Michigan Chicken Newbie

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Joining BYC before you get your chicks is great; wish I'd done it that way BEFORE I made some avoidable mistakes.

Sounds like you've done some good research (now, pull yourself out of that tizzy!), because you are starting with two great breeds. Let us know when those babies arrive, and be prepared to fall in love with the little fuzz balls.

Welcome to BYC; we're glad to have you in our flock!
 
Callender Girl said:
Joining BYC before you get your chicks is great; wish I'd done it that way BEFORE I made some avoidable mistakes.

Sounds like you've done some good research (now, pull yourself out of that tizzy!), because you are starting with two great breeds. Let us know when those babies arrive, and be prepared to fall in love with the little fuzz balls.

Welcome to BYC; we're glad to have you in our flock!
Click to expand...
Thanks so much! Everyone is so kind and welcoming here (a nice reprieve from most social media platforms). I've spent so many hours online and bought WAY too many chicken books (and it seems like there's SO much conflicting info about every topic) - I think I'm on information overdrive. :eek: I don't know anyone else who has chickens so I'm really just learning from reading through the threads here (as well as well-known chicken people with an online presence like The Chicken Chick and The Featherbrain...and Gale Damerow's books!)

P.S. It looks like I have the same coop as you (based on your profile pic) - the LG Over EZ....we just received ours yesterday, but haven't constructed it yet. How are you liking yours? Did you have to add extra ventilation?

Thanks again for the warm welcome! :love
 
By and large, this is a pretty kind group. Once in a while, you might come across a bad egg -- pun intended -- but they are a Very Few among us.

The more you read and the more you know, the more skilled you will be at figuring out what works best for you. There is almost always more than one right way to do things; sometimes, it's just personal preference and what works for your situation.

There are some folks who love the OVER EZ (me! me! me!) and others who aren't so fond of it. It does have pro's and con's, but I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

It is incredibly sturdy; a few years ago, a derecho's winds ripped through my property and brought half of a mature maple tree on top of my coop. The worst of the damage was a bit of dented roof.

The coop also tipped over a bit, and landed on the adjacent coop. The sturdy EZ kept all the birds safe and uninjured. The tipping was likely because the EZ had been put on some bricks to keep the bottom frame from touching the ground and potentially rotting. After that, I added a row of concrete stepping stones under the roosts to help balance out the weight of the nest boxes on the other side. Others have pointed out that I should have used ground anchors. True.

I love the exterior nest boxes and wish all of my coops (don't ask how many) had them.

Also, I don't worry about predators being able to get into the coop -- now that I have added some hardware cloth over the window openings. I was lucky to snag my coop, used, off Craigslist from someone who was expanding their flock.

Previous owners had screwed what looks like wire refrigerator shelves over the window openings. Closed, the windows are perfectly fine, but window screen is not going to stop a determined predator.

I kind of pried open the air vents at both ends of the coop; it really should have more ventilation. If I were more skilled at carpentry, I would just install larger vents. My solution is to prop open windows and add a makeshift plastic shield to direct the air so it doesn't blow directly on my birds.

Manufacturers almost always overestimate how many birds can live in their coops. I have had never had more than six full-sized girls in the EZ. There is clearly roosting space for far more birds. IF the birds were going to be outdoors for the vast majority of their lives, you might be able to crowd in one or two more, tops, in my opinion.

One thing I've done to make clean up easier is to hang the smallest tarp I could find near the ceiling behind the top roost and under the front one -- like a poop hammock. Since the girls mostly poop at night while roosting, all I have to do is unhook the tarp and empty it in the compost pile -- way better than scraping poop off the floor!

Hope you stayed away through this Very Long response, and I hope it helps you!
 
Callender Girl said:
By and large, this is a pretty kind group. Once in a while, you might come across a bad egg -- pun intended -- but they are a Very Few among us.

The more you read and the more you know, the more skilled you will be at figuring out what works best for you. There is almost always more than one right way to do things; sometimes, it's just personal preference and what works for your situation.

There are some folks who love the OVER EZ (me! me! me!) and others who aren't so fond of it. It does have pro's and con's, but I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

It is incredibly sturdy; a few years ago, a derecho's winds ripped through my property and brought half of a mature maple tree on top of my coop. The worst of the damage was a bit of dented roof.

The coop also tipped over a bit, and landed on the adjacent coop. The sturdy EZ kept all the birds safe and uninjured. The tipping was likely because the EZ had been put on some bricks to keep the bottom frame from touching the ground and potentially rotting. After that, I added a row of concrete stepping stones under the roosts to help balance out the weight of the nest boxes on the other side. Others have pointed out that I should have used ground anchors. True.

I love the exterior nest boxes and wish all of my coops (don't ask how many) had them.

Also, I don't worry about predators being able to get into the coop -- now that I have added some hardware cloth over the window openings. I was lucky to snag my coop, used, off Craigslist from someone who was expanding their flock.

Previous owners had screwed what looks like wire refrigerator shelves over the window openings. Closed, the windows are perfectly fine, but window screen is not going to stop a determined predator.

I kind of pried open the air vents at both ends of the coop; it really should have more ventilation. If I were more skilled at carpentry, I would just install larger vents. My solution is to prop open windows and add a makeshift plastic shield to direct the air so it doesn't blow directly on my birds.

Manufacturers almost always overestimate how many birds can live in their coops. I have had never had more than six full-sized girls in the EZ. There is clearly roosting space for far more birds. IF the birds were going to be outdoors for the vast majority of their lives, you might be able to crowd in one or two more, tops, in my opinion.

One thing I've done to make clean up easier is to hang the smallest tarp I could find near the ceiling behind the top roost and under the front one -- like a poop hammock. Since the girls mostly poop at night while roosting, all I have to do is unhook the tarp and empty it in the compost pile -- way better than scraping poop off the floor!

Hope you stayed away through this Very Long response, and I hope it helps you!
Click to expand...

That was so helpful, thanks!

I am worried about the ventilation (especially during the Michigan winters), but my husband is reluctant to just start cutting holes in a $2000 coop, lol. I'm also a bit concerned about the space inside the coop. We're starting with 6 chicks, we also have a 10x20 covered run (for inclement weather), plus we live on 10 acres - we're planning to allow them to free range most of the time. BUT, I'm already pretty certain I'm going to want more 😬. I've read that if the hens are mostly free range, you can get away with a bit smaller coop, but I don't want to have to buy another one anytime soon (of course, the Over EZ website claims the large coop will house up to 15 chickens, but there's no way!)

Anyway, I'm taking in all I can in the coming weeks, before our chicks arrive, so that I can feel as prepared as possible when they start to grow out of their brooder, which I'm making out of an 8x8 camping tent in my spare bedroom (they'll start off in a cardboard box in the tent, but I know they grow super fast and I'm probably going to have to wait longer before transitioning them to the coop as it will be getting cold her in MI). So much to do, so little time!! It's already been quite an adventure and I don't even have the chicks yet. 🤣
 
I'm glad you found it useful.

I totally understand your husband's reluctance to cut up the coop. My girls have made it through several frigid Iowa winters -- and northern Iowa is famous for its flat land, coupled with endless winds -- successfully with my modifications.

I think you are going to be a great chicken mom; you're certainly better prepared than I was. I will look forward to hearing about your chicken adventures!
 

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