Hi! I'm new here as well. We live in Clarksville, MD. No chickens yet but have done tons of research and picked out type of coop I want to build. Anyone in my area and have either built a Woods style open air type coop or doing deep litter? Suggestions on the best breeds for laying for a newbie would be great too!
Welcome! I actually live in NOVA but I'm from Maryland originally. If you want a breed of hen that will consistently lay XL brown eggs then I would highly suggest Comets. There are so many breeds to choose from but for a productive egg layer, I just love them. They lay better than my RIRs... and don't seem to eat as much food as my other girls (Wyandottes, Orpingtons, Sussex). We also have Easter Eggers & Ameraucana which are a nice variety and lay colored eggs. Leghorns are nice for white eggs.... not sure about their production but my 5 month old Leghorns have started laying 4 times a week already. The eggs are small at first but will increase in size as the birds mature and "Egg Laying Season" is in full swing.
As for an open-air cage...... this is an example of one of my grow out pens. My husband builds things pretty solid which are difficult to move but they last and last. We are in the process of making uniform breeding pens for everyone which will be partially covered/ partially open with enclosed nest boxes. Our ducks will have the same setup but with much longer runs. This example of our 9x12 grow out pen has been wonderful. Even with high winds and rain, no one is getting soaked. We plan on attaching clear plastic to the sides to use it in the Winter. It is 6 foot high with an 8 foot roof pitch and the water runs off easily. The tarp is temporary but we get the two pack from Costco and these suckers ladt and last! If we need additional space for hens to lay eggs we can easily add removable nest boxes in the Spring. We make our waterers from food grade buckets purchased at
Walmart. The bicycle hooks for hanging, also
Walmart. And the chicken nipples you can get dirt cheap on
eBay. The only problem we have encountered is some chickens like to lay on the cross bar and I constantly have to scrub droppings off the water bucket lid but we have figured out how to solve this.
Sorry for the long post but we have had birds for several years now and have learned from our mistakes and always like to offer suggestions from what we have learned.
Oh, and a word on food. I ferment a 5 grain scratch along with 20% layer pellets. Our birds lay ginormous eggs ...seem to have less droppings and there is less food waste. Google fermented food....the benefits are worth it IMO. Also..... recycle any bit of food from your pantry and refrigerator. Fruits/vegetables starting to turn ..leftovers etc. Just try to stay away from processed foods and things that have sugars and salt. I actually contacted a local church that runs a food bank and twice a week I get all the food that is going into the trash. This particular organization is rather large and supplies other food banks in the area. They have contracts with local grocery stores along with Target and Panera... so they have to pick up food every single day or they lose their contract. I literally can come home with 10-12 banana boxes full of food and I will say 90% is fit for human consumption. It's disgusting how much food this country throws away. I keep some for us and pay it forward to a few other people. I generally don't like to use a lot of bread but if I do it is always be organic multigrain and I always pre-soak it. I tried shopping up pieces of food and everyone fought over it so now I process everything in a little food processor and although it does take a little time my birds don't waste a thing. I am feeding a lot of birds but if you only have a few this is a breeze. I mix everything together.. fruits vegetables yogurt grain bread and fermented feed. My chickens ducks and even peacocks and geese devour it. It has cut my food bill down less than half and I actually see an improvement in production, feathers, etc. When I lived in Maryland I just went to Giant and Food Lion and asked the produce manager if I could have all the cut greens and fruit that were not good enough for them to sell. I would get a box or two with no trouble but since moving to Virginia last year I was unable to get anyone to work with me.... until I got the hook up with the food bank. It doesn't hurt to ask and I encourage everyone to recycle as much as they can.
A few pics of one of the grow out pens and my bird's food
