New to chickens and need lots of info

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC! Good luck with your adventure!

 

[janiedoe]

I would be a little cautious atm as far as purchases. A lot of places have had to cull their eggs because of bird flu. Murray has a youtube vid up saying they had to clear their entire factory.

Wow! I'll have to look that up. I didn't know.

 

[redmike2018]

Please visit YouTube site and listen to the company: McMurray Hatchery HPAI Statement about this situation.​

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[Kenneth Zweerink]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens. The Best of Luck with your Plans. And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska!

 

[Isadora]

Hello, and welcome to BYC! I'm so glad you decided to join our friendly and helpful community

 

[NatJ]

We live in SW Florida....We are open for suggestions for types of breed and types of coops.

Since you are in Florida, I suggest an open-air type chicken coop. Instead of having solid walls on all sides, they have wire mesh on several sides for good ventilation. A solid roof keeps off rain, and provides shade. Windbreaks are provided near the roosts, and nestboxes go somewhere shaded but convenient (you don't want cooked eggs!)

There are many such coops pictured in the articles and threads on this site. Here are some examples:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/thoughts-open-air-coop.1382020/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/our-hoopy-coop-build.75775/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/open-air-dlm-run-coop.74642/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/jens-hens-a-southern-texas-coop.75707/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...tral-mississippi.1299778/page-2#post-21327161
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/managing-heat.1477290/#post-24613413


A common guideline is 4 square feet of space in the coop and 10 square feet in the run, per chicken. If you make an open-air coop, you can provide 10 square feet per chicken (consider it a covered run) and ignore the "coop" part of the usual guidelines.

 

[ValerieJ]

Welcome to BYC, where you can learn anything and everything about chickens, and some other stuff too!

You have already had a lot of good advice on chicken breeds and coops. I just want to add that you should build a coop bigger than you think you need. Take it from someone whose very patient hubby has built her 4 coops now, the latest and final one (I hope) being a full sized, walk in, 8x10 coop with chest high roosts complete with poop boards full of sand for keeping clean. Got that last idea from @aart . You should check out her coop.

Chicken math is real. I started with 4, then 7, now I have 19, and I have no idea how I got here. lol I love them all and they all have names. Some are over 5 and don't lay anymore. Their job is to look pretty and set a good example for the peeps. Occasionally one of them will lay an egg.

 

[swampfox440]

Hi, Welcome to BYC! I don't raise meet birds anymore but when I did, I would get Cornish rock crosses. Good luck with your birds.

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Welcome to BYC! So glad you could join us!

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!