What am I forgetting?

[Cass]

Quote:
Haven't bought anything yet. I am going to ask the breeder I am getting them from what they eat and get it on my way home with the birds. I still have to research where the local Agway is and what brand they carry of "stuff". TSC is just up the road a piece and I know their product selection far to well for not owning a bird yet.

Snacks? Not going to indulge them .

(I am buidling a 8x8 foot coop for 5 birds....you think I am already hooked before I even own one pullet?)

I am planning to pick them up either Friday night or Saturday morning, so I will have a couple of days off and not miss any work to be with them. (Sorry, I need every nickel I make to pay for chicken feed

)

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I do let my girls free range but only when I am out in the yard.. In the summer it means much more time out-- but in the winter it's only an hour or so a day...

We used chain link fencing to completely enclose the run. It is buried 2 foot deep and in an "L" - 2 foot wide in the bottom of the ditch.. then it is covered w/ a foot of broken bricks and sand on top.. I have 3 ft. x 1/2" hadware cloth at the bottom of the run it is fastened to 2x6 w/ bolts and screws//

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Seriously, get a live trap . You do not want to stay up all night waiting to shoot a predator. Much better to do it in the morning.

 

[patman75]

Chicken.Lytle :

Seriously, get a live trap . You do not want to stay up all night waiting to shoot a predator. Much better to do it in the morning.

X2, it is much easier to take care of business in the morning than an all night game of sniper.​

 

[Cass]

Quote:
X2, it is much easier to take care of business in the morning than an all night game of sniper.

but will I need to kill any predators if my coop and run are as "bullet proof" as you all are advising me to make it? Hmm???

We only have to kill those who harm our own, right?

I have a LOT of squirrels, feild rats and mice, snakes and hawks....I am thinking I am going to have to use hardware cloth for the whole run....this is NOT going to be cheap.

How about putting the brooder areas/coop at the far end of the run and using chicken wire to divide off the part of the run near the brooder area ...they will be able to see each other from the very start, but the new babies won't be able to get out until I let them out with the big birds? For added safety the brooder mini coop could be inside the run, closed when not in use.

I'm really trying to do this "right" the first time, cuz I don't think I am going to get my SO to keep adding on once it is done. This is my gig and not his idea of a good time.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

How about visiting someone who has had chickens for a while, discuss what you're doing and see/hear/smell a chicken flock in real life. I didn't and BOY is it an eye-opener! But I wouldn't trade our girls and boys for anything!

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Quote:
Haven't bought anything yet. I am going to ask the breeder I am getting them from what they eat and get it on my way home with the birds. I still have to research where the local Agway is and what brand they carry of "stuff". TSC is just up the road a piece and I know their product selection far to well for not owning a bird yet.

Snacks? Not going to indulge them .

(I am buidling a 8x8 foot coop for 5 birds....you think I am already hooked before I even own one pullet?)

I am planning to pick them up either Friday night or Saturday morning, so I will have a couple of days off and not miss any work to be with them. (Sorry, I need every nickel I make to pay for chicken feed

)

=======
You sure you want to leave your birds in the car while you go in the store to buy the feed?

 

[Cass]

Quote:
I have chicken experience from childhood, including rogue rooster who aimed for the eyes (Only time I was glad I wore glasses as a child). But I did what the adults told me to do, and had no input on scope of the coop, or dealing with predator proofing the area. I do remember that the nest boxes where TOTALLY different than what people are using now a days. They faced up and were full of hay....I remember digging in the hay to find the eggs, cuz the hens hid them from us. I also remember mucking out the coop about every six weeks....nasty job, done with a pitch fork that had a mind of it's own. Threw the floor covering (straw, I think) into a wheelbarrel and dumped it out in the manure pile.

I helped my father install one of the first automatic egg gathering systems at an "egg farm" in my home town. Those poor chickens...no bedding, just wire cages with a slight slant to the back so the egg rolled onto the conveyor belt . Once a day the belt was turned on and the eggs went downstairs...the design was pretty cool with flaps every 4 inches to catch and hold the eggs for a ride downstairs to the packing room. All the chickens were white and when they stopped laying they were sold to Cambells for soup. If I recall right they replaced 1/4 of their flock each year with new POL pullets, so their flock was totally renewed every 2 years. Downstairs, in the back of the "coop"...a really really long building, actually...was a brooder area where they raised the chicks to laying age. I don't know if they bought the chicks or hatched fertile eggs they bought elsewhere (cuz none of theirs where fertile, no roosters allowed)

That was where I fell in love with chickens. 150-200 fuzzy peeping chicks all wanting to be petted. What's not to love? And why I am building an 8x8 coop for 5 chickens. I already know how much fun Hundreds of chicks can be and suspect that the chicken math is gonna catch up with me sooner than it does most people...so I am planning for it from the start.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
Haven't bought anything yet. I am going to ask the breeder I am getting them from what they eat and get it on my way home with the birds. I still have to research where the local Agway is and what brand they carry of "stuff". TSC is just up the road a piece and I know their product selection far to well for not owning a bird yet.

Snacks? Not going to indulge them .

(I am buidling a 8x8 foot coop for 5 birds....you think I am already hooked before I even own one pullet?)

I am planning to pick them up either Friday night or Saturday morning, so I will have a couple of days off and not miss any work to be with them. (Sorry, I need every nickel I make to pay for chicken feed

)

=======
You sure you want to leave your birds in the car while you go in the store to buy the feed?

It'll be mid-April in Upstate NY. They'll be fine for the 10 minutes it'll take to buy the feed.

I left my ducklings in the car in March to run into store to buy feed, bedding, waterer and feeder.... they were fine.

And these will be 10 - 12 weeks old, fully feathered....they have to survive worse in their lives...I'm not planning to insulate my coop.

 

[PatS]

You still need to get LAWN CHAIRS so you can spend hours watching "chicken tv," and having morning coffee with the birds.