New Jersey

[chickenlindz]

Welcome Brent! BYC is a great resource for all you questions.

I'll try to answer your questions.

Electricity is nice but oh so dangerous. I had a heat lamp in the coop and I cleaned it before using it but there was a lot of dust on the bulb which I never thought to clean. Thankfully I was around after turning it on so I smelled the burning and shut it down.

Space- 4 sq ft in coop w 12 inches roost sp per bird. 10 sq ft of run space. 1 nest box for every 3 chickens about. Are they going to free range at all? That might help you squeeze a few more in. But bigger is always better for two reasons. One it stays cleaner and two you'll want more chickens! Spoken from a girl who had to buy a second coop!

For 8 eggs a day I'd prob get 11 or 12 chickens unless you got a really heavy laying breed as they do tend to take a day off every few days!

Any question you ask prob has an answer here somewhere!

 

[ampho]

I have 6 chickens and get between 4 to 6 eggs daily, give many eggs away! I sent you a pm with a space saving coop plan, read up on poop board under the roost!, keeps the coop so much cleaner! And love the Ador-Stor electric chicken door, lets the chickens out at sunrise and closes at sunset in case we aren't home! "these are a few of my favorite things!"

 

[GAIL328]

A coyote in Neptune? Who would have thought. Got one of my young Brahma. I was in the coop with him YIKES.

 

[JerseyHen]

A coyote in Neptune? Who would have thought. Got one of my young Brahma.

I was in the coop with him YIKES.

Wow! Really? Did the coyote come in the coop while you were there or did you walk in on the coyote?

 

[BelleFarm]

I believe it was clear in my intro to this thread, but yes I do sell easter egger chicks.  This makes me wonder about forum rules...was i allowed to  mention that in my post?  If not, I do apologize, but if so, great.  These chicks are Easter eggers because 2 roosters are lavender ameraucanas, and 1 blue ameraucana over multiple breeds, such as lavender, black, and blue ameraucanas, buff brahma, white leghorn, blue copper marans, polish, and easter eggers.  

What color eggs do they lay? Sorry if I missed that.

 

[jbravo54]

What color eggs do they lay? Sorry if I missed that.

They will lay green/blue eggs. I only have 4 left.

 

[BelleFarm]

They will lay green/blue eggs. I only have 4 left.

Do you have any guesses on the sex of the chicks yet?

 

[GAIL328]

Wow! Really? Did the coyote come in the coop while you were there or did you walk in on the coyote? 

I went to put the chickens in for the night, it was dusk most of them had roosted. Usually I put some food in a bowl for the ducks then they come running in. I had a piece of plastic up for the winter to shield the ducks from wind. As i bent down to pick up the bowl in the coop i saw something looking at me, I turned my head to look better and realized it was not a chicken. I ran into the house to get my son and as we came out on the deck it was standing outside the coop door. It saw us and ran into the woods. It was thin and straggly looking. Very tall thin legs. Scared me to death. And to think i had it cornered in the coop. Feel lucky.

 

[JerseyHen]

I went to put the chickens in for the night, it was dusk most of them had roasted. Usually I put some food in a bowl for the ducks then they come running in. I had a piece of plastic up for the winter to shield the ducks from wind. As i bent down to pick up the bowl in the coop i saw something looking at me, I turned my head to look better and realized it was not a chicken. I ran into the house to get my son and as we came out on the deck it was standing outside the coop door. It saw us and ran into the woods. It was thin and straggly looking. Very tall thin legs. Scared me to death. And to think i had it cornered in the coop. Feel lucky.

Yikes!!!!! You are really lucky. Sorry about your bird though. I lost 8 to a fox a few years ago. It will probably come back, better get a trap ready. You don't want to have to deal with that all season, not to mention the rabies risk. It is probably just starved from the really bad winter, but it isn't worth taking a chance.

Oh and I just can't resist... "most of them had roasted" so funny given they are chickens

. Gotta' love spell check.

 

[mame1616]

Just dropping a quick note to say hello, new forum member and I live in Montville in Morris county NJ. Hoping to set up a coop and getting some chicks within a year after some planning etc. we want to get eggs and show mour 2 young boys how to respect and care for animals, they love all types already

With the winters here I assume I should plan on running electricity to the coop for heat or lamps? I was planning on a garden shed and coop combination so electricity would come in handy for both sides

How many chickens should we plan for if we want say 8 eights per day? What's a good guide for number of nest boxes and sq ft of coop and run for that same number of chickens?


Thanks!

Brent

Brent, first off I want to say THANK YOU for doing your research before you get your birds! So many do not! I spent almost a year doing research before I got my first birds, and I was never once sorry I took the time to do it right.

Electricity is great for the automatic chicken door and for running fans in the summer, but not for heat. A well-built and ventilated coop does not need heat, and heat lamps are too dangerous. The heat in the summer, however, can kill the birds, so I have two fans running sometimes. That, and my favorite purchase, my Pullet-shut chicken door, makes having electricity very worth while. You'll also want to see if you can get a water supply fairly close, as well, for filling waterers and heavy coop cleaning.

Get the biggest coop you can afford - you'll fill it, even if you say you're happy with only "x" birds. It's a disease - you can't avoid it.

The number of eggs you get will depend on the breeds and ages of the birds you have. All chickens lay eggs, but serious egg layers will give you pretty much an egg a day, and will still lay well after their second year. Other breeds don't lay as well, but have other qualities. Eight eggs a day adds up pretty quickly - do you really eat that many now? Do some research about the many different breeds out there - get some for eye candy, too. You''ll be spending a lot of time with them, so get something you like to look at, even if they aren't egg machines.

Start keeping a list of questions, and bring the list to our poultry show in Augusta, NJ, on May 17th. You can get all of your questions answered there, and check out a lot of the breeds, and meet the breeders. Bring a pen! We usually have a coop supplier there, as well, so you can ask them questions, too. It's the only show in the state, and we won't have another one until October.