- Oct 21, 2013
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Hi All,
I recently moved out of New York City to upstate for the year (Fingerlakes region) and decided to finally live my dream of having chickens in my own backyard. I've cared for chickens for years on a farm in Montana, but never full time. I'm writing for the first time because I'm picking up my three black Copper Maran hens (1 year old) tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous and looking for some reassurance that I'm doing everything right!
My house is a little cabin on a lake, and I have a small woodshed with two sides attached to my house (4'Lx3'Wx3.5'H) that I've converted into a little coop, with a nice roost board and pine shavings. I have a 10'x10' run that attaches to the coop that I've reinforced/covered with hardware cloth to keep all the western NY predators out. There's a feeder trough in the coop, and a 2L water bottle with a beaktime cup on it. There's ventilation, but not too much, as the winters are cold here. I'm not planning to warm the coop in any way, just feed them cracked corn and insulate the exposed sides with foam board insulation (covered) when temps drop.
Right now the plan is to pick them up in the evening and let them stay in the coop for 5 days or so to adjust, during which time I'll monitor that they can use the beaktime cups and aren't pecking each other/freezing to death. Then I'll let them into the run, and hopefully all will go smoothly.
Any thoughts suggestions? I'd love to hear peoples experiences with just 3 hens; with Marans; with wintering birds and still getting eggs. . .; with small coop sizes (i'm really worried mine is too small).
Thanks and I don't think I could have done this without BYC!
Riley
I recently moved out of New York City to upstate for the year (Fingerlakes region) and decided to finally live my dream of having chickens in my own backyard. I've cared for chickens for years on a farm in Montana, but never full time. I'm writing for the first time because I'm picking up my three black Copper Maran hens (1 year old) tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous and looking for some reassurance that I'm doing everything right!
My house is a little cabin on a lake, and I have a small woodshed with two sides attached to my house (4'Lx3'Wx3.5'H) that I've converted into a little coop, with a nice roost board and pine shavings. I have a 10'x10' run that attaches to the coop that I've reinforced/covered with hardware cloth to keep all the western NY predators out. There's a feeder trough in the coop, and a 2L water bottle with a beaktime cup on it. There's ventilation, but not too much, as the winters are cold here. I'm not planning to warm the coop in any way, just feed them cracked corn and insulate the exposed sides with foam board insulation (covered) when temps drop.
Right now the plan is to pick them up in the evening and let them stay in the coop for 5 days or so to adjust, during which time I'll monitor that they can use the beaktime cups and aren't pecking each other/freezing to death. Then I'll let them into the run, and hopefully all will go smoothly.
Any thoughts suggestions? I'd love to hear peoples experiences with just 3 hens; with Marans; with wintering birds and still getting eggs. . .; with small coop sizes (i'm really worried mine is too small).
Thanks and I don't think I could have done this without BYC!
Riley
