Hello everyone! It's great to be a part of this great community.
My wife and I have been reading through this forum for quite some time and it only dawned on us yesterday to finally join!
We just started raising chickens a few months ago.
We have 1 Rhode Island Red rooster and 7 various hens, from a White Leghorn to a tiny Bantam, to some RIR hens and a black Silkie.
We just started getting eggs about 2 weeks ago and it's fantastic.
Just yesterday I finished building them a nice new, and quite large, fenced in area that they can run around in throughout the day.
We started with a sturdy coop that I built in the front yard, then we acquired a used chain-link dog kennel which we moved to the backyard and put the coop inside of, and now that is in the middle of a massive fenced in area connected to a yurt that I built out of some used canopy pieces.
It's odd looking, to say the least, but we like to think of it as a small city for the chickens. We let them out of the coop every morning as soon as the rooster first crows, then they slowly make their way to the outer area, and finally to the yurt, which they love to eat in.
Due to where we currently live (we rent a place with a lot of acreage in southeastern Oklahoma) I had to keep predators in mind when building the coop. Consequently, the thing is the heaviest piece of construction I've ever made, making it a real pain to move by myself (thankfully I managed to put some wheels on it). We have to keep an eye out for Coyotes, wild boars, Copperheads, Possums, Raccoons, and hawks/vultures. We also heard from several people that it gets very icy in this area, rather than snowy, so I built the coop for warmth as well.
I wish I would have known then what I know now about chickens because I think I could have done a better job, but I really treasure the learning process.
We are now considering getting some more baby chicks so that I can try my hand at a better design for a 2nd coop.
We've had really great luck so far, insofar as we only lost 2 baby chicks, and one really beautiful 2 month old that we couldn't identify the breed of. All of the others are doing well aside from a couple of concerning issues that will probably end up being simple over-worrying on my part.
All in all, I think it's the best thing we've done so far in our grand experiment of living as self-sufficiently as possible.
Anyway, I hope I haven't rambled too much!
Take care, everyone, and have a great weekend!
(((I'll upload some pictures as soon as I can)))
My wife and I have been reading through this forum for quite some time and it only dawned on us yesterday to finally join!
We just started raising chickens a few months ago.
We have 1 Rhode Island Red rooster and 7 various hens, from a White Leghorn to a tiny Bantam, to some RIR hens and a black Silkie.
We just started getting eggs about 2 weeks ago and it's fantastic.
Just yesterday I finished building them a nice new, and quite large, fenced in area that they can run around in throughout the day.
We started with a sturdy coop that I built in the front yard, then we acquired a used chain-link dog kennel which we moved to the backyard and put the coop inside of, and now that is in the middle of a massive fenced in area connected to a yurt that I built out of some used canopy pieces.
It's odd looking, to say the least, but we like to think of it as a small city for the chickens. We let them out of the coop every morning as soon as the rooster first crows, then they slowly make their way to the outer area, and finally to the yurt, which they love to eat in.
Due to where we currently live (we rent a place with a lot of acreage in southeastern Oklahoma) I had to keep predators in mind when building the coop. Consequently, the thing is the heaviest piece of construction I've ever made, making it a real pain to move by myself (thankfully I managed to put some wheels on it). We have to keep an eye out for Coyotes, wild boars, Copperheads, Possums, Raccoons, and hawks/vultures. We also heard from several people that it gets very icy in this area, rather than snowy, so I built the coop for warmth as well.
I wish I would have known then what I know now about chickens because I think I could have done a better job, but I really treasure the learning process.
We are now considering getting some more baby chicks so that I can try my hand at a better design for a 2nd coop.
We've had really great luck so far, insofar as we only lost 2 baby chicks, and one really beautiful 2 month old that we couldn't identify the breed of. All of the others are doing well aside from a couple of concerning issues that will probably end up being simple over-worrying on my part.
All in all, I think it's the best thing we've done so far in our grand experiment of living as self-sufficiently as possible.
Anyway, I hope I haven't rambled too much!
Take care, everyone, and have a great weekend!
(((I'll upload some pictures as soon as I can)))