Newbie in Toledo OH

[TheSheeve]

Hi there! I too am from Toledo and am a newbie! My wife and I just finished building the coop, now we need to put some hens in there! We are not sure where to find any hens in the Toledo area. Any suggestions?

 

[sourland]

How about an update. How's the project going?

 

[kidcody]

from washington state glad you joined us!

 

[TheCrazyChick]

Hi there! I too am from Toledo and am  a newbie! My wife and I just finished building the coop, now we need to put some hens in there! We are not sure where to find any hens in the Toledo area. Any suggestions?

I actually drove an hour and a half to Meyer Hatchery to pick up chicks 2 weeks ago. All are thriving.

Welcome to BYC. This chicken stuff is addicting. Are you looking to raise hens to lay eggs for feedtoledo?

 

[TheCrazyChick]

How about an update.  How's the project going?

I'll post new pics when I am on my laptop later. Chicks arrived 2 1/2 weeks ago. I picked them up from Meyer Hatchery. All 7 are thriving. Coop is nearing completion and we have moved chicks into a better brooder, which they love love love.

 

[TheCrazyChick]

Ask and you shall receive ... finally. Here are some pics of the coop progress (almost done!) and of the chicks in their new brooder. They were in a dog crate before and I converted one of the shipping boxes we're using for the coop into a better brooder. They are loving it. They can see me better and I can see them better too. They now run to the front and look for me when they hear me coming. Makes me giggle every morning.


I am tooling around with the idea of a small poop board under the roost where
it overhangs the entrance to the nest boxes.



Decided to put a floor pop door in that goes to the penned-in area underneath, just for the winter.
This will give us extra time to get the run attached to the side pop door, since we have had a lot of snow lately.
They'll still be rather small, so 5.5x4 feet square under the coop should be okay for a month or so. If we ever
get this behemoth out of the garage and to the backyard, that is.




There are 7 in there right now.

 

[ToledoClucker]

Fantastic coop...looks excellent. Wife and I are in Toledo as well and we "had" 6 chickens last year. We unfortunately lost 1 to heat stroke, 1 because she was a he , and the rest to a raccoon who managed to pry away the wire off the chicken run one night. So, after reinforcing the coop and taking some extra precautions, we are back at it again this year. We are about to place an order from Meyer for 15 chicks this time (because, as my wife puts it, I built the chickens a house, not a coop) and there is ample room for them.

Anyways, I just wanted to comment and say welcome to the neighborhood and the coop looks great. Best of luck!

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Hi and from a fellow Buckeye. So glad to have you aboard.
Great looking chicks and coop. There is a forum for Ohio members if you want to come say hello.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/12049/ohio-come-on-buckeyes-let-me-know-your-out-there

 

[TheCrazyChick]

Fantastic coop...looks excellent. Wife and I are in Toledo as well and we "had" 6 chickens last year. We unfortunately lost 1 to heat stroke, 1 because she was a he , and the rest to a raccoon who managed to pry away the wire off the chicken run one night. So, after reinforcing the coop and taking some extra precautions, we are back at it again this year. We are about to place an order from Meyer for 15 chicks this time (because, as my wife puts it, I built the chickens a house, not a coop) and there is ample room for them.

Anyways, I just wanted to comment and say welcome to the neighborhood and the coop looks great. Best of luck!

Hi! Too bad you lost your entire flock last year. Thanks for sharing about the raccoons, too, as I am driving my husband crazy with the "predator proofing" rules with this coop. We live on South Toledo Golf Course and there are raccoons, possums, coyotes and who-knows-what-else lurking nearby. (Didn't know we had the coyotes in our backyard until some golfer friends told us they saw some while golfing last summer.) Our 7 chicks were 7 weeks old yesterday, so it is time for them to put their big girl pants on and face the elements. One facia board and an east side soffit are all that's left to do, besides rigging up the light bulb in a concrete block to keep water from freezing. We have an order from Meyer coming (actually, I will go get them) end of April for 3 more chicks, then in June an order from My Pet Chicken for 7 bantams (which means a bantam coop needs to be the spring project.)

Regarding Toledo's non-existant chicken laws ... I was amazed that we can pretty much do whatever we want, as long as it doesn't turn into a "nuisance." The lady at the health department was pretty adamant about there being no regulations. My son lives in Delta, which is farm country, and they are NOT allowed chickens in the city limits. Go figure. (He is MAJOR jealous right now of his mama's chickens!)

Thanks for saying hello and good luck with your next order of chicks.

 

[TheCrazyChick]

Hi and

from a fellow Buckeye. So glad to have you aboard.

Great looking chicks and coop. There is a forum for Ohio members if you want to come say hello.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/12049/ohio-come-on-buckeyes-let-me-know-your-out-there

Hello to you, too. Thanks for the link. I actually already made my introductions in December and have subscribed to the Ohio thread. It's the first thing I look at in this forum each day!