Just getting started - looking for advice

[gbathree]

Hey guys, I'm in central Michigan where we definitely have winters, but it's not too bad. I'm planning to get 4 chickens in a 8m x 8m area with 2 meter tall fence (so that's 4mx4m per chicken), close to the house (see picture below). It's a pretty fertile area and the grass grows very fast there as compared to other areas in the yard. We're in a suburb, so there's not a lot of big animal pressure so I'm not too worried about hawks or possums or foxes. There's a water spigot right there also so refilling water is easy. I also made my own coop (other picture below). It's just me, my wife and my 2 year old son.

My plan is to get 4 black australorps, and my focus is on getting eggs and having an experience for my son. We have lots of kitchen scraps throughout the year (I freeze a lot of food so we'll have them even in the winter), and a decent sized garden in the front. We already compost so separating the scraps is already done. So I feel like we can supply a wide range of food especially in the summer.

1) do I need any special equipment, or can I just put water in a bowl on the ground? Seems like I should be able to, given the low number of chickens and ease of replacing the water.

2) I'd like to minimize purchasing additional food, given the amount of scraps and total size of the space they'll be in we already produce. Do we need to supply feed? Do we need scratch? If so, how much of each? I'm ok if we don't get an egg per day - 2 - 3 eggs per week per chicken is probably enough for us.

3) Should I connect with a local vet just to have someone to call, or check on them once a year or something?

4) Any other suggestions or ideas that come to mind would be greatly appreciated. I'm just afraid I'm missing something (or many things)

 

[Den in Penn]

Welcome to BYC
You really don't need special equipment to feed and water. Dishes work well enough for a small flock.

As for feeding for feeding, scraps and letting them roam the yard helps greatly lowering the feed bill. Still it is a good idea to have feed available for them for the times the scraps are thin and the yard just doesn't have what they need, in winter or a dry summer. Remember they need at least 16% protein for good health and laying.

Vets are at your option

Your coop. I hope you take this as good natured advise. That looks like a nice start. You have nests for laying. But there is no roosts for them to sleep on or space to walk around on the days when the weather just won't let them get outside in the Michigan winter Do look at some of the coops in the Coop & Run, Design, Building & Maintenance forum.

 

[pdirt]

Yeah, you definitely need a bigger coop. You only need one nest box if you only plan to have 4 hens, but yes, they need a roost and space to walk around in, because there will be days or weeks or months where they won't go outside at all.

Also, unless all trees, bushes, streams, ponds and lakes have been totally eradicated from your area, don't kid yourself about predators. Hawks and raccoons are still likely there, you just may never have seen them. Be sure to create a coop and run that is immune to raccoons. Raccoons will grab a chicken through chicken wire or a hole and pull the chicken through the tiny opening, eating the chicken as they can manage.

If you want healthy hens and you actually want them to lay eggs regularly, be sure to feed them chicken feed. If you feed them a lot of (low protein) things from your garden, be sure to feed them a higher protein feed, such as 20% protein (chick starter or grower or broiler often come in 20% versions) or you can buy meat (such as ground beef) to increase their protein. The higher protein diet will offset the low protein garden scraps.

Welcome to BYC! I hope you stay and contribute to the knowledge here once you get going.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I would heartily agree on what the others have posted. However I would have 2 boxes.
Layer pellets work well and are available in 18% protein fairly readily. You will find that no matter what you do they will either eat or scratch the area bare of grass in short order. My first 6 chicks had the 16x20 run free of all things green within 4 weeks. With 4 hens you really wont go through as much feed as you think. Scratch is a treat not a necessity. That being said I do give mine scratch and I feed an 18% protein feed. I would use scratch in moderation if you use it at all. If you are giving them kitchen scraps keep the salt out of it and skip the scratch all together. Too much salt is very bad for chickens.

Australorps are very nice hens. Good calm breed that does not make a lot of noise. I would say you should have 2 nest boxes since Australorps can and will go broody. I have one right now sitting patiently in an empty nest box. (just gathered the eggs for today) If you have a broody hen the others will either bully her out of the box or she will fight back making them lay "elsewhere". Injury is common when they have a disagreement about the nest box.
I have one nest box bay with six nests in it. Five nests have broody hens in them. I have to hunt the eggs down since the sitters will NOT move for the others.

