Yahoo! i'm moving to a 550 acre farm!

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youre going to be living on a farm in ND,,get used to the dust..they can be cleaned and if they had calves should be fine for chickens with a little work..you can always build something else in a year or two when you really know what you want..
 
You have not seen dust untill you have chickens. Seriously, take a look at what you have on hand and make a determination on what will be usable. It doesn't have to be the Taj Mahal.
 
41094_here.jpg

look in the backround
 
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I converted an old out building on my property into my main coop. Took alot of cleaning but it worked out really well and not near the size of the one you show in your pic. You can see it in the background of this pic.

IMG_4220.jpg
 
Chickenrandomness, first, I totally agree that you should start with one of the existing buildings. Yes, they CAN be cleaned and fixed up and made suitable for chickens! They may be old and look rough, but they'll work. One of the first rules of farming is NEVER SPEND MONEY UNNECESSARILY! (LOL! Sorry for shouting, but that MUST be emphasized!) Second rule of farming is NEVER go into debt, but that's another post/thread. I wish I had one or two of your old buildings here to work with! You are *blessed*, girl! Both with the land and with the buildings already there and still sound enough to be fixed and made to work.

Second, North Dakota has a climate that's not too much different from that of the Interior of Alaska. The winters won't be quite as long (I hope!) nor quite as cold (usually), but it's pretty close. And the Interior of Alaska would be no place for most of the breeds of chickens you've selected. Seriously, you need to go back through your list with an eye for cold-hardiness. Look for pea, cushion, or rose combs; large body size (dual-purpose birds); fluffy feathering (no Cornish -- their hard feathering leaves little insulation for cold weather); and no feathering on the feet (ice balls freeze to them in the winter). Suggest you consider breeds such as: Buckeye, Chantecler, Rose-comb RIR (or Rhode Island White); Wyandottes -- lots of colors there to choose from; Easter Eggers; anything similar to these breeds. Avoid any birds with single combs, especially large single combs; small body size (lose heat faster in the winter); hard, close feathering. I've also read that crested birds such as Polish and Houdans will have trouble in cold weather. Don't know about that -- I had some Polish in New Hampshire and they did fine (until something got them).

I realize that the practical birds aren't always as exotic or 'cute' as some of the breeds you put on your list, but I think you'll be much happier with poultry that doesn't require too much pampering in order to survive the winters there. And, there really are a lot of colors and body shapes, and egg colors, to choose from in my list.

If you are going to order from a hatchery, though, choose something other than Murray McMurray -- they are more expensive than most of the other hatcheries with no better quality.

Wish you well at your new home -- like some of the others, I'm a little bit envious!

Kathleen
 
Lucky you!!


Seriously, dust in a old barn gives it charactor!

Nothing a broom or a good power washing couldn't fix!

They look like the are not too far gone to fix up, with a little elbow grease and time.

If you can get some good clear picts of the buildings we could help point out what needs fixed and how. Definatly cheaper than building a new one.
 

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