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sagemccoy

sagemccoy

In the Brooder
Jul 16, 2018
12
25
41
Northwest Arkansas
Hello! I'm Sage. I have zero chickens, but I want to change that! I live in a house with two other humans and I have been tasked with researching backyard chickens for the household so that we can get a little flock someday! We have a great backyard for it, want the benefit of them eating bugs and making us eggs as well as being adorable pets! We live in Northwest Arkansas, and several of our neighbors have chickens, so we're in the right zone. The co-op we want to get our chicks from someday have a 6 chick minimum, so that's probably what we'll go for when we finally pull the trigger and get wee babies. ANY tips or tricks for having chickens for the first time are welcome! Especially looking for affordable / easy plans for coops.

I really love this coop, but the company is based in australia and don't ship to the US, boo! https://www.backyardchickencoops.com.au/chook-pens/the-taj-mahal/
 
I have used a watermelon box as a chick brooder. Maybe this will give you some ideas for your chicks while you plan for your coop and run.
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Welcome.

My favorite hints/advice:

build your coop. Pre-fabs are over priced, poorly designed, falsely advertised, made of inferior materials. Minimum coop requirements: 4 s.f. of floor space/bird. An area = to 10 % of floor space or 1 s.f./bird should be the MINIMUM amount of ventilation. I strongly recommend that you build a walk in style coop and a walk in style run. Chicken wire will not keep predators out. Build your coop before you get your chicks.

MHP style brooding system. You can brood your chicks right in the coop.

Deep litter management in coop and run.

Fermented feed.

Poultry Nutri Drench is a life saver for chicks.
 
sagemccoy said:
Hello! I'm Sage.

I really love this coop, but the company is based in australia and don't ship to the US, boo! https://www.backyardchickencoops.com.au/chook-pens/the-taj-mahal/
Click to expand...
Hi Sage,
Welcome to BYC!
You're already a lot smarter than most of us ... we waited until AFTER we had our chickens to figure out what we were doing! Take a look at the Coop Articles (along the top menu bar) to get ideas. There are LOTS of great coops there. You can pick and choose pieces of lots of different styles to build exactly what you want.
You might want to decide on the breeds of chickens you want before you start building your coop, because some of them have different needs and temperaments. And you don't have to stick with the chicks available at your local feed store. There are hatcheries that will ship as few as three peeps, depending on the breed and time of year. And then there's the local thread here on BYC. Make sure you sign up for that, 'cause you never know what will turn up, there! You're gonna have fun!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC

On this link you'll find lots of information on almost every aspect of keeping birds - from coop building ideas, to incubating eggs - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/

There’s a link on the page above to the Learning Centre - it’s a great resource. If you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.

Each week, various topics are discussed, which can also be a great resource - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive


This is a useful link relating to guides to read through - https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/website-announcements-feedback-issues-guides.3/?prefix_id=3


You can use this link to contact members in your area - Find your State's thread.

Best wishes

Pork Pie
 

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