One thing I had not fully anticipated when preparing for chickens, is that it is very desirable to have TWO separate, secure areas for keeping chickens. We've had our chickens for 10 weeks, and two issues have arisen already:
- Friends offered us a few free hens of the same age, but we have no area to quarantine them.
- We have 4 roosters which are beginning to harass the hens and do battle with each other. We'd like to have a bachelor pen, out of sight of the hens, so that we can grow them out before they head to the freezer.
And while we haven't had the following issues, another space would be nice for a broody hen, or to raise meat birds someday, or for a bird recovering from an injury.
I know many people have a garage, basement, dog crate, or other secure area for this purpose, but we don't.
I spent today converting a carport into a rooster area, but it certainly won't be predator-proof like our coop. I'm not going to move them until things get worse, as I hate to risk losing them.
I just thought someone who is still in the planning stages might want to think about these things.
We haven't even had our first egg yet and we are already talking about expanding next year, by building a separate housing area (albeit much smaller)!
Robin
- Friends offered us a few free hens of the same age, but we have no area to quarantine them.
- We have 4 roosters which are beginning to harass the hens and do battle with each other. We'd like to have a bachelor pen, out of sight of the hens, so that we can grow them out before they head to the freezer.
And while we haven't had the following issues, another space would be nice for a broody hen, or to raise meat birds someday, or for a bird recovering from an injury.
I know many people have a garage, basement, dog crate, or other secure area for this purpose, but we don't.
I spent today converting a carport into a rooster area, but it certainly won't be predator-proof like our coop. I'm not going to move them until things get worse, as I hate to risk losing them.
I just thought someone who is still in the planning stages might want to think about these things.
We haven't even had our first egg yet and we are already talking about expanding next year, by building a separate housing area (albeit much smaller)!
Robin
