New Chicken Mama Here!

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Pamela23

In the Brooder
Apr 5, 2022
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Hi Everyone,

I'm a new chicken mama! We bought a 5 acre farmette last spring with plans to get chickens this spring. We are AG zoned, surrounded by corn fields with barns on the property, the nearest neighbor is approx 1/4 mile away, and all neighbors have livestock ranging from horses, cattle, ducks, geese, goats, and someone has chickens somewhere because I can occasionally hear a rooster crow during the summer. I included that information because when I introduced myself on a FB chicken group looking for some starter information all the comments were about "make sure you're allowed to have chickens" "make sure roosters are allowed" etc. We're allowed. :)

Anyway, we got chicks 4 weeks ago at our local Farm & Fleet and they are doing wonderfully! Growing like crazy and no health issues. We got 8 chicks, hoping for 7 hens and a rooster. It looks like we will have 2 roosters. I'll be posting a question about that and more when I locate the appropriate forum(s).

Attached are 2 photos, one from day one and one from today.

I've done a fair amount of online research and purchased a good book for beginners but I have questions and I'm looking forward to learning a lot here and e-meeting you all! :)
 

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Kiki said:
Welcome!
Have you started building your coop yet?
Click to expand...
Hi! We purchased a coop kit from Farm & Fleet when we bought the chicks. The coop is built but we still need to build a run. When discussing getting chickens we decided to go with a coop kit to see how we do with them and if chicken keeping is for us. (News flash - I already love them!) Then we'll build them a Taj Ma Hal. LOL! I don't expect this coop to last more than 2 years. It's functional but temporary. My husband is planning on placing the entire coop inside the run and elevating it.

This is the coop we bought. There are 6 nesting boxes, 3 roosts, and 2 doors. It's small, I don't love it but it will do the job until next summer. My husband suggested removing the nesting boxes from one side to provide more floor space. Thoughts?

The only floor space is the narrow walkway between the two sides containing 3 nesting boxes each.


1649209012024.png
 
Pamela23 said:
Hi! We purchased a coop kit from Farm & Fleet when we bought the chicks. The coop is built but we still need to build a run. When discussing getting chickens we decided to go with a coop kit to see how we do with them and if chicken keeping is for us. (News flash - I already love them!) Then we'll build them a Taj Ma Hal. LOL! I don't expect this coop to last more than 2 years. It's functional but temporary. My husband is planning on placing the entire coop inside the run and elevating it.

This is the coop we bought. There are 6 nesting boxes, 3 roosts, and 2 doors. It's small, I don't love it but it will do the job until next summer. My husband suggested removing the nesting boxes from one side to provide more floor space. Thoughts?

The only floor space is the narrow walkway between the two sides containing 3 nesting boxes each.


View attachment 3051389
Click to expand...
How much floor space is there right now?
I don't see how it would be possible to fit eight birds in there.
Also having only eight birds you will only need one nest box.
 
Pamela23 said:
Hi! We purchased a coop kit from Farm & Fleet when we bought the chicks. The coop is built but we still need to build a run. When discussing getting chickens we decided to go with a coop kit to see how we do with them and if chicken keeping is for us. (News flash - I already love them!) Then we'll build them a Taj Ma Hal. LOL! I don't expect this coop to last more than 2 years. It's functional but temporary. My husband is planning on placing the entire coop inside the run and elevating it.

This is the coop we bought. There are 6 nesting boxes, 3 roosts, and 2 doors. It's small, I don't love it but it will do the job until next summer. My husband suggested removing the nesting boxes from one side to provide more floor space. Thoughts?

The only floor space is the narrow walkway between the two sides containing 3 nesting boxes each.


View attachment 3051389
Click to expand...
I STRONGLY advise against pre-fabs. They're the scourge of the chicken newbie world. No way 8 hens will fit in there.
 
Welcome to BYC!
I agree with everyone else. You cannot possibly fit 8 grown chickens in there. I hope you can return it.
You can find a lot of coops built cheaply here on byc. Check into converted dog kennel coops, hoop coops, and recycled pallet coops.
Good luck!
 

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