Thinking about Chickens

[call ducks]

hi and

can you keep chickens were you live. ( we so need a new priminster ) And a dual purpose breed would be good way to go. But with are canadian winters i would go with one that can stand up to the winter. if you ask around you will get a lot of good answers. and i assume that you are out of city limits ?

 

[nes]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys, I'm not quite sure what were going to do yet but sounds like the tractor really is the best idea.

However the tractors I've seen for egg layers seem quite complicated & expensive to build, does anyone have one that is neither of those things?
(not that hubby couldn't handle a complicated construction, just I really want to keep the cost down).

We are not technically out of city limits but within the boundaries of rural Ottawa, so we have lovely city garbage pick up & they came and cut my ditches yesterday

. We are on a properly zoned farm, chickens wouldn't be a problem; but we really do need a new PM this one is an idiot...

 

[LilbitChicken]

WOW>

from Hereford AZ.
I am still new to chickens, BUT.....I am a stay at home Mom....have 2 little ones....they LOVE to help and learn about the chickens with me.
BUT I can understand all your questions. (not sure I am the one to answer them all!)

ANYTHING can and will work for a coop, with minor changes and thoughts for protection from predators.
It is rewarding to have chickens, for FRESH eggs & meat (if you choose that- I am still too chicken to give up any of my feathered family)

I think you will enjoy having chickens around, putting it off for another year....sounds too long to me!!!

Once you have the idea in your head, and get the coop and run going, you might find out how addicting the chickens are!!!!

WELCOME!!! I wish you all the best luck!!! Have fun!!!
(congrats on your soon to be new arrival also!!!)

 

[AZKat]

A friend of mine is building a chicken tractor like this one:
http://www.mypetchicken.com/Chicken_Coop_Plans-ConvertiCoop_Building_Plans-P506.aspx
I don't think she bought the plans, but rather 'reverse engineered' it from pictures and another friend's chicken tractor.
There are also some good ideas here on BYC and on Instructables.

http://www.instructables.com/tag/?q...pe:forumTopic=on&type:forumTopic=on&sort=none

http://www.instructables.com/tag/?q...pe:forumTopic=on&type:forumTopic=on&sort=none

If you really want to save money, the best way to do it is to adapt an existing building. We're going to spend about $75 on the run for our chickens, and for adapting the existing brick shed to be a coop.

Also, one thing to keep in mind is that a coop is a 'start up' expense, once its built its built.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I dunno... it is really pretty hard (and definitely suboptimal) to winter chickens over in a tractor in this climate. (I know there's a lot of 'hot air' in Ottawa, lol, but surely your climate is pretty close to what we get north of TO). It is quite challenging to strike a balance between a) sufficient ventilation to avoid humidity and thus frostbite, b) preventing drafts at the chickens [since a tractor is so small, there is really nowhere for incoming air to go *but* right at the chickens] and c) excessively cold temperatures. Also it is really not nice for you *or* for the chickens for you to have to shovel snow away and open up one entire side, or roof, of the tractor in order to access it once or twice or three times a day during January blizzards.

Also you can knock together a coop in a corner of an existing shed MUCH CHEAPER than you can build a tractor.

However the tractors I've seen for egg layers seem quite complicated & expensive to build, does anyone have one that is neither of those things?

Not that will be really suitable for wintertime up here. And even a meat-bird style tractor, totally unsuitable for layers, is going to cost as much as a pen knocked together in the corner of a shed plus a small run.

You can get a lot of stuff by scrounging... the only material that it's kind of hit-or-miss whether you can find, for cheap or free, is wire mesh for predatorproofing windows/vents and for the run.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​