PaigeWells
Chirping
Hello, I’m about to join the world of chicken owners after lots of reading, learning, and planning. Just joined this forum although I’ve been stalking for a year…
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
We had chickens growing up in North Florida, but they lived outside free range in our woods, slept in the trees, and other than a handful of food in the morning they mostly did their thing. We would stalk them to locate their nests as we kids got a candy bar when we found one. Naturally with this setup, the first 6 fluffy laying hens all got eaten in a week so dad brought home game birds with spurs. This slowed down the predators A LOT and we all coexisted for years, lots of eggs and the occasional sneaky mama would appear with chicks which nobody got near if they were smart. Fast forward lots of years and I’m ready to pretty much do the opposite of the above with spoiled pet chickens safely locked up at night in a predator proof chicken palace.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now? None yet BUT l am getting 6 six week olds end of March and another 3-6 8 week olds 2 weeks later (so they will all be the same age)
(3) What breeds do you have? My goal is eggs not meat, and I want a mixed flock of “able to tell everyone apart” so I can learn personalities and better monitor them. Don’t want a roo as of now, and I will not be eating my girls. I have “sucker” stamped on my forehead and will keep the ladies long after they stop laying because I want to and I’m not going to eat something I raised and named just because she gets old. At least I’m smart enough to plan a much larger coop than I think I’ll need... I want girls that are nice, hope I can free range them but I’ll see as we go, have lots of predators. Not planning to heat (unless I someday do chicks but I don’t want boys so…) and no artificial lights. Need breeds that can handle our winters 3700 ft up and on the shady side of a mountain so small comb varieties but it gets very hot here too. Getting a copper Maran, a barred rock, speckled Sussex, 2 cream leg bars (love those blue eggs!), and a welsummer in the first batch, then adding a few of these if I can get them: barnvelder, Orpington, austrilorp, salmon favorelle, Rhode island red… any other suggestions?
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? Eggs, watching chickens.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies? Soccer mom that just sent the last kid to college; gardening, crafts, critters. Finally moved back to NC last year after moving 9 times in 25 years on 3 continents for hubby’s work, bought 11acres that used to be someone’s 2nd home with a gardener, now it’s our only home and I’m the gardener so I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me!
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. 3 kids that keep returning home, 2 dogs (Irish red and white setters), 9 rescue cats (4 in the house, 5 in the barn) and a husband. Property has woods and fenced pastures, chicken palace is a converted goat shed I am predator proofing and adding a run to, it’s inside a smallish fenced perimeter that is inside an acre fenced and electrified shaded open pasture with no brush (used to have goats in it) but mostly dappled shade and some full sun. I’m adding brushy plants for cover in key spots. Plan to increase the area the girls can free range in as they prove they can handle the room, neighbors are far and don’t care if a chicken wanders by but I worry about predators.
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
. Been stalking for about a year as I knew I wasn’t ready for chickens last year, deciding where/how/what to do for a run and coop. Had to talk hubby into my turning the goat shed into the chicken palace, he had concerns but is on board now. I see there is a place to post about your coop, mine isn’t done yet but I’ll add it. I adopted lots of ideas from BYC and am pretty excited, am sure I’ve screwed something up but trying to design the perfect chicken house, and it was freaking cold until recently so I couldn’t work on the outside. I’m handy but not experienced with framing and construction so I’m SLOW. My run is smaller than I like but my coop space is huge, and once we go outside as they grow my hope is they can have all the room they want. My shed is 15’ x 15’ and empty (now). Has nice tall ceilings up to about 15’ at the peak. I’m adding poop boards and 25’ of roost, chicken jail 2’ x 8’, another jail 2’ x 4’ for keeping my food and supplies locked up poop free, (can also be a separate jail in an emergency or added to first one as an extension if space is needed) a ramp up, food and possibly water hanging under poop board, eventually nesting boxes also under it but those are back burner for now. Lots of open space in the center. It has 4 windows, a 2” air space all around the ceiling (that I am critter blocking with 1/2” hardware cloth) plus a cupola top vent. It has broken electricity which i will get fixed and there is a big industrial fan already there for drying after cleaning or for summer ventilation If it’s needed. Roofed dry front porch I’m converting to a run, 1/2” hardware cloth buried and turned out a foot, it’s 8’x16’ and 10‘ tall. It’s on a very steep slope so I can’t go bigger which is a bummer. Coop is in a small fenced area about 40x40 feet and then a gate opens to allow access to the big acre field, perimeter is electrified. I had a bunch of old lumber from a disassembled homecoming float that 3 dads built and were happy to have me disassemble and deal with (thank goodness based on the price of lumber now!) so I’ve only had to buy the hardware cloth, a big box of screws, and 2 pieces of plywood that I got for $22 total off the damaged rack and just cut the broken off. I’m trying to bridge the gap between the Clampetts and something my husband can live with as it’s front and center when u come to the house and he doesn’t want it to be ugly, I hope my building skills are up for this! And I have 2 weeks until I get my babies!
