How many chickens for a first timer?

[they'reHISchickens]

Consider ordering 25 straight run and you will have some roos for chicken dinners!

 

[claudicles]

You have enough coop space for 3 times that many but I'd start small. You'll probably find you want to try different breeds. The less you have to start with the better chance you have of "taming" them anyway. Loyts of handling of the chicks helps them to get accustomed to you. Also you'll probably find yourself inundated with eggs when they all start laying. Better to ease yourself into it. Another thing to consider is what you plan to do with your girls as they start to get older and laying drops off. I prefer to keep a bit of capacity as I am planning to keep my girls to a ripe old age, rather than putting them to the chop when they aren't champion laying machines any more.

 

[Minniechickmama]

With 40 acres, you could have 200 free rangers, cut a hole in the wall and just let them roost in the stall

Seriously, I would order the 25, expecting about half males and after seeing who is the best behaved one, keep him and 10 hens. Eat the rest.
If you want friendly chickens, find a breeder who has a calm breed that uses well behaved roosters in their breeding. There is a thread on here for BYCers in Michigan, post there and see who you can find. This is the perfect time to get things going.

 

[goldies99]

i have 10 chickens.....a family of 4......you wont have many eggs for family or friends with just 10 chickens....we are big egg eaters here....10 is barely enough for my family!...but 10 is a good start!....good luck and happy new year!

 

[allpeepedout]

Nice stalls! I would line the grills with hardware cloth and do something substantial over the top, like a particle board topper, to completely seal it in, in case you have predators that get in the barn and climb to get in the stall. I wonder about the logistics of a major bedding change if you were to have too many chickens in there, in terms of having the door open to take wheelbarrow through, etc. Would be great if you also had an outdoor run or could let them range.

 

[Time-Out]

Have you seen what I did to mine? You can find it here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=603014

I love the stables you have. I was originally hoping to put some metal bars up like in yours, but that would have been a whole lotta work. We lucked out with the two pallets that fitted in nicely and all the scrap welded mesh.

 

[dmclalin]

Quote:
I agree with you. That is what I had in mind. Thanks for your advice!

 

[dmclalin]

Quote:
Thanks! I also have an old 8 x 10 coop attached to the garage. But it is so full of STUFF, I thought I'd take an easier out. This stall is totally sitting there and not being used except tostore cobwebbs!

 

[dmclalin]

Quote:
They will need to roost and you will need nest boxes for them to lay eggs in when they start laying. If predators (including rats) can get in the barn I would use hard ware cloth or welded wire fencing to keep the predators out. Also 10 birds will produce quite a bit of manure so I would use pine shavings on the floor to control moisture and odor. From what I am imagining in my head the space you describe would be adequate for that number of birds. If you post a picture I bet you will get lots of suggestions from the good folks here. As far as ordering that number of chickens try mypetchicken.com they will ship as few as 3 chicks. They have red and black stars which are excellent layers. Good luck!

Thanks for your response. I was just down to the barn and it is about 20° down there (5° Outside). I was wondering about drafts. Do you think I should put of some plastic sheeting over the stall bars to cut down on the drafts when it is this cold. I suppose I could also add an infra red lamp.

 

[Time-Out]

Stalls are practically ready-made coops! SO easy to convert. It only took us a few weekends to do ours, and that's only going there a couple of hours a day.

You'll definitely want something higher than a 6" panel in front of the door. I think ours is almost 2' and that's quite good as it's also a barrier for rats and mice coming in under the door, plus the chooks are less likely to leg it when we open the door.

Is your barn predator-proof? and how widely spaced are the bars? You might find you don't need to go down the route of meshing everything.