Looking for experiences from SMALL flock owners - 4 or less hens?

[lisahaschickens]

I myself have 15 chicks that I am raising, but you may be interested in this blog:

http://digthischick.blogspot.com

Check out her chicken posts (she has other stuff on there too so you have to search)... she has three hens that she raised from chicks and she has had some issues with city ordinances, etc. She might have some good info in there for you. It's a fun blog in general, too.

 

[hyzenthlay]

I'm glad you posted this--I'm getting my first 3 chicks in a couple weeks. (YAY!!!!) We live on 1/8 acre in the middle of the city. We are building a 5x8 run and 4x5 coop (that's the biggest we can reasonably fit in our space). Our backyard is fenced, too, but the fence is only 4' high, so I'm not counting on being able to let the hens out. So, I think that maximum we will be able to have 5, but we are starting with 3. Hopefully they will all survive (!!!)--if not, I'll deal with it at the time, I guess. My thought is we'll see how we do with 3, and if after a couple years their laying rate starts to drop off too much, we'll still have room to add a couple more. It was SOOO hard to stick to ordering just 3, but I did it! lol. These will be pets, so I'll be keeping them as long as they live, whether they lay or not. We're hoping to move out of the city in about 5 years, so hopefully after that I'll have plenty of room for my hen retirement home AND more new layers, lol.

 

[Break an Egg]

I used to have over 20 different kinds of chickens, but the city had a cow, I gave all of them up but 3. I still have 3, and I am hoping as long as I don't end up with any roosters, I will be able to pick up a few more. As a matter of fact, I plan on going to the feed store tommorrow to pick up a few new pullets.

 

[EweSheep]

This is my set up in the city limits.

I can fit 6 to 7 hens comfortably in there up to 16 birds at the max. It all boils down the room to roost and run area they can do their thing and the physical labor I would have to deal with when clean up time comes. Ten bags of manure all winter was a big chore LOL.

Having up to five hens would be a very smart thing to do and gives you room for losses if you should incur any.

Enjoy!

 

[CityChook]

I have 4 Buff Orps who just turned 1 year old yesterday. I'm in suburban Minneapolis and this is my first experience with any type of pet bird. Our city limits are 5 hens, no roosters. It's just the right number for me. I am very familiar with each one of them and able to distinguish each from the other. I hug them every day and they return the lovin' by giving me 3-4 eggs a day.

I ordered from MPC and was able to get all females and the breed that I wanted. The shipping is expensive, but the chicks arrived happy and healthy. Our coop is walk-in style 6x8 with a 6x8 covered run. It's a little big (hard to heat in our cold winters) but they had lots of room to roam inside their coop, so I didn't feel too bad when they had to stay inside for a week at a time because of temperatures or heavy snow.

If you have constant contact between your dog and your chicks as soon as they arrive, it is pretty easy to train your dog. I have a spaz 3 yr. old lab who I completely trust around the chickens. She was uncertain about the chicks when they arrived, but I let her sit with me while I handled them and cleaned out their brooder (which felt like a million times a day) and she learned that these were MINE. Eventually, she'd sleep next to their brooder and became quite protective. We haven't had ANY problems. But if you wait until they are grown (and fast), you might not be able to train your dog.

Feel free to PM me anytime. Enjoy the process!

 

[kycklingar!]

I just built a new tractor for my 4 hens! Here's the thread...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1807591#p1807591

 

[lakeguy55]

Thanks everyone. This is great information for all us first time small flock honks. We also plan on having 4-5 layers at this point. I'm in the process of converting the back part of our shed for the roost (about 4' x 10') with access out the back for the run (also about 4' x 10') covered, and hopefully secure from local predators.

 

[Indychick]

Just got our first girls a week ago - 1 buff orpington, 1 black australorpe, 1 americauna, and 1 barred rock. We live in the city so we too have restrictions. So far, so good! And you're right....seems like there are people on this forum with an addiction

- an addiction that I haven't acquired......yet!

 

[digitS']

If you don't count the meat birds, it has been many years since I've had more than a handful of hens in the backyard. With a small family, there just hasn't been the need.

Three hens are just about impossibly easy to take care of. So, we have 4

.

One hen per person with one extra for the flock - seems a pretty good formula. We are "empty nesters" so keeping up with the egg production is a little challenging but it's a challenge I enjoy.

I was just thinking the other morning when I woke up to soft boiled eggs cooking on the stove: Fresh, fresh eggs almost smell like egg-rich pudding cooking in a double boiler on a Sunday

. Maybe I should try sleeping-in this Sunday and see if that turns out to be true. It is all part of meeting the challenge of too many fresh eggs

.

Steve

 

[cyrixlord]

Quote:
but we can control our addiction! we keep it small to a few chickens, right?

RIGHT?