Newbie questions

[TheNewBean]

Hi all, newbie here.

I've started the planning and research phase of adding a flock to my home here in Seattle. In my research I've come across a couple of things I would love some expert advice on.

A quick summary: I'd like enough chickens to produce enough eggs for 2 people, about a dozen per week. I have a great backyard space that is fully enclosed with a 5 foot fence and plan to let them free range during some daylight hours (monitored to help avoid the birds of prey).

Questions:
-I know chickens are flock animals, but how few is too few? I thought 2 would be great to start with but I've read other places that it's a bad idea.
-I'll be traveling in June for 3 weeks and don't want to add taking care of chickens to my list of to-do's for our house sitters, especially as they'll be small at the time. I'll be back the last week of June and was hoping it wouldn't be too late to add my flock at that time. Is this too late, or just not recommended?
-Lastly, We have a grapevine that attracts raccoons in large numbers. Any advice on making a coop super raccoon proof? I really want my girls to be safe!

I want to be a good chicken mama! Just want to make sure I have all of my bases covered and I'm doing whatever I can to keep them safe and sound.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Nocila]

I'd probably get about 4 or 5 birds, so they have company, but if you're concerned that this would give you too many eggs, you could always get bantams, rather than full sized birds. (I've heard that smaller eggs tend to taste better too!)

It depends on what you're getting. If you want chicks, you could get them at the end of June, but you'll probably want to keep them inside a bit longer, as it might start getting cold around the time they are fully feathered. (This will depend on what the weather is like around where you live, too.) Meanwhile, if you want to get adult birds, you can get them any time, plus, you'll start getting eggs a lot sooner.

I'm from across the water, in the Port Orchard area, and we've had problems with raccoons, as well as weasels, rats, and bears. I doubt you'd have any problem with the bears (Which just need a strong door to the coop, if it's walk in size.), but the weasels, rats, and raccoons are likely to cause you some problems if you aren't careful. With raccoons, the main thing you'll want to consider is the size of chicken wire you use. Raccoons have been known to attack birds through the chicken wire, so smaller wire is better. With raccoons and weasels, you will want to keep the birds in a secure coop at night. Weasels are experts at getting through small spaces, so you'll want your coop to be pretty secure. Rats are a problem with nearly any large coop, but so long as they can't get into the chicken's feeder(s), and your chickens are up high/aren't sleeping on 2" by 2"s, they should be fine. (rats will sometimes eat a bird's toes if they have their toes curled around something, so flat surfaces tend to be safer for them).

Hope this helped!