kwjones001
In the Brooder
- Mar 16, 2020
- 5
- 36
- 28
Greetings.
It's been over 10 years since we've had chickens. When my wife and I got married, her family had a rooster, Lucky. He was mean. He would attack anyone that went near his pigs. My wife and I eventually got 5 RIR hens to calm him down a bit. One day we went out and found a fox or raccoon got into the pen and wiped us out and we never replaced them.
My New Year's resolution for this year was to be more self-sufficient on the farm, and I've been wanting an army of chickens for various reasons. They'll turn my compost piles for me, convert kitchen scraps, weeds, and garden waste to compost, and hopefully reduce the parasite load for the horses and goats. Oh, and I miss fresh eggs. And they're hilarious to watch, so almost free entertainment. I can't think of a good reason not to have chickens.
We live on a small farm in the northeast corner of Maryland. My wife has miniature horses, but we haven't been breeding them lately, so we're down to 4. We recently got two Nigerian dwarf goats to help with brush control, and I've been eyeing an unused 10x10 horse stall as a viable hen house with some modifications. The horse stall is on the end of the pole barn away from goats and horses. My main concern is overwintering. It can get down to single digits in the winter, so I'm hoping that by keeping the barn closed and using deep litter it will stay warm enough for them. I just got a load of wood chips from a tree trimmer, so I'm going with the deep litter option and am going to cover the dirt floor in the stall with wood chips and shavings or sawdust bedding on top of that. I'll be collecting leaves and dried grass clippings throughout the year for bedding as well.
The plan this week is to put up a few layers of chicken wire inside the stall to cover the large gaps between the boards. After that, I'll be getting some horse stall mats and galvanized roofing panels. The panels will be bent into an "L" to go along the bottom edges inside the stall to keep the bedding off of the boards and to slow down anything trying to dig into the stall. The stall mats will be cut to cover the verticle part of the roofing panels to keep the bedding off the metal, which I'm hoping will make the panels last longer.
Wednesday one of the local feed stores is hosting a "chicks night out" event. They will have more than 40 different breeds to choose from. I'm not sure if they're coming from a single hatchery, or if there are multiple hatcheries/breeders. It's our first year going. My wife wants to do a mixed flock. She also wants a rooster and two runner ducks. I don't want any roosters yet, and I really don't want ducks. I've been trying to negotiate 3 pullets of 5 different breeds as long as there aren't roosters or ducks. She wants 2 pullets of 5 breeds, plus a rooster and two ducks. So, 10 to 15 chickens. We'll see how negotiations go regarding ducks and a rooster. I suspect I'll lose. I usually do.
My shortlist for chicken breeds is Speckled Sussex, Australorps, Gold Laced Black Wyandottes, Dominique, and Orpingtons. She's still trying to decide her shortlist.
Are there any sort of questions we should be asking the sellers? Any major health issues that are breed-specific?
Kevin
It's been over 10 years since we've had chickens. When my wife and I got married, her family had a rooster, Lucky. He was mean. He would attack anyone that went near his pigs. My wife and I eventually got 5 RIR hens to calm him down a bit. One day we went out and found a fox or raccoon got into the pen and wiped us out and we never replaced them.
My New Year's resolution for this year was to be more self-sufficient on the farm, and I've been wanting an army of chickens for various reasons. They'll turn my compost piles for me, convert kitchen scraps, weeds, and garden waste to compost, and hopefully reduce the parasite load for the horses and goats. Oh, and I miss fresh eggs. And they're hilarious to watch, so almost free entertainment. I can't think of a good reason not to have chickens.
We live on a small farm in the northeast corner of Maryland. My wife has miniature horses, but we haven't been breeding them lately, so we're down to 4. We recently got two Nigerian dwarf goats to help with brush control, and I've been eyeing an unused 10x10 horse stall as a viable hen house with some modifications. The horse stall is on the end of the pole barn away from goats and horses. My main concern is overwintering. It can get down to single digits in the winter, so I'm hoping that by keeping the barn closed and using deep litter it will stay warm enough for them. I just got a load of wood chips from a tree trimmer, so I'm going with the deep litter option and am going to cover the dirt floor in the stall with wood chips and shavings or sawdust bedding on top of that. I'll be collecting leaves and dried grass clippings throughout the year for bedding as well.
The plan this week is to put up a few layers of chicken wire inside the stall to cover the large gaps between the boards. After that, I'll be getting some horse stall mats and galvanized roofing panels. The panels will be bent into an "L" to go along the bottom edges inside the stall to keep the bedding off of the boards and to slow down anything trying to dig into the stall. The stall mats will be cut to cover the verticle part of the roofing panels to keep the bedding off the metal, which I'm hoping will make the panels last longer.
Wednesday one of the local feed stores is hosting a "chicks night out" event. They will have more than 40 different breeds to choose from. I'm not sure if they're coming from a single hatchery, or if there are multiple hatcheries/breeders. It's our first year going. My wife wants to do a mixed flock. She also wants a rooster and two runner ducks. I don't want any roosters yet, and I really don't want ducks. I've been trying to negotiate 3 pullets of 5 different breeds as long as there aren't roosters or ducks. She wants 2 pullets of 5 breeds, plus a rooster and two ducks. So, 10 to 15 chickens. We'll see how negotiations go regarding ducks and a rooster. I suspect I'll lose. I usually do.
My shortlist for chicken breeds is Speckled Sussex, Australorps, Gold Laced Black Wyandottes, Dominique, and Orpingtons. She's still trying to decide her shortlist.
Are there any sort of questions we should be asking the sellers? Any major health issues that are breed-specific?
Kevin
