Mothers day gift

[gavinp]

Hello all, I am new here and new to chickens. Actually we don't have any chickens yet, but for my wife mothers day gift I started building her a new coop. Thanks to some reading and pictures here I was able to get what I needed. I should finish it up this weekend. I have read lots of valuable info here and will do my best not to ask too many dumb questions.
We are going to start out with 3 or 4 chickens probably Bantams. The coop is small and we live in city limits so we can only have 5 chickens. I am planning on using the deep litter method. We live on the coast in California so it never freezes or gets cold enough to require any kind of heat source. I will also be using the wire cloth, rather than the chicken wire. The salt air around here rusts that stuff in no time. Also we have lots of predators here live racoons and foxes.

 

[Josie]

Well someone knows how to celebrate Mothers Day! Tat looks like it is going to be a beautiful coop!

You might want to use the search feature to check out raccoons. I have never had to deal with them, but from what I have read they are super evil geniuses when it comes to getting your birds, and have super raccoon strength when they see chickens.

 

[Dawn419]

Hello and Welcome to BYC!

I love the coop that you're building for your wife/family.

Skip and I raise Bantams and we love them. I always get upset when people put Banties down because they think their eggs are "good for nothing" as they are just as good as standard breeds eggs, just smaller (in recipes, we use 2 Banty eggs to equal 1 regular egg, 3 if the recipe calls for larger/jumbo eggs).

We have no children so their eggs are perfect for just the two of us, plus the Banty eggs are most excellent for baking because they are mostly yolk and very rich. Plus it's funny to watch people's expression when we tell them we had a dozen eggs for dinner (we feed any of the left-over eggs right back to the flock).

Just ask away, if you have any questions!

Dawn

 

[Stonebriar Farm]

I think that is a lovely Mother's Day gift!

I love bantam eggs - I use the chart in Joy of Cooking to measure the equivalent small eggs to make a large one.

I was surprised when I got my Grandmother's recipe for angel food cake, it called for one cup egg whites. When I asked my Mother why she told me that Grandma always used turkey eggs for baking and goose fat for cookies.

 

[Stumpy]

I think it's gorgeous. You've done a great job. That was good advice about reading up on predators.

 

[AtRendeAcres]

Great Mother's Day Present!!!!

We have lots of bantams they are so sweet!


If you are only going to have 4 you might want to order 6 (as they are not sexed) I have used freecyle for extra roos!

In case you wanted to know Rhode Island Reds & Buff Orpington lay the bigger bantam eggs!

If you are ordering them http://www.idealpoultry.com/ does small orders & they have both those breeds if you are interested!

Enjoy!

 

[gavinp]

We haven't decided on which birds to get, and I do appreciate and welcome the advice. I know you can order your chicks online, which seems really strange to me. We live next to lots of rural areas which have plenty of feed stores that carry chickens. We were thinking we would like to start out with some grown birds to start. My kids are really excited about the egg prospects, and I wouldn't want to subject tiny chicks to my 3 year old. There is a lady around here that sells birds that are just under a year old. Any advice on where to get older birds and what age to get them at would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[sundance]

It's a beautiful coop and I know all of you will enjoy it very much.BUT---------BE WARNED!!!!!!!!! this web site is very addicting. You will be surprised as to how much you can let go just to be here reading .

marrie

 

[Guitartists]

Fantastic!!!!

 

[HickChick Wannabe]

Fantastic Mother's Day gift! That's mine, as well, though it will be a bit late for the holiday

That's a good warning from Sundance, too!