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
We had chickens growing up in North Florida, but they lived outside free range in our woods, slept in the trees, and other than a handful of food in the morning they mostly did their thing. We would stalk them to locate their nests as we kids got a candy bar when we found one. Naturally with this setup, the first 6 fluffy laying hens all got eaten in a week so dad brought home game birds with spurs. This slowed down the predators A LOT and we all coexisted for years, lots of eggs and the occasional sneaky mama would appear with chicks which nobody got near if they were smart. Fast forward lots of years and I’m ready to pretty much do the opposite of the above with spoiled pet chickens safely locked up at night in a predator proof chicken palace.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now? None yet BUT l am getting 6 six week olds end of March and another 3-6 8 week olds 2 weeks later (so they will all be the same age)
(3) What breeds do you have? My goal is eggs not meat, and I want a mixed flock of “able to tell everyone apart” so I can learn personalities and better monitor them. Don’t want a roo as of now, and I will not be eating my girls. I have “sucker” stamped on my forehead and will keep the ladies long after they stop laying because I want to and I’m not going to eat something I raised and named just because she gets old. At least I’m smart enough to plan a much larger coop than I think I’ll need... I want girls that are nice, hope I can free range them but I’ll see as we go, have lots of predators. Not planning to heat (unless I someday do chicks but I don’t want boys so…) and no artificial lights. Need breeds that can handle our winters 3700 ft up and on the shady side of a mountain so small comb varieties but it gets very hot here too. Getting a copper Maran, a barred rock, speckled Sussex, 2 cream leg bars (love those blue eggs!), and a welsummer in the first batch, then adding a few of these if I can get them: barnvelder, Orpington, austrilorp, salmon favorelle, Rhode island red… any other suggestions?
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? Eggs, watching chickens.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies? Soccer mom that just sent the last kid to college; gardening, crafts, critters. Finally moved back to NC last year after moving 9 times in 25 years on 3 continents for hubby’s work, bought 11acres that used to be someone’s 2nd home with a gardener, now it’s our only home and I’m the gardener so I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me!
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. 3 kids that keep returning home, 2 dogs (Irish red and white setters), 9 rescue cats (4 in the house, 5 in the barn) and a husband. Property has woods and fenced pastures, chicken palace is a converted goat shed I am predator proofing and adding a run to, it’s inside a smallish fenced perimeter that is inside an acre fenced and electrified shaded open pasture with no brush (used to have goats in it) but mostly dappled shade and some full sun. I’m adding brushy plants for cover in key spots. Plan to increase the area the girls can free range in as they prove they can handle the room, neighbors are far and don’t care if a chicken wanders by but I worry about predators.
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
. Been stalking for about a year as I knew I wasn’t ready for chickens last year, deciding where/how/what to do for a run and coop. Had to talk hubby into my turning the goat shed into the chicken palace, he had concerns but is on board now. I see there is a place to post about your coop, mine isn’t done yet but I’ll add it. I adopted lots of ideas from BYC and am pretty excited, am sure I’ve screwed something up but trying to design the perfect chicken house, and it was freaking cold until recently so I couldn’t work on the outside. I’m handy but not experienced with framing and construction so I’m SLOW. My run is smaller than I like but my coop space is huge, and once we go outside as they grow my hope is they can have all the room they want. My shed is 15’ x 15’ and empty (now). Has nice tall ceilings up to about 15’ at the peak. I’m adding poop boards and 25’ of roost, chicken jail 2’ x 8’, another jail 2’ x 4’ for keeping my food and supplies locked up poop free, (can also be a separate jail in an emergency or added to first one as an extension if space is needed) a ramp up, food and possibly water hanging under poop board, eventually nesting boxes also under it but those are back burner for now. Lots of open space in the center. It has 4 windows, a 2” air space all around the ceiling (that I am critter blocking with 1/2” hardware cloth) plus a cupola top vent. It has broken electricity which i will get fixed and there is a big industrial fan already there for drying after cleaning or for summer ventilation If it’s needed. Roofed dry front porch I’m converting to a run, 1/2” hardware cloth buried and turned out a foot, it’s 8’x16’ and 10‘ tall. It’s on a very steep slope so I can’t go bigger which is a bummer. Coop is in a small fenced area about 40x40 feet and then a gate opens to allow access to the big acre field, perimeter is electrified. I had a bunch of old lumber from a disassembled homecoming float that 3 dads built and were happy to have me disassemble and deal with (thank goodness based on the price of lumber now!) so I’ve only had to buy the hardware cloth, a big box of screws, and 2 pieces of plywood that I got for $22 total off the damaged rack and just cut the broken off. I’m trying to bridge the gap between the Clampetts and something my husband can live with as it’s front and center when u come to the house and he doesn’t want it to be ugly, I hope my building skills are up for this! And I have 2 weeks until I get my babies!
Welcome to Backyard Chickens. Enjoy your time here!
Hello Paige and welcome to BYC. You found an Amazing Poultry Community to be a part of, with many knowledgeable members who are willing to help you along your journey with any questions you may have. Enjoy 
