I am new, and so confused...

[MissChick@dee]

Hiya
Nice to meet you!

You’ve really put allot of thought in Before Hand good for you. Your right there’s so many different opinions and ideas. Please let me add to the fun! Lol. Build your Run as big as possible. Sounds like with your schedule they’ll be spending some time in it. I see a lot of plans for coops where they are off the ground...just remember you might have to crawl under to get a chicken so a flush to the ground...walk in coop to me is best. You won’t have to reach in for anything...to clean to get a bird... or to get one off the roost.
I hope your husband connects with your chickens. It doesn’t take much to fall in love with them. Perhaps he could join BYC too. Best wishes in all your endeavors may your flock bring your husband peace.

 

[aart]

***by the way, I do not have chicks yet....I won’t get them until the coop has been built***

Good For YOU!! Huge Kudos!

It is confusing, overwhelmingly so...like getting a sip of water out of a fire hose.
There's a lot of 'conflicting' info because a lot of things work depending on climate, goals, etc.
Hang in there, keep reading...take notes and save links..I use a Word document with headings like coops, roosts, nests, etc..makes it easier to search and find later.

You'll want something with large roof overhangs and top hinged windows to protect the copious ventilation you'll want.

This might help.....search on Hot Weather Coops:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/se...ther+coops&t=post&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1

Oh, and, Welcome to BYC!
Here's how to add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Unsworth]

Hi there! Chickens are great. Nothing like fresh eggs. You can see the difference in the yolks than the ones you buy at the store. Here is my two cents. Lots of chicken plans for houses and construction ideas out there but I think the thing to remember is to think about the types of predators in your area. If you have predators, such as raccoons especially, make the chicken coop/house tight. Pay particular attention to the base/ground area.

Chickens do not like to be wet. They can handle cold. Since you live in a rainy area make sure they can stay dry somehow on rainy days. If you chicken house has a open side keep that side away from the prevailing wind if possible so they can get in there without the wind blasting them. Make sure they have cross ventilation if you have a house that closes up tight, even in the winter. Where I live, even when it is below zero, the windows are slightly open to make sure they have air. I put a heat lamp occasionally in the house if it is really cold, but you still have to leave the windows open a little.

Get all the chicks you want in one batch. Don't try to introduce other chickens later. Think about how many eggs you want. If you never want to buy eggs at the store then make sure you have enough to cover the eggs you need when they slow production down in the winter. Sell the extra eggs when production is higher in the summer.

If you have chicken hawks around where you live you might want to go through the trouble of putting netting over an outdoor chicken yard area.

If you have a lot of chickens with a feeder try to hang it off the ground some so mice and other creatures can't get to it at night as easily.

It helps to run a hose to the chicken yard (during non-freezing weather) and leave it connected to the faucet on a timer. I give my chickens 15 minutes of water every day that goes into a pan on the shady side of the chicken house. In the winter I can't do that and have to heat water inside the house that is carried in. (Very cold here)

Hope this helps.

 

[CannedMonster]

Hello and welcome!

I also read everything I could get my hands on lol.
We started with 5 and now have 22 with plans to get a few more
We have a prefab coop for our bantams and DH built a huge 10x6 coop with a concrete floor.
Since we got an accidental 2nd cockerel with my second batch of chicks I ordered we’ve decided to separate the boys into different fenced off yards with their own girls.
Sooooo we’re building a 3rd coop!
We found some plans on Cleancoops.com and chose to buy the “Daisy” coop plans for $34.95, which is a 4x8 coop.
The plans come with a material list and suggested tools and I highly recommend printing it in color because everything is color coded which helps.
We’ve just started building (waiting for weather to cooperate ) so unfortunately I don’t have a review of the plans/process yet but I thought I’d mention the website so you could have a look for yourself if you want.

You will love your chickens!
They’re so fun!

 

[The Lazy L]

Coop. 2 square feet per chicken (roosting only).

Run. 10 square feet per chicken.

Provide a heat source the chicks can get under until they a fully feathered.

More ventilation in the coop the better. Roost is a draft free area of the coop.

Chickens are vultures, they eat almost everything.

Provide a continuous source of feed and water

Get your coop and run in place. Then go get some chicks/chickens before you worry yourself out of getting any. Chickens are resilient unless too much human interference.

 

[Bamabexchicks]

Hi! Welcome to BYC! As you can already see everyone is super helpful and knowledgeable too! Hope you and your hubby find the peace and relaxation that chickens can provide.

 

[staceyj]

hi everyone I am new to raising chickens, but have been wanting to do this my entire life. My husband and I have purchased a home in a very rural area, and FINALLY I can have what I want, without restrictions. I am in my 40’s, and actually grew up gardening, but never had any animals, other than furbabies. My husband is a USMC with ptsd....these chickens are literally going to be his therapy.

***by the way, I do not have chicks yet....I won’t get them until the coop has been built***

I have been researching chickens, on the internet and I have purchased more books than I care to count, and there is SO MUCH information I feel like I’m more lost now than when I started. We have actually modified a prefab chicken coop into a chicken tractor, but when it comes to a permanent coop, I don’t know where to begin.

I have been watching how storms come and go, wind direction, trying to figure out where to, and where not to put windows, vents, nesting boxes, roosting bars, etc.

The one thing I did get from everyone’s experiences is that I absolutely want a run tall enough for me to walk into, which won’t be that difficult, as I am only 5 ft tall. I am thinking a raised coop at least 4x8 and a run 8x12....I work shifts so I only work 3 days per week but I leave when it’s dark, and get home when it’s dark. The days I’m off, the girls can free range with supervision, of course.

