New to chickens

[cdahl383]

Hi, my name is Carl, and my wife and I will be picking up some chickens from a friend of mine tomorrow.

We are totally new to the chicken world. Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

We plan on picking up 4 hens and 1 rooster. We have an OverEZ large chicken coop that is roughly 5x6’ that supposedly can house 12-15 chickens, but I suspect realistically more like 8-10. I put down a mixture of straw and pine savings on the coop floor and straw only in the nesting boxes. Also sprinkled some sweet PDZ in the bedding on the floor.

We put up two large dog kennels around the coop for a run. It is 20x20x6’. We plan on locking the chickens up at night in the coop and letting them out in the run during the day. Eventually we would like to allow them to free range. We have 2.5 acres and live in a rural area.

My wife has been bugging me to get chickens since we moved out here a year ago, so here we are haha! I’m actually looking forward to it, should be fun.

Here are some photos of our coop and run. Any suggestions are welcome as we both have a lot to learn. Thank you!

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens. So nice that you have a helper to assist your build.

 

[pennyJo1960]

The ones you spoke of may fit in their 4 square feet per bird is recommended
Welcome to Backyard Chickens

 

[cdahl383]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens. Sorry that most of your photos won't open for me. So nice that you have a helper to assist your build.

Bummer, I must have goofed up with the pics.

Yes my daughter helped me out along with my wife. She’s really excited about getting our own chickens.

 

[drumstick diva]

It's cool I went back and now they do open. Very nice photos. It's great that your daughter is involved.

 

[cdahl383]

The ones you spoke of may fit in their 4 square feet per bird is recommended
Welcome to Backyard Chickens

I did the math and our coop comes out to roughly 31 sq ft. So I guess 8 chickens would be alright. We’re just starting with 5 for now.

 

[cdahl383]

It's cool I went back and now they do open. Very nice photos. It's great that your daughter is involved.

Oh ok cool!

Yes I have two daughters and they both love animals. We have three cats and a dog too. The neighbor by us has some chickens, we’ve fed them before quite a few times, they love them. Should be a fun experience.

 

[tribalacres]

Awesome Coop!

 

[Ariapina]

Hi, my name is Carl, and my wife and I will be picking up some chickens from a friend of mine tomorrow.

We are totally new to the chicken world. Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

We plan on picking up 4 hens and 1 rooster. We have an OverEZ large chicken coop that is roughly 5x6’ that supposedly can house 12-15 chickens, but I suspect realistically more like 8-10. I put down a mixture of straw and pine savings on the coop floor and straw only in the nesting boxes. Also sprinkled some sweet PDZ in the bedding on the floor.

We put up two large dog kennels around the coop for a run. It is 20x20x6’. We plan on locking the chickens up at night in the coop and letting them out in the run during the day. Eventually we would like to allow them to free range. We have 2.5 acres and live in a rural area.

My wife has been bugging me to get chickens since we moved out here a year ago, so here we are haha! I’m actually looking forward to it, should be fun.

Here are some photos of our coop and run. Any suggestions are welcome as we both have a lot to learn. Thank you!

View attachment 2108311View attachment 2108312
View attachment 2108313View attachment 2108316View attachment 2108315

Welcome! And congrats on joining the chicken world, you'll love it!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]