I am a new member and glad to be onboard. I bought my little peeps 3 months ago and I have never raised chickens before. As a child, my parents had a few chickens. I have always wanted to have fresh eggs and enjoy the antics of my new feathered friends, so I purchased a few biddies than range in size with one large rooster. My husband had an old dog pen (hunting dogs that he had years ago) and we have somewhat converted it for the time being, but I want something that is more accessible and easier to clean for me and my peeps. I have quite a few questions, but I will start slowly. 1. Is there a way to tell male from female at a young age? I now have 6 roosters and 7 hens. 2. Is there a place where I can get detailed plans for a coop? 3. What is the material in the bottom of the pen, dirt, sand, concrete, wire, or wood? Thanks so very much for your inputs. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I want to make my fine feathered family happy. This website is wonderful.
Chickens will not care what their home looks like so long as their requirements are met. It can be a shanty shack or a replica of the Taj Mahal. As long as it has good ventilation, draft free and protects them from predators.....the choice is up to you. Keep in mind where you live and how much access do you want them to have to your property. I would keep ease of cleaning in mind. I like to open the coops up and spray them out and repaint them every year so. I want access. Some people build really cute coops but end up having to get into odd poses to clean them. I have a catawabe convert coop which at first I loved but was a pain to get chicks in the tractor below when they first did not know how to put themselves to bed at night. I would belly down climb into the tractor to get them. IT was not pleasant. It reminded me of boot camp crawling under wires in the mud. My fav coop is the pallet coop I am building another soon and making it even more accessable. I purchased the plans online from my pet chicken. Check out the coop pages on the forum tab up on the top. A bunch of people show pictures of coops in progress and what I really love is at the bottom the ....IF I had to do it over .....and what they would do to make it better. Figure out what you want and what suits you best and have at it! PS post your coop in progress and put up a page because we all want to see what you are doing and cheer you on or offer advice if you need it. As for medium for the runs. Depends on you and the budget but I know people who use leaves or pine needles. I prefer sand. Caroline
Welcome to BYC Glad you joined us! Good points above. Check out the Coops page for designs and ideas.
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan The coops section has lots of good examples and answers to your questions. Some chickens of autosexing breeds, or sex-link crosses, can be sexed at the time of hatching.
Welcome to BYC! I would also check out the Learning Center, lots of great info! https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
Hello and Welcome to BYC. X 5 on the Coops section of BYC being a great resource. For chicks that can be pretty much 100% sexed at hatch you are best off with Red or Black Sex Links from a commercial hatchery. If you get chicks (of any breed) directly from a commercial hatchery they guarantee 90% accuracy on sexing and most do much better than that. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/250190/anyone-use-sand-in-the-run-coop/310 is a long running thread on what people are using in their runs.
the ratio is generally one rooster to 10 hens if you want to have (fertile) eggs for hatching. You don't need a rooster for a hen to produce eggs. Too many roosters will overbreed the hens badly and cause them harm or even death.
Thank you all for your input. I love having my chickens and I do want the convenience of cleaning the coop often. My ideal coop will have wiring under the roost with a metal pull out pan below the wiring for cleaning. We have a makeshift coop at this time and will be doing the upgrades and laying boxes this week. I live in Louisiana, so the weather here is nice. Hot and humid in the summer and very seldom do we ever have temps below 30 in the winter. I will have lighting for heat in winter and plenty of windows for ventilation in the summer. We have battery operated fans that my husband uses when he is in the Atchafalaya Basin crawfishing. BTW watch "Swamp Pawn" on CMT coming up in November, my husband is on the shows that will air around Jan-Feb for the alligator hunting episodes. Enjoy! Hope to use some of the poop for my garden. Will have to research how much and how often to use in my garden. All of this is still in the planning stage. I will be separating all my roosters. Its gonna be tough to decide which ones to keep and which ones will have to relocate (as a Gumbo or give to new home). They have almost gotten to that age of breeding, so I will have to make my choices soon. I bought my little ones from a neighbor who only has Bantams. These are Japanese Bantams and have a lot of personality. I have really enjoyed these past 3 months watching them grow and reading all about the care and their housing. Again thanks to all.
Thank you. I will eventually have enough hens and I will end up with a rooster or two in the gumbo pot or give to a new home.
