Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Celtic Chick]

Hello!

My name is Magen and I live in New Berlin, SE Wisconsin. My husband and I are currently looking into starting a small flock of buff orpington, as I've read that they are very good with small children (we have an 11 year old, 10 year old, and 8 year old) and docile.

I don't have any yet, but will be visiting our local feed store tomorrow to check out availability and cost. I know it's a lot to ship live animals, so I don't want to go the route of a hatchery yet.

Any advice on a good coop for around $300 for 4-5 hens would be appreciated, along with any other advice you have for a beginner!

Nice to meet everyone!

and to the Cheesehead thread Magen! Hope you like it here.

That is a very wise decision not to go the route of shipping chicks from a hatchery to start out. That can be very hard on the chicks and losses are to be expected.

Before we can give you much coop advice, we will need a bit more info to help you out. Does New Berlin have size restrictions for coops? About how large of a space do you have to dedicate to your chicken coop & run? As most of us on here will attest, we usually recommend going with the largest coop you can get away with, as chickens are very addicting and chicken math is inevitable.

Unless your town only allows so many birds?

If you have close neighbors, I highly recommend a sturdy run for your girls which should also be as large as it can be. Chickens love to kill grass & any vegetation they can get their little claws on (and your neighbors might not appreciate that very much). If anyone owns a dog, you will want to keep your girls safe from them and other predators too.

Here are a few links you might want to peruse before you decide to get chickens. As our very wise Bigzio said, it is always a very good idea to research getting an animal before you actually get the animal so you know exactly what to expect before it happens. There are very many things to consider. And after doing your research, you might decide that chickens aren't the best fit for you for one reason or another. It is much easier to come to that decision before you have the birds.

Chicken 101:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/are-you-ready-for-chickens-chickens-101.aspx

Basic chick care:
The My Pet Chicken Guide to Chicken Care, Chapter 4: Caring for baby chicks










The My Pet Chicken Guide to Chicken Care, Chapter 4: Caring for baby chicks
Chapter 4 of the chicken care e-book: Raising and caring for day old baby chicks.

View on www.mypetchicken.com

Preview by Yahoo​

Backyard Chicken Basics














Backyard Chicken Basics
Backyard chickens come in countless varieties. Keeping chickens will teach you basic livestock handling, and these hardy birds will amaze you with their individual ...

View on www.motherearthnew...

Preview by Yahoo​

Links to darn near anything poultry:
Poultry Sites














Poultry Sites
poultry links

View on www.feathersite.com

Preview by Yahoo​

Good luck! And feel free to ask more questions. We will try our best to help.

 

[iMagen]

and to the Cheesehead thread Magen! Hope you like it here.

That is a very wise decision not to go the route of shipping chicks from a hatchery to start out. That can be very hard on the chicks and losses are to be expected.

Before we can give you much coop advice, we will need a bit more info to help you out. Does New Berlin have size restrictions for coops? About how large of a space do you have to dedicate to your chicken coop & run? As most of us on here will attest, we usually recommend going with the largest coop you can get away with, as chickens are very addicting and chicken math is inevitable.

Unless your town only allows so many birds?

If you have close neighbors, I highly recommend a sturdy run for your girls which should also be as large as it can be. Chickens love to kill grass & any vegetation they can get their little claws on (and your neighbors might not appreciate that very much). If anyone owns a dog, you will want to keep your girls safe from them and other predators too.

Here are a few links you might want to peruse before you decide to get chickens. As our very wise Bigzio said, it is always a very good idea to research getting an animal before you actually get the animal so you know exactly what to expect before it happens. There are very many things to consider. And after doing your research, you might decide that chickens aren't the best fit for you for one reason or another. It is much easier to come to that decision before you have the birds.

Chicken 101:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/are-you-ready-for-chickens-chickens-101.aspx

Basic chick care:
The My Pet Chicken Guide to Chicken Care, Chapter 4: Caring for baby chicks










The My Pet Chicken Guide to Chicken Care, Chapter 4: Caring for baby chicks
Chapter 4 of the chicken care e-book: Raising and caring for day old baby chicks.

View on www.mypetchicken.com

Preview by Yahoo​

Backyard Chicken Basics














Backyard Chicken Basics
Backyard chickens come in countless varieties. Keeping chickens will teach you basic livestock handling, and these hardy birds will amaze you with their individual ...

View on www.motherearthnew...

Preview by Yahoo​

Links to darn near anything poultry:
Poultry Sites














Poultry Sites
poultry links

View on www.feathersite.com

Preview by Yahoo​

Good luck! And feel free to ask more questions. We will try our best to help.








Thank you SO much! We don't have any size restrictions on coops, just the birds themselves. We can't have more than 4 and no rooster. I have a friend that's a carpenter, so I was planning on having him build us one next week. I know what I want style wise, I just stink at locating plans online for what I want LOL. I already have the brooder box, light, feeder, everything else set up but the girls, so in time they will come!

