Need Experienced Opinions, Please!

[Whitewater]

Ok, so, now that the laws in my city have been clarified and the process has become less jump-through-hoops (still a lot of hoops!), I've re-opened the chicken question, as in, should self and husband become the owners of chickens in our backyard?

I need some help from people who have chickens, though. My only experience with chickens was waaay back when I was a kid earning pin money and I used to babysit for a woman who worked wierd night hours as a nurse. They had a lot of chickens (12, maybe 15?) in what I thought was an awfully small space, and the chickens were mean little buggers. All of them bit and scratched and chased me around, and I had to go into their pen to find the eggs every morning before I left the woman's house. I didn't have to feed them or anything (thank goodness!), just collect their eggs and make sure that they weren't hurt.

I have been studying up on chickens for a while now, and have been reading a lot of threads here, and I have some questions.

1) We live in a 1600ish (probably closer to 1650 or 1700) sq. foot home on .13 acres. Our property is pretty much a typical rectangle, with the front yard and the house taking up the 1st 2/3rds. The back yard is fenced with a 4' fence, which can and does shrink to a 3" fence in the winter due to snow. We need room for our two Standard Poodles to run around back there as well. My solution to this was to get a coop for the birds, then fence an area around it, so that the coop would be in the middle, or something like that. Also netting on top, since we have raccoons, hawks, and eagles. Oh yeah, and the backyard is southern, entirely, and totally without shade. We're working on that, but it's not going to be a quick fix.

2) We don't want roosters (we have to get permission from our neighbors and roosters just aren't an option, I'm afraid) and since there's just the two of us, 3 hens is probably a good #. Any more chickens than 3 and the yearly permit fee jumps sharply. How much room do 3 hens need?

3) Winter. We live in Central Minnesota, an area notorious for its harsh winters. We routinely go well below zero and *always* have wind because we're on the prairie. How do we keep our chickens not only alive but happy and thriving in this sort of weather? Humans still die every winter here in the metro. . . we don't want our chickens to suffer.

4) We also have two dogs. 2 Standard Poodles, one approaching 40 lbs and one approaching 50 lbs. They are both 'birdy' and the smaller one is in the beginning stages of tracking training. How do we keep them from, er, complicating things?

5) For 3 hens, what size coop do we need? And can somebody who has absolutely no building experience at all make a coop? A good one? Oh yeah, and how do we clean it and will the city take our chicken poop, what we don't compost? One more thing . . . it's rare that we're home at dusk, what do we do about getting the chickens back in their coops? Do those automatic door things really work?

6) What kind of hens should we get? I absolutely refuse to hatch eggs or have teeny brand-new chicks. We have a cat. There is a feral cat who lives behind our house and loves to snack on songbirds. And the two dogs, and a cold basement . . . yeah, chicks/eggs aren't an option. We don't have a feed supply store within a decent driving distance (that I know of) . . . 30mins one way . . .to buy young chickens. Am I limited to Craigslist? I am willing to drive a fair distance (2 hours one way) if necessary to get good chickens, but is that good *for* the chickens? What's the best way to find young hens locally?

7) And speaking of no feed stores, where do I get food for the birds? And how much will it cost?


Help! I still don't know whether getting chickens is the right thing for hubby and I, and I have absolutely no clue about what kind of chickens to get, even. I know that I'd prefer friendly, very quiet, dependable egg layers who don't mind living 90% of the time in their pen (whether in or out of their coop, I'd like to give them that option) and who have some aesthetic appeal . . .but there are so many different kinds of chickens out there, I dunno. Hubby is no help, he jokingly said that we ought to have black hens to go with our black dogs

The only thing he knows is that he wants brown eggs. I personally love the . . . Silkies? The ones with the fluffy pom-poms on their heads? Look like Muppets? They make me laugh, they're cute. But maybe they're too delicate for our climate.

I'd love to hear your opinions on what we should do, or even if you think we're not ready. But please, don't just say 'Don't do it' or 'You want X chicken' -- please say *why* you think that way. We'd really appreciate it.

Thanks much!

 

[Opa]

I would suggest that you build a chicken ark. I currently have several coops and a tractor but I intend to build one myself, since the design lends to the keeping of a small flock, 3 or 4 hens in a small secure area, for a trio of breeding birds. Most arks are based on an A-frame but rather than having the top come to a point the one I will build will have a flat top about 12" wide. What I like about the ark is that the roost and nest area are located in the top and the area below becomes your run. Mine will have a 5'x5' footprint and with your particular needs and specifications I think a similar one would work well.

