DH and I are considering getting some chickens for eggs.
Can those of you who keep chickens tell me about caring for them? Also, did you build a coop or buy one? If you built it, do you have plans you used? What do you do with the chickens when they get old or stop laying eggs? What about during the winter? So many questions. Off to do research.
We have chickens. Their care involves feeding and water. They are really easy to care for. We also let them out of the coop daily so that they eat all the bugs in the yard. We don't have a mosquito or grub problem anymore. We built our own coop with no plans, but Ana-White. com has some free plans that look pretty nice. We've eaten a couple chickens that became to old to lay, but that takes about 2-3 years. For winter in NC, we just used a heat lamp at night. Now we're are in Alaska and haven't experienced a winter here yet. So far, everyone says we just need a new more heat lamps.
They are honestly super easy to care for and their eggs are beyond worth it. Good luck!
Post by chickenlittle on Jul 4, 2014 19:26:25 GMT -5
We built our coop--it's a ridiculously fancy two story thing because my husband likes to go way overboard. He just drew up a plan, and we went from there. Maintenance is pretty easy. They get fresh water morning and night and grain in the evening. We fully clean out the coop about every two weeks, depending on now much time they're outdoors. We also use heat lamps during the winter since it gets so cold here. We have a couple that have stopped laying, but we keep them around because we never intended to eat them, only use them for eggs.
It's definitely been a learning process and trial and error. This is our seventh year with chickens, and I feel like we've finally figured it out. With ten chickens, we get about four dozen eggs a week.
Post by sineadorebellion on Jul 4, 2014 19:29:17 GMT -5
I love having chickens. They're pretty minimal care, just feed water, and occasionally adding fresh hay. H and my BIL built the coop in a few hours out of pallets and scrap lumber. We just googled diy coops and went from there without a solid plan, but my BIL is a carpenter so we had that advantage. We haven't decided what we'll do when they die just yet. Also it doesn't get cold here really but from what I've seen online adult chickens are pretty hardy.
Sometimes I pick up night crawlers or meal worms as a treat. The chickens lose their shit when they see the box and the kids love watching them chase the worms lol.
We built our own coop, I just designed something simple. It's 8x8 half enclosed & half screened. If I did it again I'd do even smaller enclosed. We live in CT and even though it gets cold the only winterizing I do is staple painter's plastic around the screen to block the wind. The chickens have a roost inside and out but only use the outside one year round. The best part is that I use the deep litter method right on the ground so the droppings just compost. There is sand in the open area and shavings in the other side.
We have 3 and they are 4.5. One hasn't laid in about a year because she's taken on the roll of rooster (crowing & all ). They are pets as much as a food source so we'll keep them even past prime laying years.
We have chickens. Caring for them is not too bad. The feeder we have last s at least a week. You need to fill their water every 2-3 days depending on the size of the water dish. You need to clean out the old shavings and put new ones in. Get the eggs every day. DH built the coop . He made his own plans but you can find some awesome ones online. Our oldest chickens are only 2 years old and they are still laying. The raccoons have taken care of most of our flock so we only have 5 old ones. We will probably just keep them but we haven't gotten that far. We live in New England and they are just fine in the winter. We have a water heater to keep their water from freezing and we bring a gallon of warm water out each day. If it is in the teens for a couple days we turn on the heat lamp but we haven't had any issues.
We love having chickens, I haven't bought eggs in 2 years.
We like our chickens! Pretty low maintenance, food and water, they eat up kitchen scraps, too. Look into sand mixed with Sweet PDZ (a moisture/odor absorber used in horse bedding) if you want super low maintenance bedding.
I was quite happy with the plans, the only issue being we move our coop around since they aren't free range, and it's rather heavy for that (even after modifying the plans to make it more lightweight).
We like our chickens! Pretty low maintenance, food and water, they eat up kitchen scraps, too. Look into sand mixed with Sweet PDZ (a moisture/odor absorber used in horse bedding) if you want super low maintenance bedding.
I was quite happy with the plans, the only issue being we move our coop around since they aren't free range, and it's rather heavy for that (even after modifying the plans to make it more lightweight).
Post by CheshireGrin on Jul 4, 2014 20:11:09 GMT -5
We've only had ours a few months, so they haven't started laying yet. Should be any time now though.
We sort of built a coop. We got an old, very bare-bones one from friends (traded our old swing set for it, LOL, gotta love that rural economy!) and then did some refurbishing on it. It needed a lot of cleaning up inside, new roosts, and then H put siding and shingles on it to match our house too. He also built a run outside that's attached to the coop, so that they can go in and out at their leisure during the day, and then they get closed up safely at night. We also have a separate chicken tractor (moveable enclosure) that we'll put them in sometimes so we can move them around the yard and given them a change of scenery. We don't trust our dog enough to have them be free-range, but as long as they're inside one of the enclosures, he's learned not to bother them.
Caring for them is really pretty easy. They have a feeder and waterer inside the coop, which generally only needs attention every few days. We let them in and out of the coop every day. (We live in a rural area with a lot of predators, so we're very mindful about getting the coop closed up at sunset. If you're in a more suburban area, that probably won't be as much of a concern.) There are pine shavings in the coop that need to be scooped out and changed periodically. (We only have three chickens and a large coop, so a few times a month is sufficient. If you have more chickens and/or a smaller coop, you'll need to do it more often.)
They're really fun to watch and have very distinct personalities. Agatha is the snuggly one. You can pick her up and just cuddle her and she loves it. Bellina is the bitch. She rules the roost and bosses the others around. She'll also peck at you if you stick your hand inside, will flap like mad if you try to pick her up, and will steal treats from the others. And Camilla is our smallest. She's sweet and tiny and thinks she can fly.
