I am new, and so confused...

[pennyJo1960]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens and Thank you for your service My better half was navy in Vietnam see bee's

 

[fldiver97]

Welcome! I agree with ChocolateMouse ... Choose a spot that doesn’t tend to flood, sturdy coop and run materials. Many prefab coops have thin panels of wood that a predator can break into, chicken wire is only good to keep chickens in, will not provide good protection for many predators. Garden sheds are easy to convert. I found that I need a run with a roof or solid cover - keeps the rain and snow out, provides shade and protection from predators. I personally find a walk in coop and run easiest to clean, poop board under roosts with PDZ makes for easy cleaning (scoop with cat litter scooper and throw in compost pile). Lots of ventilation, screened windows and doors that can be secured so smart little raccoons can’t open the lock. Check out the many coops for ideas, you’ll be surprised what folks come up with! Everything from prefab to recycled to converted playhouses and more. Ask questions and remember that you can always make adjustments as you go. Enjoy those chickens, I can’t imagine not having them jumpy

 

[karenerwin]

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....

Welcome to BYC! I am surprised that no one has thought to mention finding your state's thread to connect with people in the same environment as you!
Other than that, everyone is giving great advice! Also, you can never have too much ventilation ( just keep direct breezes off your birds). I live in Missouri and like most people, at first thought I need an air tight coop to protect them in the winter. That is not the case! Lots of ventilation helps prevent frostbite by eliminating so much of the moisture in the coop that actually increases frostbite. So, more ventilation is good!
Our 1st coop was a 10 x 10 shed that we added extra windows to and ventilation at the top of the front near the roof. It actually could easily use more ventilation. It is raised off the ground in the back, but not in the front. The chickens like to go under the coop in the extreme heat of summer and when there is snow on the ground ( mine don't like to walk in snow). It has been a hassle at times when a chicken decides it wants to sleep outside under the coop. Then I have to crawl/belly slide under the coop to get them out. If they stay out at night there is a very good chance that a raccoon or other predator will have a fresh chicken dinner.
My last advice is build bigger than you think you will need. I think almost all of us have increased our flock size once we got chickens and realized how fun and entertaining they are!!

 

[paintedChix]

Well, well, well - ANOTHER North Carolinian!! That is GRR-EATTT!! Welcome to both you and your husband and YES, thank you BOTH for your service - because whether you were active duty or not, you still "served" right along with him through each of his schools, deployments and moves.

I came from military background, entered military, married military, ets'd to be SAHM for our 3 daughters. We both have friends that are still active duty &/or retired and have sons/daughters/grandchildren now entering active service. I understand from all sides of those issues, PTSD can be very difficult to deal with - I hope that, again, you are both getting the support and/or help that you may need. Yes, gardening, chickens & some other livestock can be a great therapeutic help. Who'd a thought "chicken TV" was a real thing (I sure didn't!!)?

I have found that I am the more outdoorsy person who does the building. However, I am also TERRIBLE at building - nothing I do will/has ever come out square. I can have the exact same measurements as someone else, do all the x's and math and repositioning that someone else does right next to me and still have my build not be square (same thing with a lot of baking - my mom & grandma despaired of me EVER being able to bake anything). So, I've pretty much quit trying. I like things I can do myself, often have to since most of the time now I'm completely by myself, and at my age of mid-50's now while not anywhere as fit or light as I was when in the Army. I am getting very much into re-purposing, re-using and having to build from items that are already built. I LOVE cattle panel, pallets - both the wood & plastic types, downed trees, cardboard, haystring, tires and plastic bottles. We still have to be very careful with budgeting because we now have a larger mortgage and tons more pets and critters than ever before in our lives (though our youngest daughter did just move out on her own, again). Our own little homestead is not anywhere close to being self-supporting yet - though I'm hoping to have much more accomplished to that end this year...

What is great is that NC is a good state to build using alternative methods and you don't have to have a completely enclosed coop. Hardware cloth or good welded wire is a must, though, for predator protection. Good drainage in rainy weather or flood prone areas is a must.

