DaynaW
In the Brooder
Hi everyone!
My name is Dayna and I'll be raising my flock in the eastern part of Washington State. I was recently furloughed from a wonderful company for 90 days and instead of being down about it I decided to make the most of the situation. I've wanted to raise chickens for quite some time now, but was worried about cost and predator proofing the coop as we have large dogs who I am not sure will be chicken friendly. Though they were just fine around our surprise chicken visitor, but more on him in a second.
I'm purchasing my first flock from McMurray Hatchery, and I'm really excited! I have 15 chicks coming in August (the first available date for the breeds I wanted) which should give me plenty of time to get my coop up and ready. I'm getting 7 Americanas from them: 1 rooster, 6 hens; 3 Whiting True Blue Females, 3 Whiting True Green Females, and 2 Speckled Sussex Females. I know I didn't necessarily need the rooster, but I wanted to have the ability to breed my own chicks next year. I was surprised to see that there is such a run on chicks this year, though I suppose it makes sense since everyone is home at the moment to take care of them.
I'm going to be building an 8x12ft coop with a 12x20ft-ish run. Still trying to decide it I want an A-line roof or slanted one at the moment. So if you have any input on that topic please let me know! I plan to document my coop building experience as I go along. Hopefully it will help others out the way a lot of your threads have helped me out as I've looked for ideas and information on what to do (as well as what not to do). I'll start a thread for that here in a bit.
As I've worked through coop plans, and chicken research this week I've been getting steadily more enthused! I just bought all the wire needed to set up my run and cover any windows I might make in my coop. I plan to place 4 ft 1/4 in 23 gauge hardware cloth around the bottom of my run, with 4 ft 1 in 20 gauge wire around the top half as well as over the top of the run. Then I'm placing 2 ft 1/4 in 23 gauge wire around the entirety of the coop on the ground. Our area is notorious for ground squirrels as well as coyotes so I wanted to go with the stronger stuff for better protection. The hardware cloth realllllly costs a pretty penny. So I'm going to have to be careful with what I buy for my actual coop so that I can stay within my $1,000 budget.
What's really funny about all of this is that, as I've prepped to start dismantling our old dog pen area to make room for a chicken coop, a surprise chicken visitor magically appeared! He showed up on Wednesday night, roosting on this old yard ornamental bridge. Totally threw me and my mother for a loop! His temporary name is Odin, and he doesn't belong to our next door neighbors. But we think he may belong to some neighbors across a pasture from us. We took his sudden appearance as proof that we are obviously supposed to get chickens now. Especially since this has never happened in the past
I've got water and some kitchen scraps out for him at the moment so that he can stay hydrated before (hopefully) heading home. Hes quite docile, and doesn't seem aggressive at all. So I know someone has worked with him.... I hope he figures out how to get home soon.
If anyone has tips or tricks for coop building, or how to get Odin to go home, I'd be happy to hear them! Looking forward to learning and growing with everyone here!
My name is Dayna and I'll be raising my flock in the eastern part of Washington State. I was recently furloughed from a wonderful company for 90 days and instead of being down about it I decided to make the most of the situation. I've wanted to raise chickens for quite some time now, but was worried about cost and predator proofing the coop as we have large dogs who I am not sure will be chicken friendly. Though they were just fine around our surprise chicken visitor, but more on him in a second.
I'm purchasing my first flock from McMurray Hatchery, and I'm really excited! I have 15 chicks coming in August (the first available date for the breeds I wanted) which should give me plenty of time to get my coop up and ready. I'm getting 7 Americanas from them: 1 rooster, 6 hens; 3 Whiting True Blue Females, 3 Whiting True Green Females, and 2 Speckled Sussex Females. I know I didn't necessarily need the rooster, but I wanted to have the ability to breed my own chicks next year. I was surprised to see that there is such a run on chicks this year, though I suppose it makes sense since everyone is home at the moment to take care of them.
I'm going to be building an 8x12ft coop with a 12x20ft-ish run. Still trying to decide it I want an A-line roof or slanted one at the moment. So if you have any input on that topic please let me know! I plan to document my coop building experience as I go along. Hopefully it will help others out the way a lot of your threads have helped me out as I've looked for ideas and information on what to do (as well as what not to do). I'll start a thread for that here in a bit.
As I've worked through coop plans, and chicken research this week I've been getting steadily more enthused! I just bought all the wire needed to set up my run and cover any windows I might make in my coop. I plan to place 4 ft 1/4 in 23 gauge hardware cloth around the bottom of my run, with 4 ft 1 in 20 gauge wire around the top half as well as over the top of the run. Then I'm placing 2 ft 1/4 in 23 gauge wire around the entirety of the coop on the ground. Our area is notorious for ground squirrels as well as coyotes so I wanted to go with the stronger stuff for better protection. The hardware cloth realllllly costs a pretty penny. So I'm going to have to be careful with what I buy for my actual coop so that I can stay within my $1,000 budget.
What's really funny about all of this is that, as I've prepped to start dismantling our old dog pen area to make room for a chicken coop, a surprise chicken visitor magically appeared! He showed up on Wednesday night, roosting on this old yard ornamental bridge. Totally threw me and my mother for a loop! His temporary name is Odin, and he doesn't belong to our next door neighbors. But we think he may belong to some neighbors across a pasture from us. We took his sudden appearance as proof that we are obviously supposed to get chickens now. Especially since this has never happened in the past
I've got water and some kitchen scraps out for him at the moment so that he can stay hydrated before (hopefully) heading home. Hes quite docile, and doesn't seem aggressive at all. So I know someone has worked with him.... I hope he figures out how to get home soon.If anyone has tips or tricks for coop building, or how to get Odin to go home, I'd be happy to hear them! Looking forward to learning and growing with everyone here!
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