Hi from Voßfeld in Germany

[mullers3acers]

Wow you are in the boonies! We lived in Giessen both times. Have you dicided what type of chickens you are going to raise. We recently started with Red Blue Laced Wyandottes and they are a very pretty bird.

 

[Jessika]

Awesome! Welcome! Nice to "meet" you.

On chickens....My Orpingtons and Barred Plymouth Rocks laid all winter long. They are nice for colder weather...and they did well on our 100 F days too. I haven't lost any to heat or cold and they seem to keep laying regardless.

Have you seen this chicken chart?

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

It tells size of eggs and such...and little snowflakes are on the ones that do well in cold. It helped me a lot in the begging.

Have fun!

 

[nhnanna]

I know you will enjoy it here. We do.

 

[jonty]

Quote:
Many thanks Jessika for the link. Looks like I have a lot of research to do and also nice to meet you and every one else here. Your a wonderful lot. Never thought I would get so much help.

 

[mistylady]

Welcome! I would love to see Germany someday before I'm too old to enjoy it!

 

[roosmom]

Jonty, This is our first time for chickens also. We have 51 Buff Orpingtons. We culled three saturday, that was interesting. I was scared of chickens before we got these, they have changed my mind about them.
What kind of predators do you have?
How many hours of daylight do you get in the winter?
How cold does it normally get?

 

[jonty]

Quote:
Hi,

Thanks for your reply. One thing I do know, Orpingtons come the next place I used to live in England in Kent. That's about my knowlege of chickens

To answer your questions. I guess the main predator would be the fox but rare you see them in the day time.
I would say in the winter we get at least 8 hours daylight. Of course depending on the weather.
As for how cold it gets. It's rare for it to go under -10°C Having said that, this is our first winter here so have to wait and see but today has been + 20°C and in fact I've just come in from doing a bit more on the fence which arrived yesterday.
One question. My compound for the chickens will be 8mts by 5mts, About 24ft by 15ft. How many chickens would that be able to take?? We thought of starting off with about 5 but not sure what space they need so hope you can answer this one.
Many thanks once again and regards from Germany

jonty

 

[MissPrissy]

Welcome to BYC.

 

[whitecra]

Quote:
Berlin is about hour and half drive. Rostock about an hour. We are in the middle of noware. Nearest shop is 12 km away. Same with schools

My husband was stationed in Berlin when he was in the army. I loved Germany.

 

[crtrlovr]

Welcome, and I hope you enjoy the friendly informative folks on here! (for the most part...

A coop the size you mentioned would be able to hold a LOT of chickens! I think the average suggested square footage per bird is 4 sq. ft.