New to site and idea of chickens, lots of questions here.

[Egghead_Jr]

What breed of chicken is a personal choice. Depends on behavior, color and what purpose you want them for.
If you get great layers and are not looking to sell any eggs then you wont need many birds at all. Here we have 7 hens and a family of 6 and still sell a doz eggs per week (getting over 40 eggs per week). So determine what breed your liking then go from the # of eggs they lay a week divided by your egg demand is how many birds you want.

There are many heritage breeds that need work so you may want to look into one of those. Chicken fever is likely to set in so you may as well start out with something you can later breed to aid in preservation and improvement.

As for insulating your coop I'd only put insulation on the ceiling to ward off solar over heating in the summer. They're are many like myself in colder climates than yours that don't insulate at all.

Oh, and with leaving for few days at a time you might look into automatic, solar powered, coop door.


Have fun and you'll find keeping chickens is much easier and more enjoyable than originally predicted.

 

[Tdub4chiks]

I say start with baby chicks for your 5 year old! And get lots of pics...lol

 

[The Fairy Godmartyr]

I definitely agree with the others that you should build a bigger coop than you think you will need. When I ordered my first chicks last year, I wondered if I was absolutely crazy for getting 13. Now, I'm kicking myself because I only have enough room to get 6 more this year! I would buy more than you think you will need. Chicks are so cheap, and it really isn't any more work to take care of 10 chickens than it is to take care of 5 (costs a bit more, but the feed is cheap). And if you decide you have too many, it is a lot easier to get rid of a few chickens than it is to add more. And I would (and did) start with day old chicks--especially with a 5yo. They are super easy to raise (we only lost one) and it is a lot of fun. We made our brooder out of a sterilite tub (then expanded it to two tubs), a wire top, and a heat lamp. You can see it here: http://fairygodmartyr.com/index.php/the-castle/48-june-2010-castle/93-perspective (if you click on "The Castle" at the top of the page, it takes you through my chicken journey from choosing breeds, to building a coop, to chicks, to where I am now--just start at the oldest post).

As far as choosing breeds, I would request a catalog from at least one hatchery. I know the hatchery I use (Meyer) lists whether a bird is heat/cold hearty, size of eggs, color of eggs, frequency of egg laying, etc. It is so useful when picking breeds. You can see what they look like and how well they will fit what you want. And I would try different breeds so you can get a feel for which ones you like more (for when you buy more chicks later

)

Good luck! Chickens really are a blast!

 

[grendel]

Even tho everyone has pretty much addressed the questions,Here is my OPINION.The coop you are planning on building is large enough for triple the amount of birds you want to start with.To much open space creates more extra area to keep warm.Chickens will huddle together forwarmth.and since your climate is quite good.go with more chickens so you do not have to try to intergrade more later.Pecking order and such.I like the breeds that are good at foraging,such as leghorn,minorca's,Andulusians.ancona,and other similar species.Good egg producers,and when you are away,if the run is big enough,can locate supplimentary food items.Also these breeds are good at watching for hawks,and other predators.

 

[gryeyes]

You've already gotten excellent advice from folks but (of course) I want to add a couple comments. "Chicken Math" is a real phenomenon. You will want to add more to your flock after a certain while. Your mileage may vary.

With your son, YES get chicks. Not only is it a great learning experience in animal husbandry, but the chickens will be far more tame if you raise them yourselves from chicks.

Australorps are gorgeous, friendly, lay pretty well. Consider adding an "Easter Egger" or two to your flock so your son (and you and your wife) can gather light green eggs! With other breeds, it makes for a colorful egg basket.

Buff Orpingtons are also big, friendly, beautiful chickens which are average to better layers. Plymouth Rock - Barred, commonly referred to as Barred Rocks, are great layers, mine are VERY friendly.

Use Henderson's Handy Dandy Chicken Chart - keep it book-marked in your favorites! - to review all the possible breeds and their attributes.
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

Welcome to the world of keeping chickens. It's obvious from your post you have already done a lot of research here on BYC - that's far better than many who dive into getting chickens!!!! Kudos!

