Need Advice! New to Chickens!

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the_Bear_Den_5 said:
Hi!!! We are about to get some chickens at our new house!! I need all the recommendations we are thinking about getting 5-6 chickens. I need breed suggestions? list of good things to buy? size of coop? Anything else!!
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What are you looking for from your flock? Just eggs? Do you plan to raise and breed chicks to sell? Pretty eggs? Pretty chickens? Pets, livestock or somewhere inbetween?
 
Hiya, and welcome to BYC! :frow

We definitely would need to know more about what you want from your chickens as there are meat chickens, both meat and egg chickens, pet chickens with bonus eggs, etc., plus some do better in colder weather, hotter weather, etc.

One rule of thumb no matter what: A coop should have 4 square feet of ground space for every chicken, and a run 15 square feet per bird unless they are a bantam breed or silkies. Following this keeps them happier and healthier.

Here's our Learning Center with tons of articles about raising chicks and chickens. Here's our Coop Forum with all kinds of coops our members built, and some have instructions even.
 
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
Try to build a coop and not buy a prefab one. The easiest thing to do is to convert an old wood shed into a coop. You want to shoot for 4 sq ft of floor space per bird, one linear foot of roost space per bird and as close as you can manage to one sq ft of permanently open and predator-proofed ventilation per bird in the coop. With only 5-6 birds you should only need two nest boxes for them. Nest boxes should be placed below roost height to prevent them from sleeping in the nest boxes and soiling the litter.

I strongly recommend a walk-in coop with poop boards under the roost. It makes it so easy to keep things clean that way. You will also want to have a predator proof run, preferably attached to your coop and it should also have a pitched solid roof on it to keep the run dry. The run should provide an additional 12 to 15 square feet of space for the birds and you should have an organic substrate on the ground for them to scratch around in and to cold compost the poop load. Adding old wood chairs, stools, a bunch of stumps, and attaching branches for perching on in the run is also excellent enrichment. A predator apron extended approximately 2 ft around your entire setup will prevent predators from digging in.

Do not use chicken wire! All coverings and the run walls should be 1/2" hardware cloth.
 
If you are getting baby chicks you will also need a brooder, chick crumbles, bedding, a water dish they can’t drown in or get wet in and a heat source. I strongly recommend a brooder plate instead of the red heat lamp contraption we all used (still gives me nightmares about burns and fire)
@Debbie292d already supplied some links. You’ll find a lot of useful info there, post questions in the forums as they arise.
And of course…. Post pictures when you get them ;)
 
Greetings & Salutations. Welcome.

Wonderful to learn before you get chickens. As others have written, some chicken do better in cold cold weather than others, the same with hot weather. Unless you have ordinances where you live, plan on a larger coop than for 6. Chicken math will take hold. If one dies (hopefully not), they don't lay as many eggs after 3 years, etc, you will think, hey, we'll get 4-6 more chicks...where will you house them if you buy/build a coop for 6-8?

You want 6, build for at least 12. We began with 7 in a coop 8' L x 4.5'W x 8'T. As the flock had No drama, it does work for 10/11 as they free range from dawn to dusk. Just going into the second year, my husband needed to build us/me another coop. Think ahead of what you want from the chickens and what if you get more, build bigger.
@DobieLover is correct, you can sometimes find a used shed or coop that you can buy and adjust for the chickens. If it's used, clean and sanitize before chickens.
Sorry to have written so much. Enjoy your future flock!

This is a wonderful site on which to Learn and enjoy.
We are pleased to have you in the community.
 
Good for you, doing research and joining this community BEFORE you bring home chicks! My family had chickens when I was growing up, and I guess I didn't pay enough attention because I've certainly learned Much More since I became a BYC member.

BYC offers great online information and plenty of it. But, as someone who's pretty Old School, I still enjoy books. One that I've found useful is Gail Damerow's "Hatching and Brooding Your Own Chicks," from Storey publishing, which specializes in homesteading books. Damerow covers details on acquiring chicks, setting up a brooder, what and how to feed and provide water, and what to expect as they grow.

Most prefab coops are far from ideal. However, some can be improved with a few modifications that don't require a lot of construction skill. But, the majority of prefabs will overestimate the number of chickens that can Happily live within them. I bought one in an emergency that said it could hold 5-6 birds. Maybe, if they stood on top of each other! Fortunately, I only needed to house two.

Whatever you do, don't believe that chicken wire protects poultry. It's designed to keep them in, not to keep predators out!

If you've waded through this lengthy post, congrats on your patience and welcome to BYC! Let us know when you get your chicks, please!
 

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