DH and I are considering getting some chickens for eggs.
Can those of you who keep chickens tell me about caring for them? Also, did you build a coop or buy one? If you built it, do you have plans you used? What do you do with the chickens when they get old or stop laying eggs? What about during the winter? So many questions. Off to do research.
Chickens are very easy to care for. It would be easiest if you get chickens that are already feathered out (about 6-8 weeks old) so that you don't have to go through the hassle of rearing them inside your house under a heat lamp. I prefer to get mine as day old chicks because they bond to you better, but they are way more labor intensive.
We built a coop, they are easier to build than wasting money on buying one. The type of coop you need depends on the area you live in. I recently lost 66 chickens and a turkey to a raccoon getting through a 2 inch opening. The raccoon killed 55 birds in one night. Some helpful hints to remember when buying or making a coop are to always make the area above your nesting boxes slanted so that they do not roost on top of the nesting boxes and poop on them. They have to have a roosting area, preferably something round like a tree branch around an inch or so in diameter to grasp at.
They will be absolutely fine during the winter. Make sure you provide them with a place to go into at night that you can lock them into like a coop and provide straw or deep litter of pine shavings to keep warm. If you build your own coop make sure there is good ventilation so that you do not have a build up in the coop.
Depending on the breed you get they will lay for a few years. You could keep them as pets I guess when they stop laying but I butcher them and turn them into soup. They will be older and tougher so they won't make a good roasting chicken but they are great for soup. Very easy to do in the backyard and only takes a few minutes to process them. If you butcher your own chickens DO NOT EAT THEM THE SAME DAY.
I have worked commercial poultry and own chickens, ducks and turkeys so feel free to ask questions! I have a B.S. and M.S in animal science so I sometimes give to much information. I apologize in advance.
Here is our current set up post raccoon massacre. We have hardware cloth over all the windows and openings and locking latches on the doors and the small chicken door to prevent raccoons from getting in. They can tear through chicken wire (seen this in our previous coop) but not hardware cloth. Our coop opens up into a 10x10 dog kennel that is also covered with chicken wire because fishers can get through the chain link. We have netting over the top to prevent hawks from getting in. We always keep the water outside because they will get the bedding inside the coop wet. We bought poultry nipples and put them in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket, it wastes less water and keeps the water clean. In the winter we use an aquarium tank heater to keep it from freezing.
Just below the big window we have a roost and I will be putting up another one higher up towards the ceiling, my rooster "Bait" likes to roost up high. Our nest boxes are on the back side and open up on the outside so we don't need to go in to get the eggs.
This is the other chicken coop we have that we turned into a duck coop. It doesn't have a way for chickens to roost but it does have 4 nest boxes. We use it for our breeding flock of ducks.
jane6672, your chickens are so pretty! We haven't decided what breed to go with yet. We're going to do a little more prep this week to get ready for them, but the place we're going to get them has that breed.
CheshireGrin, I love that your chickens have such personalities! We've already decided on a couple of names, so I'm hopeful we'll have some good personalities on our hands. lol
zzuvet, thank you so much for all the info! We're in a much more urban environment, so hopefully we won't have the same issues with raccoons. 55 birds! Wow! We'll definitely look into getting 6-8 week old ones. I'm not committed enough to raise the babies.
Post by sillygoosegirl on Jul 5, 2014 9:38:53 GMT -5
We have one hen (had 2 originally, but one died). We were concerned she might be lonely, so we got another one from my parents, but they didn't get along, and at the first opportunity the new one ran away. Normally, chickens will come back to their henhouse when the sun goes down, no matter how far you let them roam during the day.
I grew up with chickens, and once or twice we butchered and ate them, but it's a lot of work and post-menopausal chickens aren't tender like chicken from the store. Now my parents give away their old hens on Craigslist. There always seems to be some immigrant family who is happy to take them (presumably to eat). We'll probably do the same. Though here in Portland, there are so many urban hobby chicken keepers that there are supposedly now "chicken retirement farms" where you pay to leave your no longer productive hens to live out their golden years.
My parents gave me their small coup with the first 2 hens. It's 100% made of that wire fencing with the rectangular holes. It's 4x8 and lightweight, so I can move it around the yard so she gets fresh digs. Someday maybe I'll get around to fencing in my garden and my deck, and let her roam the whole yard, but if I do that now, she will go poop on the deck (she likes to look at her reflection in the sliding glass door), or dig up my plants. This would really be to save me effort though. We have a lot of wildlife and she's safer in her pen. One day I heard her clucking histerically and came out to find a hawk sitting on the fence post watching her.
I made her henhouse out of an old wheelbarrow (so it would be mobile), with an old nightstand on top. And then other materials around it all. It works okay, but we have a rat problem in my area, and the rats can get in and eat her food. So we have to buy a lot of chicken food. I'm trying to think up a design to keep them out of the food, but it hasn't come to me yet. I think I could do it if I made her a bigger henhouse, but then it wouldn't be mobile anymore.
You don't have to get a 6-8 week old chicken, but just don't go younger. You risk someone miss sexing it and getting a rooster at that young of an age unless they are sex linked chickens. This late in the year for chickens you should look at something that is closer to 16-20 weeks if you want eggs soon. They typically take 5-7 months to start laying eggs and many will not lay eggs in the winter time, but that is very breed dependent. We had rhode island reds that laid all through winter last year, but they are not always very friendly chickens. With 10 hens we still averaged about 8 eggs a day since chickens only lay an egg every 26ish hours and will not lay an egg after about 2 or 3 pm every day.