The biggest problem we've had with predators here in our section of Moore/Harnett & Lee counties is loose dogs (usually w/o collars & ID tags), feral cats (not our own - whom sleep with and roam around the chickens once the chicks are 3-4 months of age), a single coyote and hawks. The months that I lose the most free-ranging birds seems to be during the winter (Dec thru Feb/Mar), during the day when I'm at work and Larry is asleep - when wild game in our area is much less prevalent. We are currently down to no free rangers in our 7 acre pony pasture (2 - 8x8 coops have the birds in total lockdown at this time & they aren't real happy but they ARE alive - some in 1 coop are now laying eggs and the roos in the other 1 are where they need to be to be processed. A 3rd coop is empty right now). I will have to reposition and build some covered runs off of the coops in the pastures or do tractors. Even using electrified poultry netting didn't work this fall and that was expensive to purchase and install (& actually difficult for me to move around - took a lot of time!). The free rangers in our front yard have been locked up too, for now (building runs between two small coops that will have aviary netting over the top). The backyard free rangers are down to 5 - and tonight the last 3 of the CLBs are finally being closed into their own 8x8 coop/pen. Yes, doing runs/paddocks off of the 4 side by side coop/pens. Those runs/pens will possibly be covered w/ aviary netting, not sure how yet we are going to do that - since the poultry netting didn't protect them from either dogs (stops ours), coyote (watched it jump over the 42" netting w/ a bird in its' jaws) or hawks (our birds did have bushes, and pallet "lean-tos" to hide under, but still lost a lot of birds).

Breeds - again here in NC, you have a lot of options. I've found that I have had issues with both heavy breeds during the summer and larger combed breeds during this VERY STRANGE winter this year (2018/2019). This is actually the first year I've ever lost combs to frostbite - both in December when we had the extreme low temp/high humidity and again 2 weeks ago. There was plenty of ventilation, no drafts and the birds were dry - yet 1 CLB cockerel and 1 RB rooster had issues with their combs. Both hate having their combs messed with (did as chicks right up to these ages). The larger combed Australorp cockerels did fine as did the Orpington that was out in the pasture coop/pen.

Its hard to say what breeds do the best. I personally feel you read over the descriptions and look at what will most fit for you, what you want and then also see how it compares to the environment and see if that helps your situation. You can always set up fans/misters for any breed in the heat. Almost all of our stock from 2010 to 2018 were hatchery birds - from different hatcheries - gotten thru various feed stores or flock swaps (for mature birds & even chicks once you have an established flock, you do want to be able to quarantine them). 2018 is the first year I got into breeds bred by breeders and I hope that I got some good breeding stock. We shall see. I'm really into the auto-sexing breeds (male & female different color/markings at hatch AND breed true) along with different colored eggs - because they are pretty to see in an open basket on our counter!

Even with "production type" birds, there might still be large variances in egg laying ability (# of eggs/weekly, age reached POL). I am hoping that next year, some of the birds that I have that just started laying with continue to lay through the winter (they could slow down/quit over the summer since other birds that "won't" lay in winter will be laying). I was completely caught by surprise by how much longer it took our breeder produced breeds to start laying - 9 months appears to be common for our girls - when I was used to our hatchery production birds starting to lay at 5 months and consistent at 6 months of age... We shall see how long these breeds lay consistently as that is one thing I'm looking at/breeding for in the future.

Currently we have 55 Flowery Hens (the name of the breed) - lays large white eggs, Ameraucana - BBS & Lavender varieties - lay light blue/green eggs somewhat small, Australorps - blue in color - hatchery stock - lay med/large light brown eggs, Bielefelders - lay large light brown/pink undertone eggs, Crested Legbars - a trio of Jill Rees show line (more green than blue eggs - still very small) & a trio of production lines (much lighter blue/green eggs- still very small), Orpingtons - Lavender - pretty to look at & FRIENDLY birds but our least thrifty/thriving birds - very small compared to their size light tan eggs and a trio of Rhodebars (these aren't laying yet - should be large and nicely brown eggs). Also have a group of barnyard bantamX that go back in lineage to our original group of 15 bantams (different breeds/type) that I was given at Christmas 2010 and the 2014 blue Ameraucana roo that survived our move to this property in 2015... We also have a couple of other purebred pullets (considered meat birds in the countrys that they were developed in) that ended up in a mix of birds - 1 Bresse - she's laying an almost large white egg and an Altstrier - laying a smallish cream colored egg.

