Starting My Reasearch

[ChikaD]

I was told to start here with an introduction. So, hi, I'm someone interested in chickens, obviously. I have two (very little) kids, boy and girl, and we live with my mother. Our little family is planning to move up to somewhere central or northern WI soon. We fully intend to have a rural location with enough space for kids, animals, and garden. I would like to start building my coop next spring, and I am using this summer and winter to research and plan. My interests include gardening and homesteading and "real food" cooking and all that hippie stuff, but I am very turned off by those smug "greener than thou" attitudes some people get, so I keep my interests fairly private around people irl. I lot of my Googling for chicken info has brought me back to forum threads on this site, so I decided to join up. Right now I am just designing my coop... what features I need, what capacity I need, etc. I've got a general plan, but I know little about framing, and I am trying to find clear pictures and diagrams for building/framing techniques. Any links to threads or sites on this topic would be appreciated.

 

[Nevaschickens]

Here's a link that I think will help.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops

 

[TINCHER]

Welcome!
I like all that hippie stuff, too. My bf and I just wached Fat, Sick and Nearly dead and are going to do a juice fast starting around Easter. We both have juicers already and are very excited!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Good luck with all your projects! A great place to start reading is the Learning Center, lots of nice articles on all aspects of chicken keeping. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center This is a really nice article on deciding how much room you need, https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need ... usually people wind up getting more chickens than they figured at first, so consider building bigger.
For coops, check out the coop section for the type of coop you have in mind, many of them have pretty detailed plans included and a link to a thread on the Coop/Run design forum detailing the build, you could also PM members if you have questions about a specific coop you like https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/large-chicken-coop-designs-pictures-of-chicken-coops and a nice member page dealing with cold weather coops https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures
You might also like to check out the Wisconsin state thread for advice on building coops to deal with the weather up there https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/245700/wisconsin-cheeseheads

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

Looks like Kelsie has set you up with all the links you need to get started!

Good luck with all your new projects and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

[gander007]

 

[Duckopolis]

Good luck with your poultry raising adventures,and I hope you find everything you need to know. Don't forget to take a look at BYC's very useful learning center (If you haven't already)! The learning center as well as the forum should answer your questions! Glad to have you here! See you around the forum. The BYC coops link may prove helpful!