coops section which has been great to read through. Now we know which feature we want to build into our coop! Our hope is to have 3 sq. ft. of room per chicken inside the coop and 10 sq. ft. of room per chicken in the run since due to city ordinance they can't be free range. We are building the coop to house 6 chickens total (the most our city would allow with the proposed ordinance), but for the first 5 years only plan on having the 3. Then we will get three more and have a "production" group for eggs and a "retiree" group for bug eating and manure. The run will be enough room for 3 chickens initially, but we will put it in any area to expand easily for 6 chickens (I don't want too much space for them to run around in). That is the plan anyway, but I know how that goes.
Maybe if we build a pretty cool coop I will throw some picture up!
--
Ashley
from Ohio. So glad you joined. 