My plan with this many birds? We have 5 dogs currently and 6 cats (starting to feed them our own produced food instead of purchased dry kibble), Larry & I & our 2 adult daughters, 2 SILs w/ 5 grandchildren between them, 1 adult daughter & her fiance that we provide most of the chicken & eggs for (getting there). Though these aren't "meat birds" per say - they are tractored/free ranged and the cockerels are processed, some of the hens are processed and we eat/use a LOT of eggs. Love our fowl proteins!! I've learned to make bone broth this winter and we put feathers, skin & bones into compost. We haven't raised/processed actual cornishX meat birds, but not really sure we need to with the selection we've got, LOL. 2019 will be our first year processing a larger number of birds and we figure we need to do around 150 just for my husband & I w/ the cats/dogs. Got my first batch of eggs in the incubator (learning that, too) and we will see how many actually hatch from the 36 pullet eggs we set.

So - welcome to BYC. Hope you enjoy all your visiting as you learn and try out different ideas with your chickens. If you ever need any ?s answered, simply ask here in the forums.



~ Paula

 

[USMC chicken mommy]

Thank you so much for all of your fantastic advice. This is so helpful to me. I am considering a 10x8x6 coop so that I can get in myself and clean it. The run will be as long as I can muster, which will probably be a 24x8x6, partially covered run and the rest will be hardcloth. I am going to rent a trench digger to bury the cloth about 12-20 inches deep. Since we only wanted 4-6 hens, I figure we will get more down the line. I live in a very rural part of lincoln County, and I have heard coyotes, seen bear tracks in the snow in the front yard, opossums and of course raccoons. I even came home one evening from work and there was a PIG in my front yard. Me, being an animal lover, the only animals that scares me is the damn wolf spiders that’s as big as my hand here.

With that being said, I may have to install electric wiring due to the bear.....

Thanks again! I’m so glad I found you guys....

 

[aart]

I am going to rent a trench digger to bury the cloth about 12-20 inches deep.

No need to bury that deep.
Good examples of anti-dig apron installation:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1110498/wire-around-coop#post_17093528
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481208

 

[kmac720]

Hello from another North Carolinian! We are in Hoke County right outside of Fayetteville and started with chickens about 7 years ago. We have had lots of trial and error but have fallen in love with our Silkies and Dominiques. My husband is active duty so I understand the need for the therapy aspect of chickens. We love to sit and watch our flock on summer nights while the kids play, it was one of our favorite things this past summer! This sight has always been my go-to for anything chicken related, the information is top notch!

 

[paintedChix]

With that being said, I may have to install electric wiring due to the bear.....

Thanks again! I’m so glad I found you guys....

Um, bears?? I guess I've heard of them here, but never really thought about it. Even when we lived in CO and MT, we never were really concerned about bears (mountain lions or big cats - yes) - but also didn't have chickens then and our barns were pretty secure.

Not sure if what I've built would stand up to a bear... Though with the electric wiring - it might? I truly don't know.

You are welcome!

 

[harveyhorses]

This is a really nice place. Glad all I have to worry about is hawks and raccoons! I have poultry netting and it has turned a beagle and several cats, but I am not sure how it would do for a bear. Probably just fine, sounds like you have the research down!
Watching my hens is so much more fun than I thought it would be! I have 6 grown up girls several breeds, and they all have their own personalities. I love that they run to me for treats, affection and protection.
In case nobody mentioned it, food is the great motivator.
My girls would jump through hoops of fire for mealworms with Blackmoil sunflower seeds a close second. It makes it much easier to grt them up after free ranging, because l8ke all children they always want to stay out later. I hope you and your husband enjoy them as much as me and my family has.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Welcome! And thanks to you and your hubby for his service. One recommendation I would make, since chickens will be his therapy, is to make the coop and run comfortable for him as well as the birds. Make sure there is room for a chair or bench for him so he can spend time just watching and interacting. I can sit in the run for hours and love to sit in the coop in the mornings after I scoop poop out of the sand (with PDZ mixed in) and watch the girls try to decide which nest box they want to try today... We built a very comfortable 8x10 foot coop with a slanted metal roof and the only thing I’d change is to add a people door from the coop into the run. I’ve got fifteen young birds (one of whom is a cockerel) and plenty of room for them to roam.

The other comment I’d make is to keep everything organized in a central location. That might lessen the stress for him. (Since he’s a Marine, that probably won’t be an issue anyway!)

Weather is always a consideration when building. Our coop isn’t insulated, but you might want to insulate yours. Same with the run. Ours is fully covered and secure because we are in the middle of the woods with lots of predators around. We are also in a very wet, humid area. The sand keeps feet clean and dry. It’s a rarity for me to find an egg in the nest box that is muddy or poopy. Plus, because of the roof over the run, the sand stays cool in the summer. Not to mention that the girls looooooove to dustbathe in the sand!