 

[iMagen]

I should add that we have about a half acre of land, and I don't plan on having them free range too much, because I'm scared of hawks in our area. I will be sure to have a larger run made as well that they can go in and be moved around the yard!

 

[Cindlady]

Hi All!

Nothing new.

Night All!

 

[Sclark73]

I should add that we have about a half acre of land, and I don't plan on having them free range too much, because I'm scared of hawks in our area. I will be sure to have a larger run made as well that they can go in and be moved around the yard!

I have a friend up north here that has some really nice coops for sale but in the $500 range, were already lowered down from much higher. Coops have an attached smaller run. She is on FB if you are interested I can get you in contact with her.

 

[jvls1942]

good morning,

I am going to put in my 2 cents about the new coop.
you can go on line and see hundreds of models of coops.. what you are going to come away with is confusion.. don't take this the wrong way, but newbies tend to look at how "cute" the coop is, and never consider the function of it..

the coop is protection when the birds are locked in it..

it is a place for them to lay their eggs..

it can be a place to store the sacks of feed in out of the weather and convenient to get to for the person feeding the birds..

remember, the birds will spend their winters in the coop, which means someone will have to clean the coop out eventually,,
make this part as easy on that person as you can,,

If you are buying new material, $300.oo does not make a very large coop..

you mentioned that you would not let the chickens free range for fear of hawks..
keep in mind that a hawk can snatch a chicken out of a run just as easil..

now we are talking about covering the run,,.. more $$$$.. keep in mind that snow will pull the cover down,,

in my opinion, a tractor for 4 chickens is the most practical way to go..
to avoid injury to the birds, move the tractor when the chickens are locked in the coop.

for 4 birds, a nest is not necessary,,, if you can reach the eggs, it is OK for them to lay on the floor of the coop..

I would make the floor of the coop out of 1/2 inch hardware cloth.. then bedding on top of that would be optional.. it they have a roost, floor bedding would not be needed ..

that is it for my thoughts,, I have many more, but this is getting to look like a FT post..

......jiminwisc........

I have to disagree with CC,,(big surprise)
chickens are for everybody ..
you just have to be prepared..

 

[Celtic Chick]

......jiminwisc........

I have to disagree with CC,,(big surprise)
chickens are for everybody ..
you just have to be prepared..

What a shocker.

I do agree with you on being prepared Jim, before getting the birds. That way you have a better idea of what to expect. It sounds like Magen has been doing research so that is great.

I have to disagree with you on the tractor though, Jim, but that would have to be her decision as to what route she wants to take. I have one & I don't think it is nearly as easy to clean out as a regular coop, and I do not use it at all in the winter. She has a decent sized yard, so I'd suggest getting a good size coop and make the run big enough that in the event that they kill off all the grass, that you could fence off sections to throw out some grass seed & be able to keep them out of it til it got established. I would also plant some vase shaped bushes inside the run so the girls have some cover from avian predators. I have snowberry, elderberry, nanking cherry and a flowering plum in my run that the girls really like to hang out under. A pallet on concrete blocks works well too if you like the redneck look.

Yes, I do have a few of those too.

 

[jvls1942]

Quote: I was making my comments keeping in mind her $300.oo limit..
NO way can anybody build a large coop for that much,, hence the tractor suggestion..
there is nobody on here that is more in favor of a large coop than I am,,

your tractor is difficult to clean because of it's design,, a well designed tractor could be a snap to clean..

If I had to do it all over, I would have foregone raising birds and went into the coop building business.

I didn't mean step on your toes, I did put LOL after my comments, I think..
I am backing out now,, no more pissing match..

..........jiminwisc.......
.....jiminwisc....

 

[Celtic Chick]

I was making my comments keeping in mind her $300.oo limit..
NO way can anybody build a large coop for that much,, hence the tractor suggestion..
there is nobody on here that is more in favor of a large coop than I am,,

your tractor is difficult to clean because of it's design,, a well designed tractor could be a snap to clean..

If I had to do it all over, I would have foregone raising birds and went into the coop building business.

I didn't mean step on your toes, I did put LOL after my comments, I think..
I am backing out now,, no more pissing match..

..........jiminwisc.......
.....jiminwisc....

Who's pissing?????

No worries Jim, I am not angry or anything silly. I forgot about the $300 comment.

Yeah, that might not be doable with my suggestions. But again, that is dependent on ones definition of "large". A large coop for 4 chickens doesn't have to be 10'x10'. Nor does it need to be big enough to fit a wheelbarrow into it since for only 4 birds, you shouldn't need a wheelbarrow (except maybe to clean it out after winter). It just needs to be big enough for 4 birds to have enough room to stretch their wings in the winter since they will be spending so much time in it.

My fault.

 

[DutchClutch]

Jim, was it you who had mentioned an interest in Swedish Flower chickens? I am too lazy to search WAY back Anyway, saw it mentioned by someone that will be at the Neillsville swap, thought I'd check.