Hello there! My name is Briana and I am brand new here. I don't have chickens yet, but I have finally convinced my husband (only after years of gentle begging!) to let me get a small flock of chickens! My almost 5 year old son is also very excited. We won't be getting them until the spring, but we will be working on the coop in the next month or so. Until spring I plan to do lots of reading so I'm prepared for my newest members of the family. We will only be getting 5-6 chickens, just enough to provide some eggs for us and maybe some extra for family members. Mostly we are just getting them as pets and to enjoy their company.
We live on 5 acres, lots of wide open space as well as a nice little cleaned out forest (husband cleared all the low branches so people can walk through it fairly easy) perfect for cover. The coop is going to be nestled up next to the forest, so they can choose where they would like to free roam. I only plan on free roaming when I am home to keep an eye on them, we live right next to a river and have tons of bald eagles and hawks that fly overhead daily. In fact, the bald eagle pair just had some babies who we have enjoyed watching grow up. They are now adolescents and constantly sitting in a tree by our deck talking back and forth with each other. They are beautiful, but hopefully with us out with the chickens during free range time, they won't bother them.
The coop is going to be the Wichita style, with an attached run for predator prevention. The run will be 10 feet long, 8 feet tall, 6 feet wide. The coop itself is 3 feet deep, 6 feet wide and 5 feet tall, will this be enough room for 5-6 chickens? I also live in Northern Maine where we get nasty winters with lots of snow and below zero temps, so I know a lot of their time will in the coop during freezing weather.
Anyways, one of my biggest concerns is the poop! My husband is finally allowing me to have my chickens, but I am terrified they are going to leave poop everywhere and drive him crazy. Do they generally roam enough to spread out the poop? I have 5 acres, but I have this fear they are only going to stay right by his garage and poop everywhere!! Also, my son goes outside to play in the back yard, am I going to have to watch out for land minds every where? Or do you think with only having a small flock I won't notice that much of an issue with the yard space we have?
I work at an animal hospital and rehabilitated a wild baby crow. When I released him, he stuck around all summer long, he bonded to me very much so. He finally migrated somewhere warmer over the winter, but returned this spring much to my surprise! He has since gone to a wild life sanctuary due to other crows attacking him every single day...but what I do know is that bird pooped A LOT. His favorite hang out spot was our wrap around deck, and I was forever washing it down with a house. So I guess I'm worried that there is going to be poop everywhere from 5 chickens, since one little crow could make such a mess!!
Great to be here, I will be around reading and learning until we get our babies in the spring!
We live on 5 acres, lots of wide open space as well as a nice little cleaned out forest (husband cleared all the low branches so people can walk through it fairly easy) perfect for cover. The coop is going to be nestled up next to the forest, so they can choose where they would like to free roam. I only plan on free roaming when I am home to keep an eye on them, we live right next to a river and have tons of bald eagles and hawks that fly overhead daily. In fact, the bald eagle pair just had some babies who we have enjoyed watching grow up. They are now adolescents and constantly sitting in a tree by our deck talking back and forth with each other. They are beautiful, but hopefully with us out with the chickens during free range time, they won't bother them.
The coop is going to be the Wichita style, with an attached run for predator prevention. The run will be 10 feet long, 8 feet tall, 6 feet wide. The coop itself is 3 feet deep, 6 feet wide and 5 feet tall, will this be enough room for 5-6 chickens? I also live in Northern Maine where we get nasty winters with lots of snow and below zero temps, so I know a lot of their time will in the coop during freezing weather.
Anyways, one of my biggest concerns is the poop! My husband is finally allowing me to have my chickens, but I am terrified they are going to leave poop everywhere and drive him crazy. Do they generally roam enough to spread out the poop? I have 5 acres, but I have this fear they are only going to stay right by his garage and poop everywhere!! Also, my son goes outside to play in the back yard, am I going to have to watch out for land minds every where? Or do you think with only having a small flock I won't notice that much of an issue with the yard space we have?
I work at an animal hospital and rehabilitated a wild baby crow. When I released him, he stuck around all summer long, he bonded to me very much so. He finally migrated somewhere warmer over the winter, but returned this spring much to my surprise! He has since gone to a wild life sanctuary due to other crows attacking him every single day...but what I do know is that bird pooped A LOT. His favorite hang out spot was our wrap around deck, and I was forever washing it down with a house. So I guess I'm worried that there is going to be poop everywhere from 5 chickens, since one little crow could make such a mess!!
Great to be here, I will be around reading and learning until we get our babies in the spring!
Your coop and run sound big enough. As for them pooping, we free range ours on 2 acres and when we go into the yard we don't really have to worry about stepping into anything (although it does happen sometimes). You shouldn't have to worry about it since you have more room, but do know that just like your crow they tend to pick favorite spots to stick around and you don't want it to be your garage. To prevent them from hanging out by your garage, patio, porch, or any undesired location you need to never feed them anywhere close to those areas. Don't leave dog food or something in their reach or else they'll come back for more. Shoo them away from the garage if they get too close and try to feed them in a certain spot away from the house that you don't mind a little poop collecting. If you do that you won't have to worry about much so good luck and enjoy your chickens 