 

[greenSearcher]

Welcome!

I can't emphasize chicken math enough. I started out last year with a dozen, had 10 pullets and 2 roos, and the fall I was down to 5 hens and a roo. Initially, I ordered all pullets, but got 8 pullets and a Barred Rock roo and a Speckled Sussex Roo who is my current roo. Punkit takes good care of the girls and isn't stupid enough to attach us. The BR was aggressive so I learned to cull as needed. Not wonderful but I can do it if needed. The advantage of buying POL pullets is no surprise roos. The only reason one needs a rooster is for fertile eggs. Back to chicken math, I now have 39 chickens, because as the first group grew so did my ideas for projects and the desire to sell eggs and their products. So now I have Delawares for eggs and to cross with the Naked Necks to see if that produces a good dual purpose meat bird. I like the NN a lot, even with the roo suffering from testosterone poisoning, he hasn't attacked me yet. He is learning quickly who's the boss. If you find the look of the Naked Neck acceptable, they do well in the heat. I chose the other breeds that can thrive in our summers, Blue Andalusian, more Speckled Sussex and EE and of course Silkies for live incubators. Here in Texoma, about 50% of the time we have highs over a 100, and last summer I lost 3 hens to heat, 2 Cuckoo Marans and the black feathered EE. Only one of the black hens survived, and by the end of summer she was sun-bleached brown and gold rather than the black and white normally seen in the CM. To house the 39 chickens I have built 3 more coops, with 3 more runs and yards. Makes sense to call the egg business Chicken City- that's what it looks like back behind the garden.

I have found the chickens to be very therapeutic, having gone on disability a couple years back, it gives me purpose and direction foe each day.

 

[JSR-Ranch]

Wow!! What a great set of replies. Thank you to everyone for the information, I now can't wait to put it to use. I think maybe you all are right, I think my 5 y/o daughter would very much love raising the chicks, so maybe we will look into that.

I will post pics of our progress in this little endeavor as we begin to accumulate supplies and make progress in the build.

Thanks again, I continue to look forward to the great information available here.

Jason

 

[DelcoChix]

Best of luck Jason--sounds like you are off to a great start and have thought it through quite thoroughly, a good thing. Since you have already gotten some great advice all I'll add is :
1) Request a free catalog from Meyer Hatchery (Polk, OH)--the catalog (as mentioned earlier) is a great resource for breed info, characteristics of the breeds, sizes, egg info.etc...whether you choose to buy day old chicks from them or not. As a sidenote, they are really nice to work with at Meyer, very helpful and personable and it's nice to get pullets if all you want are girls.
2) Regarding raising chicks...Go For It. It really isn't that tough, they grow so quickly, and will be nicer birds if you can interact with them from day one...plus since you seem to be the kind of guy who will want to be ready and study up in advance I have a feeling it will be even easier. We are starting year three with this addictive chicken thing and haven't lost a chick yet (I think we've raised about 40 to henhood, including a dozen meaties, and haven't lost one as a chick...as a grown up, well that's a different story.
3) Regarding breeds, keep doing your research but for us, we've got 13 different breeds right now, three are more for 'fun,' (Silkie, bantam Cochins, and a Sultan--awesome for kids...) the rest for eggs and fun, but my favorites are the Buckeyes, Buff Orpingtons, and Black Copper Marans for their personalities and pretty eggs, and Easter Eggers for their beards/muffs and cool blue/green eggs...
Enjpy the ride on the chicken train...beware, it's near impossible to get off this train.

Dawn

 

[annaraven]

My Buff Orpington is seriously my sweetest most productive bird.

One thing on chicks - if you can't have a roo in your neighborhood, be careful. EE's are apparently really hard to sex early, and starting with chicks it's so easy to get totally bonded. By the time you figure out it's a roo, you're hooked (or worse, the 5yo is hooked).

Other than that, yeah - chicken math. Totally.

 

[TomG]

You will need someone to watch young chicks when you are out of town. Older chickens can be on their own for a few days but chicks need more supervision and care. Good luck and keep us up to date.