Hello everyone! My name is Katy (hence my username 
) and my fiance and I are considering building ourselves a coop and getting some laying hens. We are hoping to have some fresh eggs mostly for ourselves, and likely our parents (although I don't want a TON of hens and a TON of eggs either!). I am hoping that by joining this forum before we have invested a penny into this endeavor, we can have a head-start on information and a fewer lessons learned the hard way. Any advice we can have thrown at us would be WONDERFUL. I am hoping to raise them organically, but I am not looking to sell the eggs, so it wont be the end of the world if I fail in that regard.
What our plan is so far (feel free to let us know the flaws!): We hope to build our own coop so that we can save some money, get what we want, and trust that it is clean (versus buying an already used one). We will not be letting the chickens roam around our yard free range, we don't want other animals to see a free meal! We are thinking of having between 3-4 laying hens, enough so we can have some eggs, but not so many that we feel over-whelmed by what we have!
A little about us: We will be married in 2014, and have been together 4 years this month! We have a plethora of fur-babies, and at the moment, they are our children. We have 3 kitties: Max (2), Wally, and Ivan (1). And of course, we have one boxer: Levi (3). The cats are indoor-only because we couldn't bear the thought of them getting outside and never returning.
) and my fiance and I are considering building ourselves a coop and getting some laying hens. We are hoping to have some fresh eggs mostly for ourselves, and likely our parents (although I don't want a TON of hens and a TON of eggs either!). I am hoping that by joining this forum before we have invested a penny into this endeavor, we can have a head-start on information and a fewer lessons learned the hard way. Any advice we can have thrown at us would be WONDERFUL. I am hoping to raise them organically, but I am not looking to sell the eggs, so it wont be the end of the world if I fail in that regard.What our plan is so far (feel free to let us know the flaws!): We hope to build our own coop so that we can save some money, get what we want, and trust that it is clean (versus buying an already used one). We will not be letting the chickens roam around our yard free range, we don't want other animals to see a free meal! We are thinking of having between 3-4 laying hens, enough so we can have some eggs, but not so many that we feel over-whelmed by what we have!
A little about us: We will be married in 2014, and have been together 4 years this month! We have a plethora of fur-babies, and at the moment, they are our children. We have 3 kitties: Max (2), Wally, and Ivan (1). And of course, we have one boxer: Levi (3). The cats are indoor-only because we couldn't bear the thought of them getting outside and never returning.
Good luck with your flock!
