As far as square feet, I'm thinking 150-200 sq feet. Just needing some ideas to get started. Wondering if we should do it ourselves from scratch or buy a prebuilt shed and add nesting boxes and what not.
The chicks I got in spring of last year all survived the cold- but some were killed by predators. The chicks I received in September this year all died once it got to the negatives. I believe their death was due to their age. I plan to get all of our new chicks this spring and early summer. So yes, I will be managing the flock different this year.
Hi, welcome to BYC!
Are you not providing heat and brooder setting for your chicks? If they are brooded until the correct age there should be no reason to loose them to cold.
Personally, I wouldn't allow my birds to stay out over night. I teach them from a young age that everybody get's locked in at night and now they all head in when they are supposed to. Aside from the weather and elements or predation... you need to be able to catch your birds if you need to treat for anything and you can't very well do that if they are in a tree. Plus how many of those free rangers are gonna hide their eggs where you can't find them? Probably a few. You need to be able to lock them in their coop and run to show the stubborn ones where they are supposed to lay. That makes it easy to collect those yummy little eggs. The easiest way to catch and treat a bird is after they have gone to roost for the night. They are calm when it's dark. They can't see very well and don't try to get away from you. It's a great pointer for anyone who needs to catch a bird. That is when we collect our birds for processing or treatments. Easy peasy.
Personally, the tree roosters would be on my cull list so they couldn't try and teach anyone else. Chickens are very much monkey see, monkey do!
Couple suggestions... avoid metal roofs like the plague, they sweat so bad it's worse than when it's raining... no matter how much ventilation there is. (ask me how I know). Composition shingle roofs don't seem to do that.
Also, in my location... we are allowed to sell chickens for consumption as long as it stays within a certain # of flock (I wanna say like 100). Since we don't raise CX our birds take 5-6 months reach processing age so it isn't affordable and it's a lot of work. So we are just working to feed ourselves.
How much space you need depends on the type of birds you get, your management practices, your weather.... Many variables. Larger breeds need more room on roost and in general. Also, if your talking about raising *some* to eat I will presume those to be boys. Which would mean you need a rooster. Roosters need more space. And leads me to the point about us not raising CX... by the time we process, our boys are full on breeding age, And if I didn't have a stag pen for their final stages of development... my pullets and hens would be suffering the mating whims of a bunch of hormonal teenage cockerels who haven't yet learned their manners and are puling out too many feathers along with the occasional chunk taken out of their combs. Without a pen they will try to gang up on a docile pullet and take turns or clamor to be the one seeding her. (ask me how I know that to!) Boys almost always hit that age a little before the girls do. So I would have a plan in place for that as well. If you process well before 16 weeks, maybe it won't be an issue for you.
So far I've learned the flock is an ever changing dynamic and I have to change my ideas and practices as needed. What works for me in my location might not work for another in another location. But I love being part of this community where we can all share!
