what should i do

[chickachickawhat]

well im a beginner. i alreday have to coops. no chickens yet. i have a really nice neighbor who gave me his old coop its 3'by5' and its 3' high. i was wondering how many chickens can be held in there. also i have my main coop that is 8' by 12' and i was wondering how many chickens you can put in there. there will be a run off thats about 10' by 25'. i was wondering if i can put my 3'by5' coop in the fenced in run. is that a good idea or not?
also i just built a chicken tractor with supplies from the old owner of my house left. the chicken tractor is 10' by 2' and its 3 feet high. i was wondering how many chickens i can put in there at once.
i plan on adding photos later. so can you please either pm or leave me some advice thanks

 

[patandchickens]

Please don't repeat a post under a new title, it's confusing and not useful. If you want to essentially 'bump' your post looking for more input, it's easily enough done by replying to it yourself and saying something like 'thanks, what does everyone else think, cuz I would really like more input'

3x5' would be enough for like 4, possibly 5, chickens to sleep in at night as long as they had a goodly amount of outdoors space to use all day every day (like at least 4x10'). If the chickens were going to spend essentially all their time in that coop though I wouldn't put more than two in it, probably banties not standard sized.

8x12 would be enough for up to two dozen chickens to sleep in at night if they had LOTS of outdoor space for all the daytime hours (like, at least 8x24' for two dozen chickens); or up to 10 chickens if they stayed in the coop fulltime.

A 10x2 tractor (assuming they were in it fulltime) would be enough for about two chickens. Maybe three if they were bantams. If you're raising meat chickens for 6-8 weeks, maybe a few more than that.

More space is ALWAYS better than less space-- crowding starts to get you into chickens pecking each other apart, they can be heartless little murderers when they get started at it, and will also increase the amount of problems you have with disease, parasites, etcetera.


Pat

 

[chickachickawhat]

sorry i didnt know how to get more input?
but thanks.
any more advice?

 

[CarlaRiggs]

Pat has given some good advice.

I would suggest you start out using just one of the coops with a few chickens. This way you can get your feet under you and learn the ropes first. Having chickens can be overwhelming at first... their fertilizer output is prodigious.

You'll be cleaning up after them constantly. Getting an area up and safe for the chickens is sometimes hard at first, also. Predators are pretty crafty, and can make you want to pull your hair out. Even figuring out the feed for chickens can be a little baffling when you first begin.
So my advice is to start slowly, with a small flock, and then as you gain more confidence, you can add to it.

Good luck!

Carla

 

[chickachickawhat]

yeah im just starting with 5 rirs. and i live right in front of a wildlife sanctuary and a state park. i have all the predators. my main coop is like on lock down at night there is no way i have predators getting in. for the past couple months i've had night time wildlife cameras out in my yard to see what kind of predators i have to worry about. there are just a few foxes and raccoons and rarely a pack of coyotes. i also have to barnyard cats so they will help out with the mice. i also have a nice bb gun to help out with rats or any small predators or even to scare a small racoon off.

does any one have any more advice?

 

[Dawn419]

Sometimes you just need to have a bit of patience when it comes to more advice/replies, especially this time of the year.

Down South, the days are warming up and alot of us are busy outdoors. I can't speak for everyone but I've got my hands full with getting ready to process our extra roosters, finishing up on our post brooder coop so I can get some 7 week old chicks moved into it because I have another hatch due in a week and need the brooder clean before then and then there's getting seeds started for the garden.

Sorry I can't offer any more advice but patandchickens pretty much said it all!

Dawn

 

[d.k]

* Hi, there! Welcome to BYC! I would only add: Start a compost pile or at least plan where it's going, if you don't have one already AND give some thought to predators that come from above as well. . .My chicken likes our bouganvillia tree for that reason. . .