Hi, I am a newbie chickenhead...

[Firefyter-Emt]

Hello everyone, my name is Lee and I live up in NE Connecticut. I have been "researching" a bit as we have decided that we want to add some chickens to our home. My plan is to maybe have everything finished next year. I have limited time to work on the project myself, but my wife and our four children will be the main caretakers once I am done. My coop plan is still in the design phase, but what I plan to do at the moment is to have a 8x12 garden/tactor shed on the left, a 10'x10' run in the middle and an 8x8 coop on the right. This coop will be raised for some shade underneath with the fencing burried under the ground. I plan to burry some wire maybe 8" to 12" underneath the entire run. To gain access into the run will be through a door in the shed. The feed can be kept in the shed. The reason for this design is so I can relay on the two buildings for added strength in the fencing.

I want to have a pull out floor box for cleaning and external nesting boxes with lift up roofs over them. Now a few things I have to work out are, given our winters, will hard board foam insulation be enough in the nest boxes to stay warm? Should I insulate the entire coop, or can the weather well enough if it's draft free. Electricty is noe "easy" where I will have the coop placed. I plan to run about 12-15 chickens with a mix of egg layers and meat chickens (I plan to winter maybe 12) I even found a fairly local place to process for $2.00 a head.

I have no issues doing this myself, and may still down the road, but for now $2.00.... it's hard to beat!

Sorry, this is getting so long... I just like to plan things out!
Now if I winter the egg layers and introduce chicks in the spring (meat) I understand that I need to let them get used to the hens. With the external nest boxes, could I make one with removeable cneter partitions and a drop in "fence" screen placed in the front? If so, what would be the least number of nesting boxes I could get away durning this based on say 12 hens? Could I use a "temp" nest box maybe??

OK.. I will break here and rant more later..

 

[bigzio]

Congrats on being prepared, it is way more important than starting. It sounds like you will have a great coop for everyone to enjoy. Be sure to obtain the proper breed for your region of the country, and also one that makes you happy. While the facilities are nice to have, so are chickens you love to work with every day. Good Luck, raising chickens it is great therapy and rewarding also.

bigzio

 

[jackiedon]

Welcome! You will find a lot of nice helpful people here.

jackie

 

[silkiechicken]

Welcome to the insanity!

 

[Bubba]

Silkie LOL

Welcome Firefighter! I assume you like to BBQ!?!

Bubba

 

[GoodEgg]

I'm sure others could give you better info, as I'm new to this too. Just wanted to ask for clarity though, did you plan to add meat chicks to a flock of egg-laying hens?

You might want to ask if there are problems with this. I believe it depends on the breed, but I know some meat chicks will eat themselves to death and can't have free-choice feed, and you might not want to limit your egg-layers.

Some meat chickens are not meant to live very long and I think most people keep them in relatively small quarters because they are still young, to keep them safe as they haven't learned what grown chickens know, and to control feed access. That's about the sum of what I have learned, so I'm sure someone else can tell you more. I hadn't originally planned to have meat chickens, but I am now considering them for next year.

I just wanted to make sure I was understanding whether you planned to introduce and mix the two. You might want to ask specifically about that, and specifically for the breeds you intend to have, in order to better make your plans. I think it might be perfectly fine with some breeds.

Welcome to the obsession!!!

trish