Hi, we have no chickens or coop yet

[Lexie27]

Hi! It's nice of you to take in an unwanted rooster and get him some ladies. It sounds like he will be happy there.

Thanks for joining and welcome to BackYard Chickens!

Now that the neighbor has agreed to not eat him and give us some time to really set up a good coop and aviary, I’m less frantic and doing more research. We’re lowering the amount of hens and doubling the run.
We’re going to build up the coop/run land and then puzzle out diverting rain water. Struggling over run material, but once we build up and observe water flow, it will give us a better idea of what to use in run.
I haven’t had pet birds since I was a kid, so excited.
Want to give them the best life.

 

[Lexie27]

Our coop is built on a 6x12 footprint, give or take, but it's tall and has two stories so it's about double the roaming space. Our fully enclosed run is much larger, can't remember exact footprint but I think it's about 8x20 feet.

We have about every single predator here. Bears, mink/weasel, hawks, owls, fox, coyote, neighbor's dogs, raccoon, etc etc etc. Everything loves chicken! The good news is that most of these creatures prefer to avoid people and are more active at night or early morning hours, which is when chickens are securely locked in the coop. We try to keep our hens out of the woods (where most of these creatures live) but they have open access to our pasture.

I'm not saying it won't happen, but in 10 years of raising chickens, we've not yet lost one to a predator. We do have a big dog that guards our pasture when she's not sleeping or distracted which is often lol, but even before we got her the hens were fine.

Free ranging (or limited free range which is what we do with easily portable 3' fencing) is strictly a personal choice. I only share my experiences to encourage you if it's something you'd like to explore. Chickens (and their meat and eggs) are healthiest and happiest when they can forage, but it's not necessary in order to have healthy, happy hens.

I’ll have to check out the fencing, but we regularly have birds of prey fly through in our yard, we have hawks, osprey and eagles. At night they’d be in the coop. I love the idea of letting them forage, but it wouldn’t be safe. I’m planning on having kind of above ground gardens with a screen with chicken healthy plants that grow through so they can sort of forage?
Our property is a hardwood forest, so in less we cleared more land and planted there wouldn’t be much to forage anyway.

 

[Lexie27]

Hello Lexie, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

Not really.
You want to shoot for as close to 1sq ft of permanently open ventilation per bird in the coop with more than can be opened up during hot weather.
You also want 1 linear foot of unobstructed roost space and 4 sq ft of floor space per bird in the coop. You want to shoot for an additional 12-15 sq ft in the run especially if you plan to expand the flock.

If your DH is in construction, he should be able to run a circuit out to the coop. It is very convenient to have electricity in the coop so be able to work out there at night. Or to have a heated water source out in the run.

I think we’ll run electricity out so we can put in a sweeter heater for peace of mind.

This winter has been wild, but normal winter is cold and I want them to be comfortable. Just because they can survive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best for them.
Still learning, though and appreciate all the input so much!
Thank you!

 

[Lexie27]

We’re taking in an under 1 year old rooster that the neighbor doesn’t want. I don’t know his breed, super sweet and the hens pick on him.

We have a 10’x10x6’ welded dog kennel sitting on 8” of concrete that we’ll wrap in 1/2 hardware cloth, 19 gauge.

In for a penny, in for a pound. May as well get him some hens and a house.

The max we’d want is 8 including the rooster, especially being new to chicken keeping. But we also want some extra space for when the girls get old and you need new. The coop would be walk in on a down slope (hubs is in construction and knows to raise and account for drainage in both run and under coop. What is the very least space we could go with, (we will 100% go bigger, I’m a bird girl, and we’re not trying to make a profit, just healthy happy animals).
We were planning on a 10’x 12’ slanted roof from 8’ to 6’ but I’m a bit worried that might be too big for a coop with no electricity. Two windows on north and east side big vent on west. Enough ventilation?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

We’re taking in an under 1 year old rooster that the neighbor doesn’t want. I don’t know his breed, super sweet and the hens pick on him.

We have a 10’x10x6’ welded dog kennel sitting on 8” of concrete that we’ll wrap in 1/2 hardware cloth, 19 gauge.

In for a penny, in for a pound. May as well get him some hens and a house.

The max we’d want is 8 including the rooster, especially being new to chicken keeping. But we also want some extra space for when the girls get old and you need new. The coop would be walk in on a down slope (hubs is in construction and knows to raise and account for drainage in both run and under coop. What is the very least space we could go with, (we will 100% go bigger, I’m a bird girl, and we’re not trying to make a profit, just healthy happy animals).
We were planning on a 10’x 12’ slanted roof from 8’ to 6’ but I’m a bit worried that might be too big for a coop with no electricity. Two windows on north and east side big vent on west. Enough ventilation?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

I SO appreciate the warm welcome and all the support and suggestions. Y’all are just the clucking best!

 

[Lexie27]

Post a picture of you Roo so that we can be able to help you see what breed it is!

I think he might be an Americauna. His surviving hatchmate, chickling, I don’t know what you call it is a hen who laid her first blue green egg. And they look alike.

 

[Lexie27]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens. This is a great place to explore and hang out. Hardware cloth your new best friend.

Lord don’t I know it. We watched our neighbors chickens in a chain link run and unsecured coop and it was a daily massacre. I have ptsd lol

 

[Lexie27]

Smart! And I forgot to say welcome but I'm glad you're here. Great place for everything chicken.

After reading and watching everything about chicken keeping I have learned that everyone has differing opinions about what is the best of anything:feed, vaccinations, medications, litter material, coop substrate.
But everyone’s experience and opinions are so helpful.

Appreciate yall so much.

 

[Lexie27]

Lord don’t I know it. We watched our neighbors chickens in a chain link run and unsecured coop and it was a daily massacre. I have ptsd lol

As a by the by, how do you dispose of deceased chickens? Our neighbor had us throw them in the woods by their house, but I feel that might have drawn more predators?

 

[Squawkers]

As a by the by, how do you dispose of deceased chickens? Our neighbor had us throw them in the woods by their house, but I feel that might have drawn more predators?

I throw them in the dumpster probably not supposed to do that

 

[Nomadicus]

As a by the by, how do you dispose of deceased chickens? Our neighbor had us throw them in the woods by their house, but I feel that might have drawn more predators?

I live in the country so I can cremate them just in case a disease was involved.