. I am only looking to have 4-6 hens, no roosters (I was tormented by my grandmas rooster when I was little and I prefer not to have to wring a neck, so to speak)

Oh, and I also live in NC, where the summers are HORRIBLY humid and the rainfall here is abnormally high for the past year (we have had more than 14 inches in excess).....

My DH isn’t very “building savvy” but I can build just about anything with plans. Have been to the habitat store every single week now for 6 months trying to find things to repurpose, but have only found an antique panel window and 20 untreated 2x4’s.

Any advice would be appreciated dearly....

Hi there! I’m in NC too!
Welcome to BYC. You guys are going to love having chickens once you get past the setup stress.

Here’s a few pointers from me. Aim for a coop you can stand up in too. Wow. It makes such a difference when cleaning!

Make sure your permanent coop and run is in an elevated area where drainage is good! Also because we get a lot of rain here, (over 100 inches last year), a solid roof with an overhang , in my opinion, is essential, as well as plenty of cross ventilation. Storms blow up fast here in the summer. The overhang prevents rain from blowing in your open windows or vents and soaking the inside of your coop.

Because of the heat, choose an area with access to lots of shade, but also far enough from your house to not be inundated with flies in the summer. (I highly recommend those stinky liquid baited fly jugs!)

There are lots of predators here, hawks and four footed ones to boot, so spend the money from the getgo and don’t skimp on your hardware cloth or fasteners. And build heavy because of hurricanes!

We have so many coop pages on this site! Big, small,fancy and simple. Look through them for good ideas!

Although I’ve never used the compass on my iPhone until JUST NOW
I went outthere and stood directly in front of it to see what direction the front window faces.
I can’t take credit for how my husband figured out the placement of it but he watched the movement of the sun for six months before choosing right where it would go. He’s one of “those” people who just “knows” this stuff!

It’s working great for us.
Morning sun in the winter, but not direct misery in the summer.

 

[Medievalmom]

Welcome to the wonderful world of raising chickens! I started out with just the 3 in my profile pic, but have since multiplied a little. I have 75 that are permanent fixtures, and about 30 on the sidelines being raised for others. We have chickens, geese, ducks, guineas, quail and pigeons. Our first outside coop (they roosted inside the house at night initially) was a modified rabbit hutch that was given to us. We havesince built 3 coops and 5 other runs from free pallets and crates, 3 large coops with attached runs we got super cheap from a woman moving back into town, and 5 others were free off Craigslist from people moving. We rented a flat bed from Outdoor Rec on base and just drove around for the weekend picking up all the free lumber and coops. As for chickens, my silkies are my best broodies (they hatch everyones eggs), but for egg production my leghorns, marans, barred rocks, and wyandottes never fail me. Good luck on your new adventure!

 

[bobbi-j]

First of all, I'd like to say "Thank You" to your husband for his service. I hope that the chickens will be good therapy for him.

I like a larger coop - mine are basically sheds that we have turned into coops. But I'm in MN, where the winters are cold and long, so my chickens need plenty of room when they don't want to go outside and play. I'm a firm believer in plenty of room, not trying to squeeze the maximum amount of chickens into the minimum amount of space. Same with the run. Make it as large as you can afford.

Good luck and enjoy your new hobby!

Oh, and good for you for not getting chickens until the coop is built!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Just take a deep breath and remember that chickens are hardy animals. They put up with our great grandparents letting them run free and loose in the cow fields without food or shelter and they live today in tiny cages indoors on artificial lighting crammed 6-to-a-cage on wire floors without room to turn around. Now neither of those are ideal, there are losses and unfulfilled needs in these scenarios... But I'm just pointing out... Chickens are a very hardy lot and can put up with almost anything you throw at them. It's hard to mess up chicken keeping!
So! Just break it down to basics.

Build out of good materials. Plywood, pine lumber, hardware cloth, good steel hardware... All fine. Chickenwire, osb, not so fine.

You know ventilation is good. Put ventilation anywhere you can that will exchange air without putting a breeze on the sleeping chickens. Bonus points if it goes at the lowest point of the roof, as the hot air from the chickens will rise it will cool and create moisture as it sinks. It'll sink down along the roof and the cooled, wet air will go right out your ventilation that way in the winter.
Conversely, put the roost bars anywhere that the chickens can sleep without a breeze on them.

Face your biggest windows south or east so the coop gets lots of light for egg laying.

4sqft in the coop, 10sqft out, minimum per bird unless you have research and reasons for otherwise. More is always better, especially in the run.

You live in a wet environment, so your pen should go on higher ground and you should have sand and gravel or deep litter (about 1-2' of wood chips, aged is best, you can often get fresh chips for free from you city's tree company if you call and ask then you can let them age for a few months in a pile).

Your biggest predator concerns are probably hawks and coons and canines, so make sure you have a top to your run, complex latches (mine are just carabiners through loops on funny double-hinged latches) and sturdy walls in case of coyotes or stray dogs. Make sure your wire is fine enough to exclude rats if you can.

For the inside of your coop choose if you want deep litter (Big day-long cleans 1-4 times a year) or something like sand/shavings (little 15 minute cleans every week).

Choose hardy breeds suited for your climate.

Make sure they have good feed and clean water every day.

Learn basic chicken first aid and common problems/behaviors. (Ie, bumblefoot, impacted/sour crop, egg binding, broodiness, mareks, feather picking, lice, worms, basic open cut/abrasion care, etc.)

Expect some losses. Very few chickens make it to an end from old age.

Always wash your hands.

That's about it. Chickens are easy keepers once you have a secure environment for them, so try to relax, plan with a little care to your needs, and enjoy them!