We're just getting started here in Colorado with our chicken adventures. We haven't bought a coop or chickens yet. Well, we did buy a coop, but had to return it as it seemed poorly made. I welcome any suggestions on breeds or pre-fab coops. We just don't have the time to build one right now. We can have up to 4 hens, and we plan on starting with just 2 or 3.
There are SO many breeds out there, so I highly recommend checking out the Breeds tab at the top of the page here, along with this forum: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/14/breeds-genetics-showing I made the mistake of thinking I knew what I wanted, until I saw other breeds, and then even more unique breeds - my 2 hen limit increased to 3 and then 4 and now I'm trying to stop (and failing, lol) https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/category/chicken-breeds Coops I suggest http://chickencoopcondos.com/coop-models/chicken-cabins/ if you want one premade that is extremely sturdy and proven...they test each one after it's made. They're all made in USA, and not by a manufacturer. If you DO ever want to try the journey of making your own coop, this is a GREAT thread here at BYC you can use to refer to, or use for inspiration: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/9/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance Welcome, and have fun!
from Ohio! Congrats on soon becoming a chicken mom. Two or three chickens will be super easy to handle, you'll have to post pics when you get them. I can't give you much advice on coops . My coop, while very functional and perfect for chickens, is kinda ugly and built into our barn. My chickens don't notice, though, and they seem to like their home just fine. Enjoy the vast amounts of information BYC has to offer. I find myself on here nearly every night pouring over post to find out why my chickens are crazy. Turns out, they're just chickens!
Greetings from Kansas, Jessi, and ! Pleased you joined us! Just starting out is a fin time - anxiety mixed with anticipation! You'll do great! Enjoy your birds and good luck!
Welcome Jessi...from Fort collins! We just got our girls in July and have really been enjoying them. We wanted them for fresh eggs, so after research, we decided on Red Sexlinks. Fortunately we found a lady up in Wellington who had 6 started pullets for sale (we're allowed 6 where we live) and have been thrilled with them! We average 5 eggs a day, between large and jumbo size and they are so tasty! DH was able to build our coop, but we actually got the chickens first...they lived in a rabbit cage quite happily for about 3 weeks till their new house was done. So, I can't offer too much advice about purchasing one. You could keep an eye out for even a large doghouse on craigs list...one that's reasonably well made could pretty easily be converted for chickens. The main thing about the coop is that you have to have LOTS of ventilation where the wind won't blow directly ON the chickens when they're at their highest point...usually when they're roosting. Unless you're going to let them free range, you'll also need a run of some sort to keep them contained. We built one out of metal conduit and hardware cloth so it's movable, since our coop is movable as well...we only have our back yard so we move it around about every 3 days; that way they always have fresh grass and aren't on any one patch long enough to destroy it. Before we made it, we used the metal conduit pieces as poles, wove them through chicken wire (we're pretty much predator free here) and pounded them in the ground to form a temporary pen around the cage. It worked quite well, but since we do sometimes get hawks, I like the covered one better...it's only about 20" tall, so the two of us can easily carry it to the new spot.
