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Welcome to BYC I saw you mentioned you are from MI, but will never remember that in the future. If you would please edit your account settings->personal details-> then location information that will help the community in the future to assist you. I for one would be giving you generally horrid and inappropriate answers for location specific questions living in a near tropical clime. We have multiple experts from MI @aart comes to mind. I know I am forgetting so many others here, but man she can build things way under budget and is a real DIY'er. Since you are still in the window shopping phase of your chickeeneering adventure I will offer you the pickachick data sheet from the Livestock Conservancy, this is by no means a complete or definative list of all that is available to you. Best wishes!
 

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RHiveley said:
Hello everyone!! My boyfriend and I are new to chickens. We have decided we want our own fresh eggs daily (as well as wanting to start a vegetable garden at some point as well...one thing at a time!!) So we've decided on having some backyard chickens! We have about 2 acres so we have the room for it. We haven't started a single thing yet - just now looking into chicken coops- do we build or buy one? How big should we do - thinking about starting out with 3 chickens already laying eggs, and 2 baby chicks...I'd like to have the room for at least 10 as I'm sure I will want to grow lol. Not sure which breed to go with or anything. Haha so basically we are BRAND NEW to all of this and any suggestions we could get would be so very appreciated! At least as far as getting started, chicken coop suggestions and breed suggestions. I look forward to sharing our story with you all and can't wait to read all of yours!!
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I wanted to take a moment to address one of your questions "just now looking into chicken coops- do we build or buy one?" to this I would always suggest the Build one option. If you want to buy one then buy one rated for 12 birds and that should house the 5 you are planning on getting, but leave no room for expansion or future planning to expand. So this community of enablers will always be supportive of your should I get more ideas we won't offer restraint if you have the housing issues covered. Usually you can get a 12 bird rated coop for 500-700 dollars but it will never be right enough I suspect for the Michigan Climate. At the top of this page if you click on the Articles Button, there is a direct link to our Member's Coop builds. For $5-700 you can build an incredible coop and do it right!
 
N F C said:
:welcome

Hello (again!), glad to see you started your own intro thread :)

Here's the Learning Center link again...that will help you figure a lot of things out:
learning-center.11

As far as the coop and run go, if you're going to raise standard size chickens, you'll need at least 4 sq. feet per bird for the coop and 10 sq. feet per bird for the run. If you're going to raise bantams, you can build slightly smaller. The size of the coop and run can also be affected by where you live...with you being in MI and having cold winters, you may want to build larger as your birds could possibly stay inside more during cold weather.

You could chat with other members on the state thread to see if they have tips specific for your area:Michigan

Best of luck to you, it's nice to have you here!
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Thank you so much!! I am still learning to navigate this site - hadn't realized there was a Michigan forum - awesome!
 
People also make some great coops out of re-purposed materials. Sometimes appliance stores have huge wooden crates they want to be rid of. Also used pallets for the taking.
Re-home stores are a good source for cheap windows & doors, etc.

Folks have also made coops out of garden sheds, or unused horse stalls in their barns, Large used dog houses. Your Craig's list may have free dog runs, coops because people don't want chickens anymore, sometimes they even give them away with their flock.
 
G’Day from down under RHiveley :frow Welcome!

You might be interested in downloading this free e-book My First Year With Chickens and checking out this great article: How Much Room Do Chickens Need

I do hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

BYC has Topic of the Week discussions which I have found to be a great resource, informative and sometimes entertaining; so definitely worth checking out.

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock when they arrive, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out ;)

Best wishes and good luck!
 

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