New here with random questions

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MoTappin

MoTappin

In the Brooder
10 Years
Feb 25, 2009
10
1
24
Utah
Hi all! DH and I have discovered that we can have up to 5 chickens (since we already have 1 dog and the limit is 6 pets) here in suburbia (Sandy, UT). We have been researching and are getting ready to get started.

I do have a few random questions if anyone can help!

1. I've read you can used shredded paper for baby chick bedding. Is this okay to do? For 5 chicks, how big/deep should the box be?
2. I've also read you can use low, heavy bowls for food and water for the babies (and have seen the instructions on making your own feeders/waterers for the coop). Will the bowls really work or do we need to get/make something else?
3. Would you change anything about this coop design? Is it big enough for 5? http://www.organicgardening.com/pdf/coop_plans.pdf
The only thing I can see it might be missing is a roost. Is a roost/perch better inside or outside? I'm also trying to decide where we would put the food and water in this design.
4. How long do hens REALLY lay? I've heard 2-4 years and into their teens. When will the production slow down?

Any input? I've enjoyed reading this forum. I've turned in to a chicken freak!
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Thanks in advance!
 
Welcome. You can use newspaper with paper towels the first few days. Chicks can't negotiate too deep of bedding the first week or so.

Chick waterers & feeders are really CHEAP. I wouldn't use anything they could possibly drown in. I also used small cans like from tuna for chick feeders. Again, CHEAP CHEAP.

Hens normally lay at full production for up to the first two years, then taper down. A lot depends of what breed, diet, etc as to how long they will lay well. Some breeds have higher production earlier on, some are more prone to go broody, some lay less but more consistently over a longer period of time. Individual hens will not necessarily fit the mold of their counterparts.
 
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I've also read you can use low, heavy bowls for food and water for the babies

We usually put the water in a corner and push the food dish next to it and the food dish we screw down to a short section of 2x4 so they don't tip it over.​
 
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MoTappin from Kansas and
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Greyhorse pretty well summed it up. I agree with the waterer. Get one so they don't drown. I put mine up on bricks to keep the shredded paper from getting into the water. What kind of chickies are you getting? Are you sure 5 is all you can get???? maybe sneak in a couple more. I won't tell.
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Welcome!

I have a sister in Cottonwood and one in Draper... also a SIL in Draper, 2 BILs in West Jordan.


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(They've got you surrounded)

1. I've read you can used shredded paper for baby chick bedding. Is this okay to do? For 5 chicks, how big/deep should the box be?

To start out it doesn't need to be that deep, but at 4 weeks they can jump pretty high and start using their wings! I use paper towels and pine shavings. I have heard that shredded paper can get real stinky quickly.

2. I've also read you can use low, heavy bowls for food and water for the babies (and have seen the instructions on making your own feeders/waterers for the coop). Will the bowls really work or do we need to get/make something else?

For the babies I get a waterer at a feed store and put marbles in it. I use bowls for juvies and adults for water.


3. Would you change anything about this coop design? Is it big enough for 5? http://www.organicgardening.com/pdf/coop_plans.pdf
The only thing I can see it might be missing is a roost. Is a roost/perch better inside or outside? I'm also trying to decide where we would put the food and water in this design.

Chickens like roosts and perches, Could you make it a little taller and add one?


4. How long do hens REALLY lay? I've heard 2-4 years and into their teens. When will the production slow down?

From what I gather laying drops off dramatically after 2 years.

I've got some that will be turning one in April...

At present, I'm getting 9 or 10 eggs out of 15 hens a day... (and three of those hens are sick with colds at present and aren't laying)



WELCOME!!!
 

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