INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[flyladyrocks]

If you really want them, I can hold them for you for awhile. They don't have to go right now. I would really like the youngest to be at least a couple months old before they go anyway. Let me know.

 

[EurekaChic]

How many chickens are you wanting to have? 

Can you or your DH do any construction modifications?  If so a shed from Craigslist might be more cost effective and allow for more chickens in the future.
How do you plan to deal or not deal with the chicken poo.  I like the deep litter method as it is not something I have to deal with daily. 

The coops pictured on the BrazilFarm site look great.  Naptown chickens also sells coops with runs and might be closer to you. 


I think in the end if you are looking for a shed coop with a large walk in run for lots of chickens, you can customizing advantage when you do it yourself.  But the brazil farm and nap town coops are way better than what I have seen of the prefab build it yourself coops on Amazon.   

Editing to add a note about the run security.  naptown's coop has a stronger run fence compared to chicken wire.  If your run is chicken wire only it should be in a larger fenced area.  This is mentioned on the Brazil site too.

We want to start with 5-8 hens, but are already feeling the chicken math and would like to have room for more. We were thinking of going with an 8x8 or 10x10 shed for the coop. My DH is pretty handy but I am not and have a bad back so can't do heavy lifting, so we do worry about construction that requires team work. And also the time factor! That's why we've be been looking at pre-built coops.

I checked out naptownchickens.org but didn't see any coops for sale. Am I looking in the wrong place? Indy would definitely be closer.

We've been looking on CL for used sheds but haven't found any good ones yet.

Editing to add more info:
We're not sure about whether we will do the dlm or not. The long time between clean-out is appealing, but we don't have a garden (we're on a third of an acre with no good place for a garden) so we don't have use for bunches of compost. We are also considering sand for our litter. We will use poop boards below the roosts.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Has anybody ever bought a coop from Brazil Urban Farm and Garden (www.brazilfarm.webs.com)?

I found them thru Craig's List, and they seem to have ok prices and claim they will customize. My DH and I are still trying to figure out the best way to get the coop and run accomplished.

 

[EurekaChic]

We have DEFINITELY benefited from looking at the coops on BYC and reading the info posted in the threads and articles. It has helped us a lot in figuring out what we want and don't want. We agree that the kit/prefab coops on Amazon or Rural King or whatever are too small and shoddy to work for us. Cost is also an issue, so the Veterans Antiques might not work either, but we will check it out.

 

[bradselig]

Updated sales list!
As far as what I have available, it seems the list keeps getting longer! All prices negotiable!

*Several day to week old silkie chicks. Various colors. $5 each
* 1-2 barred split for lavender bantam Cochins. $5 each
*Young trio (looking like there is atleast 2 pullets and the other is looking like a pullet as well) LF partridge wyandottes $15 for trio around 8 wks old
*Chocolate orpington cockerel $10 around 8 wks old
*Splash modern game cockerel $8 around 8 wks old
*Birchen modern game cockerel $8 around 6 wks old
*Black modern game cockerel $10 around 5 months old
*Black breasted Black modern game hen $25 age unknown
*Splash with gold showgirl (unsexed) $10 around 8 wks old
*Buff Partridge Brahmas (3 available, all unsexed, atleast 2 look like pullets) $6 each/$15 for all around 8 wks old
*Bielfelder pair $30 (roo is small for age but starting to grow quite a bit now) NOTE: I'm pretty confident the pullet is a bielefelder, but may possibly be a non crested legbar these autosexing breeds look so much alike at young age. But again, pretty confident.
*Silkie cockerels. I have a white hatched beginning of feb and a blue with silver leakage who is a little younger than the previously listed. $5 each. All very well behaved.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

The easy way to convert a shed won't require 2 people. A 2*4 with the 4" side being the side the chicken sits on goes on the support for the gabled arches. Then a nesting box on the inside is really as easy as a dresser drawe with half a lid added then turned sideways. A run does not really have shortcuts though.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Yep! A shed is pretty much ready to go...just add a piece of wood across the bottom inside the doorway as a "kick board" to keep in the shavings and possibly cut a pop door too

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thanks Pip'd I'll let you know. They all look like the black one, they just don't all pose like she did lol.

Updated sales list!
As far as what I have available, it seems the list keeps getting longer! All prices negotiable!

*Several day to week old silkie chicks. Various colors. $5 each
* 1-2 barred split for lavender bantam Cochins. $5 each
*Young trio (looking like there is atleast 2 pullets and the other is looking like a pullet as well) LF partridge wyandottes $15 for trio around 8 wks old
*Chocolate orpington cockerel $10 around 8 wks old
*Splash modern game cockerel $8 around 8 wks old
*Birchen modern game cockerel $8 around 6 wks old
*Black modern game cockerel $10 around 5 months old
*Black breasted Black modern game hen $25 age unknown
*Splash with gold showgirl (unsexed) $10 around 8 wks old
*Buff Partridge Brahmas (3 available, all unsexed, atleast 2 look like pullets) $6 each/$15 for all around 8 wks old
*Bielfelder pair $30 (roo is small for age but starting to grow quite a bit now) NOTE: I'm pretty confident the pullet is a bielefelder, but may possibly be a non crested legbar these autosexing breeds look so much alike at young age. But again, pretty confident.
*Silkie cockerels. I have a white hatched beginning of feb and a blue with silver leakage who is a little younger than the previously listed. $5 each. All very well behaved.

You guys are killing me here...

Brad, any pictures of your Wyandottes and Brahmas? By 8 weeks old, I'm sure I could give you a confirmation on their sexes, no problem at all.







In other news... Anyone with experience with ducks? Are they difficult to take care of compared to chickens? How well can they be kept with chickens (as in, sharing a run space but probably a separate coop, feeding the same feed (all-flock feed), etc.)? I'm not definitely set on getting some, but the FW Children's Zoo got some call ducks and I think I'm in love.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

You guys are killing me here...

Brad, any pictures of your Wyandottes and Brahmas? By 8 weeks old, I'm sure I could give you a confirmation on their sexes, no problem at all.

In other news... Anyone with experience with ducks? Are they difficult to take care of compared to chickens? How well can they be kept with chickens (as in, sharing a run space but probably a separate coop, feeding the same feed (all-flock feed), etc.)? I'm not definitely set on getting some, but the FW Children's Zoo got some call ducks and I think I'm in love.

I used to keep ducks with my chickens. The larger ducks I wouldn't recommend housing with chickens. The males were always really mean to the chickens. Ducks also love to make a mess. But call ducks were different in my experience. Shy, but much much nicer to the chickens. They didn't like to splash around in the water like the larger breeds did. To me they were like funny looking, less social/friendly chickens that were great at flying.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Chickenfest suggestion: How about we start a new thread for "What I am bringing" this would be for food, birds, anything to sell or trade etc. Or maybe just an "Indiana Chickenfest 2014" Thread just for any and all communication for Chickenfest.

I was just thinking it might simplify things - if we want to see who is bringing what then it would be all in one place and we would not have to wade through a couple weeks of the Indiana BYCers thread when we need to find something.

I don't want to step on anyones toes, so I didn't just go head and start it, and I am fine if you think this is a bad idea!

Quote: Either is a fantastic idea! Please go for it!