Off grid cabin with chickens and limited access - possible?

[TreeFarmer85]

I'm a Sullivan County, NY resident with a small flock and think you should reconsider. Depending on where you are (and it sounds like your cabin is in an area like me in a more wooded, rural spot) you're going to have lots of issues with predators. I have racoons, fox, coyotes, hawks, stray dogs (the worst in my opinion) you name it, try and get my birds. We also have bears, but so far (knock on wood) they haven't seemed interested in bothering the birds.

Last year around this time when I was away and had my mother babysitting the chickens she lost half of them to a fox while letting them free range. I never let them free range unsupervised now because of the predators. The fact that you'll be leaving them there on their own for days (weeks perhaps) at a time is just asking for trouble in my opinion.

If you were a full time resident and who could keep an eye on them everyday I would feel differently. But under the circumstances I think you're just setting yourself up for failure and a lot of dead birds.

If you're completely set on doing this then either build your own coop or buy the best quality pre-fab one you can get (I have an OverEZ brand coop which I really like but it was very expensive) and setup a battery or solar powered auto door that you mentioned that opens into an enclosed run (hardware cloth on all sides and buried too with a enclosed top of either chicken wire or preferably hardware cloth along with a tarp for some shade) and only let them out to fee range when you're there with them. Have a large heated waterer for the winter though I don't know how long that will last on battery or solar. If my water isn't heated it freezes very quickly, especially this winter which as you now was bitterly cold.

As far as breeds go I have (had) both red and black sex links since I have the birds for egg production. I'm down to one black sex link (aforementioned fox attack) and would say I think black sex links handle the cold and the heat (remember we can get very hot humid days in the summer along with cold winters) better. Red sex links are somewhat similar to Rhode Island Red. My sex links are friendly in the sense that they like to be near you but don't really like being handled too much.

I also have (had) Guinea Fowl. Down to one now (also a fox attack). They can be loud but once they get used to you/your family/the critters in your local environment they're not too bad. I also got them for ticks and think they're a bit overblown in their tick eating abilities. They're pretty birds, though, and would get them again for that. They're also the best alarm system I've ever had. If you raise them with chickens they go to the coop each night with them. At least mine do. The males can be a bit aggressive too. My last one is male and during mating season (spring/summer) charges me sometimes. I never get hurt and kind of find it funny but it might injure your kids if they're small.

 

[BuffNumber14]

stray dogs (the worst in my opinion)

 

[NatJ]

You think I shouldn't touch the eggs then? assuming I check and find all eggs when I am there some eggs can be two weeks old. Too long?

Some of the eggs will be fine, some not.

Each time you visit, I would take every egg out of the nest. Any that stink, just toss them off in the woods.

Any eggs that do not stink, take them home and candle them to check the size of the air cell. Giant air cell you dispose of, smaller air cell you open each egg carefully into a dish before cooking with it. Or you can float test them instead of the candling. Giant air cell makes the egg float, and means the egg is old. Smaller air cell lets the egg sink and means the egg is relatively fresh. Again, check each one when you crack it.

Those are the same tests that you would use if you had free-range hens at your own home and found a hidden nest with eggs of unknown ages.

By taking every egg, every time, you are not leaving any eggs to get older yet.

order of importance is 1.tick 2. winter. 3. friendly.

Have you considered just getting a bunch of males? That would mean no eggs to think about. Males are usually cheaper to buy, too. That applies if you buy them as day-old chicks from a hatchery and raise them, or if you buy them from some other source. If you watch the buy/sell/trade section here, you might find cockerels cheap or free from people who don't want them (they hatched eggs and half the chicks were male, or they bought sexed chicks but some were mis-sexed.)

A group of male chickens will usually live together without major problems if they have enough space (big coop/run area). If there are no hens around to fight over, that can also help them live together more peacefully.

Of course a group of males will do a lot of crowing. If anyone nearby cares about the sound, that could be a problem.

If you are specificially looking for winter-hardy males, consider breeds with pea combs and small wattles. That would include Buckeyes and Brahmas, and also many of the Easter Eggers and Olive Eggers that are popular recently. If you don't figure out a way to keep the water from freezing, it won't matter what kind of combs & wattles the chickens have. They will run into trouble from thirst (water frozem) before it gets cold enough for any style of comb & wattles to suffer frostbite.