New house. New to chickens. Lots of questions!

hello and, how big is the coop? times length by width and divide by 4. that will give you an idea on how many chickens. with a lot of predators i dont think that tree is the best thing to have there. perhaps you would want to rebuild your run on a different side?or maybe trim all the lower limbs and put a cover on the run. have fun!!

 

That wouldn't be a sustainable diet for laying hens. They need laying pellets, because they cover all their nutritional needs. Laying hens need added calcium etc. So you could give them the squash stuff for treats!

 

The recommended square feet per chicken is 4 sq ft. You might do some research on here (there's an article on here somewhere that states edible and non-edible foods for chickens) or you can try asking a question in the "Feeding and Watering your Flock" section of the Forum.

 

Hello Welcome To BYC and Happy Holidays! Like everyone else said, the general rule of thumb is 4 sq/ft per chicken in the coop and 10 in the run. That is a lot of squash seed, it is a good treat. If you have an idea of the nutritional makeup you could probably formulate your own chicken feed using a good portion of that. Had a link saved where they tried different amounts on broilers, don't know if it is the same squash. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-635X2011000400001

 

You already got great advice but I'll add that you should post pics when you get your coop done. And progress pics too!

 

Nice coop as well!

 

Welcome to BYC!