- Mar 18, 2010
- 5
- 0
- 7
Well we've talked about it for the longest time.. And now.. We jumped in.. Myself, my wife Redwing76 and our 2 young daughters.. Complete rank amateurs with nothing more than a few magazine articles, a couple books and a great big desire to give it a shot!!
But.. It has begun.. Our foray into chicken care starts with the construction of a home for them..
Taking a cue from some other folks who live in a more "urban" environment I decided to sacrifice a small bit of Garage real-estate for this coop.
4 X 8 .. A re-purposed door.. The nesting boxes will be hung off the inside wall and a door will be cut under the window to give them access to a run outside.
The old small fenced area used to be our old garden. We're going to sink a larger fence there and plant some chicken friendly plants and crops.. then our main garden will come off that further into the yard. We'll be able to confine the chickens to their run and then let them into our main garden if we wish for some insect control there..
But it's all started and coming together..
We're going to go with the deep litter method. I've read quite a bit about it and people seem to love it and it should work well for us..
Our layout shouldn't pose too much of a problem with smell or noise. We're well ventilated with doors and windows. I'm going to install an additional exhaust fan in that portion of the garage and maybe even a solar-tube skylight.
Our setup will look like this..
Our garage is detached and plenty big enough. It's also broken up into 3 interior "rooms".. The main section which is a heated 4 car, an enclosed carport on the North side, and the coop and storage will be in the back section on the west side which runs the full length of the garage. The thought is to have the run fenced and allow the chickens daily access there and then once the garden is in and fenced, allow them into the garden for bug assassination duties every other day or on the weekends when we can keep an eye on them.
Redwing76 got the run area cleaned up and covered.. Need to put the fence up yet..
I've got the coop coming along and the first 3 nesting boxes are almost done..
Aaaand as of a couple days ago we just got the phone call and over half our chickens are in. And they're resting comfortably in the office..
We are COMPLETELY open to any ideas, suggestions, critiques and even good natured ribbing.. This seems like a great site here and we hope to be good members and look forward to hearing from you all.
Blakwing
But.. It has begun.. Our foray into chicken care starts with the construction of a home for them..
Taking a cue from some other folks who live in a more "urban" environment I decided to sacrifice a small bit of Garage real-estate for this coop.
4 X 8 .. A re-purposed door.. The nesting boxes will be hung off the inside wall and a door will be cut under the window to give them access to a run outside.
The old small fenced area used to be our old garden. We're going to sink a larger fence there and plant some chicken friendly plants and crops.. then our main garden will come off that further into the yard. We'll be able to confine the chickens to their run and then let them into our main garden if we wish for some insect control there..
But it's all started and coming together..
We're going to go with the deep litter method. I've read quite a bit about it and people seem to love it and it should work well for us..
Our layout shouldn't pose too much of a problem with smell or noise. We're well ventilated with doors and windows. I'm going to install an additional exhaust fan in that portion of the garage and maybe even a solar-tube skylight.
Our setup will look like this..
Our garage is detached and plenty big enough. It's also broken up into 3 interior "rooms".. The main section which is a heated 4 car, an enclosed carport on the North side, and the coop and storage will be in the back section on the west side which runs the full length of the garage. The thought is to have the run fenced and allow the chickens daily access there and then once the garden is in and fenced, allow them into the garden for bug assassination duties every other day or on the weekends when we can keep an eye on them.
Redwing76 got the run area cleaned up and covered.. Need to put the fence up yet..
I've got the coop coming along and the first 3 nesting boxes are almost done..
Aaaand as of a couple days ago we just got the phone call and over half our chickens are in. And they're resting comfortably in the office..
We are COMPLETELY open to any ideas, suggestions, critiques and even good natured ribbing.. This seems like a great site here and we hope to be good members and look forward to hearing from you all.
Blakwing
