Slightly overwhelmed newbie.

[DarkWolf]

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My pleasure..

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That's happened to me, too.. Well besides my mother who had chickens as a kid. I'd gotten everything from a "You're crazy" from my brother to an "Are you out of your freakin' mind!" from a friend of the family.

I threatened to egg their house with my endless supply.... Muhahahaha..

 

[mediazeal]

I recently got the 'have to have chickens' disease myself.
I'm in Northen California, near a river so critters come through our residential area. I've seen possum, skunks, raccoons, wood rats, squirrels and wild turkey.

I am building a 8 by 16ft covered coop/run combo for 6-10 hens.
Since we dont' have freezing temps, I planned a 3 sided coop. The south facing 8ft side is enclosed in plywood and wrapping around to enclose 8 ft on each side with solid walls of the longer 16 ft sections.

that leaves one half/end enclosed with plywood and one half/end enclosed in hardware cloth all the way up. All covered by coop/pitch roof. Not using any chickenwire.

Built on a concrete slab so prevent digging into it. I will wrap the lower sections of the plywood with hardware cloth to deter rats chewing through.
Has a plywood and shingle roof.
This is as predator/bullet proof as I can make it.

I am using deep litter method, so 4-6 inches of pine shavings on the concrete floor. Add layer of shavings and food grade DE every now and then, let it compost. Clean it all out every 6 months and start again.
Can be hosed down or whatever. rather than a drain, I am leaving one small gap in the baseboard on the open wired side so it will be covered by wire but will let water drain out (level to cement top). Oh, I laid some hardware cloth UNDER the edges of the cement before we poured it so I could wrap it up to cover this 'gap' and not be something that can be bent to get in.

It's big enough that they can stay in 24/7 if need be and I can let them free range when I am there to supervise (hawks and dogs) or build a fenced area with netting over the top for them to range in if I want later.

They will always be in the locked coop/pen at night to keep them away from preditors as best I can. There real danger will be when they are free ranging, so I'm planning on only doing that when my dogs are put in and I'm there to watch for hawks (since I can't have a rooster). If I let them out every evening for an hour before dark, they can free range a little and then put themselves to bed. I just lock the door behind them.

see this 3-sided coop thread, has pics
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=152904

Hope that helps. The info I have gotten from this forum has really helped me tons!!

Hope you enjoy your 'gotta have chickens' disease.

 

[barbieszoo]

"But now I have developed some kind of a sickness, a"chicken fever", as in, I want chickens. Now. Pronto. Stat. I yearn for them. What is with that????"

Man, I've got the same thing! Very odd, really, and rather unexpected. I have always really really liked chickens, and had some as a child. But I've been strangely ok without them for - oh - about 24 years, until this August when I went to the county fair, saw some white silkies (which is the kind I have always wanted, down deep in my subconscious), and it was all over. I started planning incessently (and obsessively) how to: 1. Convince my husband to say I could get two silkie hens 2. Come up with a coop 3. Make it safe and comfy 4. Find really cute white silkies and bring them home!
So far I'm up to the last part of #4!

 

[darkmatter]

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I can't praise the DLM (Deep Litter Method) any higher as to ease of maintenance. I prefer a sub-ground level dirt floor with the Coop on a rot proof (as in brick or concrete) foundation. See my BYC page.
"what do people do if they end up with a rooster by accident?"--------Hatch your own fertile eggs of course and eat the surplus Roos.

 

[halo]

Do yourself a BIG favor.

Sit back, pour yourself a drink, and READ. There is so much incredible information right here on BYC, that Im sure theres a solution to every situation you have thought of and dozens more you havent. And dont stress (too much), its is mostly a lot of fun, and for many, a life changing experience (for the better) getting involved in chickens. And you'll meet some of the finest people you'll ever have the pleasure to know.