New to BYC and want to make sure we are doing it right

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I don't have any experience with the leghorns but I have raised Black Astrolaups and Americana's for 2 years now. The blacks are very friendly (great layers) and the Americana's tend to be a lot more shy but I love their colored eggs, and their chicks are the cutest (look like little chipmunks).

I have read that to keep prediters out, you need to burry part of your fencing with it coming out like an "L" under the dirt (with the L facing OUT of the yard). This makes the preditors who dig, dig into the fencing, not under it. You will want to have a 1" chicken wire fencing on the bottom, in case you have chicks to keep them in the yard, and can put the 2" up higher (since it is cheeper, you'll want to primarily use this), you will need a covering on your yard as owls, hawks, etc like to carry off small ones. (don't know what kind of birds you have where you are at, but keep it in mind).

As for your coop size, chickens don't need a lot of room in a coop. I have a large coop and the hens seem to huddle together in one corner of the coop while there is lots of other roosting space left. And one fact that surprised me when I started, is that they all lay eggs on top of each other in a favorite nesting box. You will only need to have around 3 boxes for your eggs. Silly me thought I could assign a box for each of my hens so I could keep track of who was laying and who wasn't. (That is city girl thinking).

You will want to make your yard as big as you are able too though. If your chickens are too crowded, they will start picking at each other (they do it anyway, but it will be a lot worse, like naked hens).


Hope this helps.

Gayle
 
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Seriously? well then. No more trying to figure out how to put 4 nest boxes on my small coop(4 chicks so far).
 
You have some great breeds!
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from PA! Happy to have you here!
 
Quote:
Seriously? well then. No more trying to figure out how to put 4 nest boxes on my small coop(4 chicks so far).

If you only have 4 hens, you don't need more than 2 boxes. That way you have an extra box for laying if one of your hens get broody. (BTW - hens will still lay eggs on top of a broody hen. If you don't watch it, you could have 20 eggs being sat on by the hen, and dead because she cant keep them all warm.)
 
Thanks for all of the responses. We are going to have 6 nesting boxes for 9 chickens. The Hen house we are building has enough room for 12 chickens and we may add mor in the future if some of our girls turn out to be boys. We are going to modify the hen house so the back opens up and will have a screen door of hardwire across the back for added ventilation on really hot Georgia days. We are going to have an 8x12 run as well as 4x8 under the Hen House so a total of 128 square feet for 9 chickens. I also have a question about my leghorns. They are supposed to be white leghorns but their feathers are growing in with a lt brown stripe. Is that common or was there a mixup at the hatchery?
 

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