Hi all. Am new to BYC. Just starting out with my first urban flock of girls. My co-workers are looking forward to having fresh eggs from a reliable (and healthy) source, and I'm so pleased that we will hopefully be able to share our bounty with them. Have had a small but productive square-foot garden for several years, and always bring in extras from the garden to the office, so this will be a nice bonus for them.
We have eight young ladies: two each of Buff Orpington, Brown Leghorn and Red Sex-Links that hubby gave me for my birthday in March. We no sooner got them outside into the coop he built (I'll have to post photos--he did a wonderful job and with no blueprints!), when we went to our local farm supply and ended up coming home with 2 Gold-Laced Wyandottes! They should be ready for their own coop in a week or two. Rather than have Hubby go to a lot of extra work, I opted to purchase a nice coop and extra run, which I put together with a little bit of his help. I added latches and linch pins to secure all of the doors and allow me to use one or both runs, depending on where I want to move them. All we need to do is predator-proof the underside. Planning on using a poultry wire that's large enough that they can scratch and forage, but be safe from neighborhood raccoons and possums, which are the biggest threat so far. Any other suggestions for critter-proofing are welcome.
Since we live in an area that gets lots of sun, heat and humidity (SW Tennessee), we've put up a 12x12 canopy over the coop for the 6 that are currently outdoors. A fan just outside their electified fence gives them with a nice breeze. A mister provides a cool spray, though we don't run it on extremely humid days, as that just seems to make it worse. Do you think our girls are just a little bit spoiled?
Love watching chicken TV, but I'm sure not getting much else done around the house; especially after putting in a full day at the office. The dust-bunnies will always be around, but the chickens are only young once, so best to enjoy them while I can. We get a kick out of their antics, twittering (always) scratching and eating up bugs, grass and other growth in the back yard. The blueberry bushes and swimming pool are off limits, though!
Looking forward to perusing the various threads, and learning more about the ins and outs of urban farming.
We have eight young ladies: two each of Buff Orpington, Brown Leghorn and Red Sex-Links that hubby gave me for my birthday in March. We no sooner got them outside into the coop he built (I'll have to post photos--he did a wonderful job and with no blueprints!), when we went to our local farm supply and ended up coming home with 2 Gold-Laced Wyandottes! They should be ready for their own coop in a week or two. Rather than have Hubby go to a lot of extra work, I opted to purchase a nice coop and extra run, which I put together with a little bit of his help. I added latches and linch pins to secure all of the doors and allow me to use one or both runs, depending on where I want to move them. All we need to do is predator-proof the underside. Planning on using a poultry wire that's large enough that they can scratch and forage, but be safe from neighborhood raccoons and possums, which are the biggest threat so far. Any other suggestions for critter-proofing are welcome.
Since we live in an area that gets lots of sun, heat and humidity (SW Tennessee), we've put up a 12x12 canopy over the coop for the 6 that are currently outdoors. A fan just outside their electified fence gives them with a nice breeze. A mister provides a cool spray, though we don't run it on extremely humid days, as that just seems to make it worse. Do you think our girls are just a little bit spoiled?
Love watching chicken TV, but I'm sure not getting much else done around the house; especially after putting in a full day at the office. The dust-bunnies will always be around, but the chickens are only young once, so best to enjoy them while I can. We get a kick out of their antics, twittering (always) scratching and eating up bugs, grass and other growth in the back yard. The blueberry bushes and swimming pool are off limits, though!
Looking forward to perusing the various threads, and learning more about the ins and outs of urban farming.
and Welcome To BYC! You might want to check out the Predator forum for more suggestions on dealing with them 
