The Chicken Shack - Construction

[knjinnm]

If you plan on egg birds and not meat type birds I highly recommend standard Ameraucana. Very friendly, lay well and are available in a variety of colors.

 

[jmbinfo]

Quote:
Cool! I'll look into this. I was leaning toward Marans only because I read:

Chicken Breed Info:

Purpose: Egg Layer
Comb: Single
Broodiness: Seldom
Climate Tolerance: All Climates

General Egg Info:

Productivity: Medium
Size: Large
Color: Dark Brown

Breed Temperament:

Friendly,Easily handled,Bears confinement well,Quiet,Docile


Breed Colors / Varieties:

Black Copper Marans


Since I am SUPER NEW ( as in NEVER even touched a chicken before ) I particularily like the "friendly, easily handled, bears confinement well, quiet, docilt parts. LOL

Thoughts?

 

[bustermommy]

Your coop is so pretty, I showed it to my husband. He thinks you used 2x4 for the cleats on your ramp. He suggested you might be happier with 1x2s or firring strips so the chicken feet will fit on them better, especially when they're small.

 

[jmbinfo]

Quote:
Thank you. Yes, I agree with your husband that I should have used 1x2s. I think I'll "try" to add 1x2s in between the 2x4s and also add a small piece of 1/2 trim board on top of the 2x4s to give them a little more traction. Ask him if he thinks that would work.

I might have to just start over on the crazy ramp.

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
Cool! I'll look into this. I was leaning toward Marans only because I read:
Since I am SUPER NEW ( as in NEVER even touched a chicken before ) I particularly like the "friendly, easily handled, bears confinement well, quiet, docile parts. LOL Thoughts?

Since you are new to chickens and your coop is not huge, forty-two square feet, you should limit the number of birds to 6-8, a couple more if you decide to get bantams. So you should start looking for breeders in your area since hatcheries usually ship in lots of 25+.

Marans are a fad breed in my opinion, every breeder thinks their eggs are worth big bucks and you'll need an incubator (more bucks) since most breeders don't ship chicks. Hatchery Marans probably don't have the egg color most people expect them to have. Hatchery Ameraucana are the same, instead of blue eggs most if not all lay olive colored eggs and you have to order 25 at a time.

This is an old post but the pictures are a good reference for bantam Ameraucanas.

Do you plan to have a rooster?

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
I know I'm chiming in late on the coop ... Is the top of the run covered? It appears to be but if not it will need to be covered to keep out predators which can climb wire or one of the nearby trees.
Also, I didn't see any mention of a ground barrier to prevent predators from digging under the run. I would attach one inch poultry wire to the bottom of the run and stretch it out two feet from the run. Another precaution would be to put half inch hardware wire/cloth up the side of the run for at least two feet to keep out mice and snakes. Next would be an electric barrier.
And close the ramp door every night just in case a predator does get in the run.

My thoughts.

 

[allieloveschickens]

I had Barred Rocks here in San Diego for a while, they did not mind being cooped up too much and seemed to do well in the heat- they also laid very reliably! Usually one egg each every day, sometimes one or two would take a day off but very rarely.

My current flock is mixed- 1 black australorp (not yet laying), 1 cuckoo maran- hatchery quality, also not yet laying so not sure about egg color yet, not too concerned though. 1 standard cochin- wouldn't recommend cochins as she gets really hot with all her feathers, always panting! 1 red sex link- she does well in the heat and is already laying. 1 welsummer/mix- she also does not seem to mind the heat, but she isn't laying so I don't know how her egg production will be yet.

I also used to have hatchery Ameraucanas (easter eggers) and they laid very pretty light blue green eggs usually one each a day- they also seemed very heat tolerant.

good luck choosing chickens! It's so much fun

Also your coop is beautiful!

 

[jmbinfo]

Quote:
I know I'm chiming in late on the coop ... Is the top of the run covered? It appears to be but if not it will need to be covered to keep out predators which can climb wire or one of the nearby trees.
Also, I didn't see any mention of a ground barrier to prevent predators from digging under the run. I would attach one inch poultry wire to the bottom of the run and stretch it out two feet from the run. Another precaution would be to put half inch hardware wire/cloth up the side of the run for at least two feet to keep out mice and snakes. Next would be an electric barrier.
And close the ramp door every night just in case a predator does get in the run.

My thoughts.

Yes, the top is covered and the sides are buried about 6 inches deep. Now, I didn't consider just putting a 12in-24in horizontal barrier all the way around which is a great idea so I'll do that. We have tons of predators so I'm sure something will get in. I might electrify it if if gets bad.

Its just been too dang hot here in North Texas to think about chickens right now. Hopefully in Sept. I'll get some.

 

[jmbinfo]

Well, time for an update. I got chickens in September:

And yesterday ( Dec. 22nd ) we FINALLY got eggs:

My son said: "We are finally farmers!" LOL

 

[DJKearns]

Congratulations on the eggs and being farmers. we finally got our chickens 11/1/11 so have a ways to wait until we see/taste fresh eggs