OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[autumnhearth]

Hi we live in Cuyahoga county in Cleveland and we're very new still looking at coops and reading everything we can . We're taking a class end of March any help or advice is appreciated

Welcome! We're in Berea. Are you taking the class at Grace Brothers? I went last year, they gave some good basics but I would definitely advise reading up beforehand. Check out a chicken keeping book from the library, my husband and I read "Chickens: Tending a Small Scale Flock by Sue Weaver", put out by Hobby Farms. I also liked The Chicken Chick and Fresh Eggs Daily on FB and read their blogs. They contradict each other on a few things like sand and DE but overall good advice. How many chickens are you thinking of getting? If I could give you just one piece of advice it would be to purchase a Brinsea Ecoglow warmer, much safer than a heat lamp https://www.brinsea.com/p-375-ecoglow-20-chick-brooder.aspx you can enter the code FRESH to get 10% off.

 

[j7sew56]

Welcome!  We're in Berea.  Are you taking the class at Grace Brothers?  I went last year, they gave some good basics but I would definitely advise reading up beforehand.  Check out a chicken keeping book from the library, my husband and I read "Chickens: Tending a Small Scale Flock by Sue Weaver", put out by Hobby Farms.  I also liked The Chicken Chick and Fresh Eggs Daily on FB and read their blogs.  They contradict each other on a few things like sand and DE but overall good advice.  How many chickens are you thinking of getting?  I would highly recommend purchasing a Brinsea Ecoglow warmer, much safer than a heat lamp.

 

[Outpost JWB]

Welcome @j7sew56 ! What breeds are you looking at getting? If you have any questions, let us know. We are here to help.

 

[j7sew56]

Hi thanks for the information we will look up the books at the library . We're only getting 4 chickens at most we have a very small backyard. Yes we're taking the class at Grace brothers .

 

[j7sew56]

Welcome @j7sew56
!  What breeds are you looking at getting?  If you have any questions, let us know.  We are here to help.

 

[j7sew56]

Hi we really aren't sure what breeds we want friendly for sure good layers and of course cold tolerant it's been so cold this year

 

[autumnhearth]

Hi thanks for the information we will look up the books at the library . We're only getting 4 chickens at most we have a very small backyard. Yes we're taking the class at Grace brothers .

Of course! Personally I think that all the coops sold at Grace Brothers are too small for more than 2 chickens (regardless of how many they say they hold). If they are in close quarters they will likely start picking on each other. Edited to add: all the coops I've seen for sale in front of their North Royalton location are too small but the largest one of their website The Hen Plaza looks like the right dimensions for 4-8 hens.

We built our own and spent over $400 for the coop and at least another $200 for the run (we made it human height and hardware cloth is expensive). Our run isn't covered but we will be covering it this year (we have bird netting on top which has been great against predators but I want to add plastic panels to keep the rain and snow out). It took a lot of weekends and was quite stressful.

There are a few craftsmen on Craigslist that have good size coops under $1000 (which is what most commercially sold coops start at). http://akroncanton.craigslist.org/grq/4833715676.html https://cleveland.craigslist.org/grd/4912369331.html (another family in Berea has one from the second link). If it doesn't have good ventilation near the top, ask them to add it. A drive down to Medina or Berlin may be worthwhile.

Also be aware of chicken math. We got six chicks last April, one turned out to be a roo so we gave it away. Now we are getting three more chicks on Monday. I want a couple more layers beyond that for eggs for the neighbors and family but the husband refuses to expand.

Edited to add: Look for breeds with smaller combs. We love our Easter Egger, she is the only one who didn't get any frostbite this winter. She was the first to lay, lays 5-6 eggs a week and they are a beautiful blue-green!

Our Buff Orpington only got a tiny bit of mild frostbite on the very tips of her small comb. She lays 4-5 pinkish brown eggs a week and is super friendly and loves to snuggle. While our Black Copper Marans lays gorgeous dark brown eggs, she got the worst frostbite on her large comb and hasn't laid since December

Our Golden Buff (red sex-link) has a big comb and got frostbite but never slowed down laying. She skips only one day a month. She is friendly when it comes to treats but not snuggly. My favorite as far as temperment is our Silver Grey Dorking, but it might not be the best choice if you are only getting 4 chickens as she was the last to lay and lays medium-small white eggs, though she does lay 5-6 a week.

I would look into Wyandottes (rose combs), Sussex (great layers, friendly and smaller single combs), Australorps (great layers, cold hardy) oh and Buckeyes (pea comb, good layers, developed in Ohio).

 

[j7sew56]

We thought the same about Grace Brothers coops and have thought of building but we're not very building savvy . I will check Craigslist too.

 

[Outpost JWB]

Chicken math.....I was going to mention that being that you are new,,, but I didn't want to scare you away....LOL! We started out 2 years ago with 6 laying hens. New Hampshire, Rhode Island Red, and Red Sex Link. Wanted a rooster, but when we went to pick him up from the farmer, she said we HAD to take both or none. So, 6 hens, 2 roosters. Got an incubator. Who doesn't love baby fluffy butt chicks??? Once, twice hatching out babies. Then had a rescue mission and got 30+ chickens out of that deal. Some time in 2013 we had 98 chickens. We have 3 acres, but housing for them was just build as we go.

We are down to a respectable 58 now. Still have about 10 roosters that need sent to freezer camp. Also getting a couple different breeds and next month I will fire up the incubator AGAIN!

Good luck with your 3. They are more addictive than you could every imagine.

 

[j7sew56]

Omg I couldn't imagine 98 chickens especially since here in the city we aren't allowed anywhere near that many ! I think the most we can do is 6 on our small lot . We only have a 30 x 80 lot with a house and a small garage . We've never used the garage and are thinking of making it into a coop by portioning off one side adding ventilation and insulation etc. you have definitely given us a lot to think about . Thanks so much