I am a lot farther south than you and we get winters here for sure. There are times mine will refuse to go outside for weeks on end. Be ready for frozen water and keeping the feed in mouse PROOF containers will be needed. I use Home Depot buckets with "Gamma" lids on them (they seal and are a screw on lid). Mouse resistant wont work since mice are determined little buggers that will happily destroy feed with their poo.

There are some really creative and inexpensive coops people have built in the coops tab above. The learning center tab also contains some of the best knowledge around for raising healthy hens.

Enjoy your chicken experience.

If I may add one thing about the coop.......... You will need to do cross bracing on the legs. It is not as stable as you will need it to be.

Coops can be fancy or basic. Chickens are not picky about paint color or window dressing. Many people have built fantastic coops using pallets. Just a thought since it sounds like you would like to be frugal.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/matt-jen-coopers-coop
Just a little inspiration for you. No you do not have to insulate the coop but in the link the coop is insulated. It is a solid coop with thought through ventilation and good pics of the process.

 

[gbathree]

Great feedback! Thanks everyone so much for the advice. I did have some chickens before and had lots of issues with all kinds of predators who at all kinds of parts of the chickens through all size holes, so I'll try to be aware of that.

I'll sum up the key points:

1) Less feed is ok, but high protein to account for low protein scraps. Scratch fun but optional.
2) Get / make a bigger coop for winter use.

The coop is right next to our dryer vent, so I was thinking about connecting the dryer vent into the coop as well during the winter (it's electric, so no gas fumes or anything weird).

I'll try to repost once I get them with updates. I'm actually trying to get an order of 15 together from Townline Hatchery in West Michigan - if anyone is in the East Lansing area and wants to take part of that order (I only need 4) please let me know.

Greg

 

[21hens-incharge]

The dryer vent is not a good ideal The humidity as well as the temp changes are hard on the hens in the winter. We get down well below 0 here and mine have not needed additional heat. If you are worried about them being cold you should not.
Remember they wear a nice coat of feathers. If they are of good weight and in good health when winter sets in they will be fine. You can also get cold hearty breeds. Combs and wattles get frostbite from the humidity in the cold winter air. It settles on the combs and freezes causing injury and pain.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/its-cold-keeping-flocks-warm-and-healthy-in-winter

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures

Some of the fantastic articles on the learning center about ventilation and heating. Well worth reading.

Pay close attention to the fact that your coop is small, very small and that heat lamps are very very dangerous. They are designed for brooding chicks not for adult hens that will hit them with their wings or body when getting on and off the roost. A sleeping hen is nearly comatose and will NOT move away from the heat even though she is baking literally.

Please for the sake of your birds and your family do a ton of research on keeping chickens. They will all be better for it.

 

[gbathree]

Ooops I'll make sure to more reading :\

 

[pdirt]

@21hens-incharge gives very, very good advice. Yeah, you do NOT want a dryer vent going into your coop, the humidity would very likely cause frostbite once the dryer is off and it's cold outside. Lots of people have chickens with NO heat, NO insulation, just GOOD ventilation with no problems. If you end up with a very sick chicken, you might need to bring him/her into a slightly warmer place (think garage or unheated basement, NOT indoors where it is 65F+, it will shock them), but generally chickens survive and thrive in cold temperatures just fine. There are a few breeds that don't handle cold very well, but Black Australorps are not one of them. BA's have a nice thick down coat, just like many/most of the other chicken breeds.

Stay on here a while and you will notice that many of the newbies want to heat their coops and have no idea of the danger involved, whereas many of those who have been keeping chickens a long time don't use any sort of heat, even in climates colder than yours. And there are plenty of sad stories, even from oldtimers, who were sure they were doing the electric heat thing "right", who had an electrical fire and lost everything. A risk not necessary to take in most climates.

That being said, if it regularly gets to -20F INSIDE your coop, you may want to insulate and/or heat, SAFELY. If it is -20F outside your coop, it will be 5-15 degrees warmer than that inside your coop. I don't see any way to safely heat your coop, the one you showed us a picture of, it's too small.