 

[natrgatr]

Most people recommend 4 sq ft of coop and 10 sq ft of outside run per bird. Many of the small coop designs on the coop pages would work well for you. You could make a totally enclosed run and not have to worry about whether you get home right at sunset since they will still be protected, so save the expense of the auto door. You can also set it up where you can collect eggs and feed and water them from outside the coop/run. Also remember, the space under a raised coop counts as run space if it is enclosed also, so your run footprint can be really small in your yard.

Food here is from $7 to $12 for 50#, and it will last a long time for 3 hens. In winter, you will need to get a heated waterer, or be willing to check the water at least 2 to 3 times a day. Here in NE Indiana, my flock did well in winter (-15) with only a little comb frostbite on the roosters. If you insulate the little coop, it will probably stay pretty cozy between the hen's body temp and the heated water dish. Just make sure you leave enough ventilation to get rid of excess moisture in winter.

As far as the dogs go....if the hens have an enclosed run, they will be safe. You can also try the Dog Whisperer's (?) technique of holding the chicken in your arms while your dog is at SIT/STAY in front of you to show the dog that it is YOUR chicken. Any time the dog gives the chicken that "you are my lunch" look, give the dog a hiss/alarm sound to let him know it is not okay. After a few minutes, the dog will get that the chicken is not to be messed with. You will need to repeat the training until you are absolutely comfortable with the dog before letting the hens roam the yard under VERY close supervision. Eventually, you will feel more comfortable letting them free range more. This worked really well with my dog who had already killed TWO of my hens. I am now very comfortable letting my flock free range with the dog around.

Good Luck and have fun!!

 

[Anny]

A normal rule of thumb is that for each bird you need 4 square feet inside of the coop and 10 outside of the coop.
That is a min. amount of space and more is always better. I made my coop double what I wanted so that the hens would have more room, and I would have to clean it less often. (I also ended up adding a few more hens then I though I would...they are addicting.)

I have a husky mix dog who thing "if it moves I must eat it" the way I keep her from the chicken is she is simple not allowed in the area of the yard with out some one with her. And generally we just don't let her go to that area at all. Since all she does is stare at the chickens and freak them out.

3 hens should be easy to care for. They are very easy to care for, and require very little of your time everyday.

I build my own coop and I had NO idea what I was doing, so If I can do it I believe anyone can do it

Some people prefer moveable coops, I personaly had to made a coop that couldn't be moved around since I Hav a small yard, and I'm a small person so moving a large coop would be hard for me. I love my coop.

Good luck!

 

[patandchickens]

For 3 chickens, in Minnesota (an important factor), I would suggest a coop of 4x8 with a run that is at least 4x12, the coop being over top of 4x8 of that (does that make sense? so there is at least 4x4 of run that sticks out beyond the footprint of the coop?).

The reason for the larger-than-minimal coop is twofold. First, your chickens are often not going to want to go outdoors, even with the run semi-protected; and second and more important, it is awfully difficult to adequately ventilate a tiny coop in very cold winter areas, and the larger area will a) decrease your ventilation needs somewhat, and b) make it much easier to ventilate in a way that does not cause drafts on the chickens.

I would strongly recommend AGAINST one of the A-frame type "arks", as they are extremely difficult (I would say, honestly pretty near impossible) to keep good air quality inside during very cold winters without also freezing your birds, and they offer so little indoor floorspace for chickens to use on those boring snowy days.

I would suggest building it VERY STRONGLY AND SECURELY so that if dogs should challenge the coop or if you should be late in getting home to lock them up, you can have a reasonable expectation of the chickens being safe. This is quite doable for such a small coop and run. As far as the dogs, the ideal solution would be to erect a solid fence around the area where the chicken coop will be located, so the dogs cannot see the chickens and the chickens cannot see the dogs (b/c even if the dogs can't break into the coop to physically harm the chickens, having barking dogs running at 'em all the time will overstress the chickens. If there is a "chicken privacy fence", with walking room between it and the coop/run walls, this will not happen much).

As far as disposing of chicken poo, if you manage things smartly there will not be all that much to get rid of, and if you don't wnat to compost it I am certain you can just sneak it into your regular garbage with no trouble at all.

Good luck, have fun, for sure get yourself some chickens!

,

Pat