Posted on 05/03/2017 8:18:45 PM PDT by djf
Well my neighbor next door owned this piece of property that he had to basically repossess. Left on it was a box, a large rectangular box, with a pitched roof and a light inside. So he offered it to me because I had helped him in getting the property set up and I said Sure! and we hauled it to my place and put it set up on concrete blocks about 18 inches high.
It has two doors on the front of it that lock at the top and fold open for access. There is little doubt it was a chicken coop most likely for little hatchlings.
So I am ready to basically raise chickens. But I have a ton of questions before I do it.
What kind of chickens are available? Is the type of chicken enough of a factor for me to consider or will any kind do? Do they need a male chicken around to "prompt" them to lay eggs? Are the chickens very defensive? My other neighbor has cats which I don't want to harm but how do you keep the cat from the chicken house? Do they eat regular like bags of oats?
That's enough for right now, thanks in advance!
Do a web search on backyard chickens.
You can check out egg laying....meat production...egg size and color...from the internet.
Roosters make the eggs fertile....so a broody chicken will sit on the eggs for 21 days and you have a new set of chicks.(problem is they tear up the feathers on the back of the chicken)
Look into Turkeys....big eggs...great meat....
Murray McMurray Hatchery out of Iowa is where I’ve always bought my chicks. Super-healthy, and their website is FULL of all the information you need to know.
If you order chicks from them, pay the bit extra for the shots. Well worth it!
I would recommend Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Red or White Leghorn and throw in a few Americana hens for very pretty candy-colored eggs.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html
Also - if you have a local farm store or feed mill, you are right on time for ‘Chick Days’ where you can buy baby chicks, locally.
Do you need to keep the coop heated in the winter? Always wondered about that.
I never heated my coop in the winter months up here on the Frozen Tundra. It was a standard coop, about 8x8x10 of living space. As long as they have a roost where they can cuddle together for body heat, I had no problems.
You DO need to have sturdier breeds for the North, though. You want hens with small ‘combs’ which easily can get frostbitten.
On some years, when we had below zero temps for weeks on end, I put Vasoline on their combs to keep them from getting frostbite.
I never lost a hen to the cold. Lost them to dogs, wild mink or hawks, but never to the cold.
If you don’t have very fine wire mesh, you could develop a mice infestation. They love chicken feed. Barred Rocks are a gentler bird.
I prefer to raise boneless chickens as they bring the best money at the store. (^;
You need to decide if you are raising meat chickens or layers.
The best layers are the white and brown leghorns or their hybrids. We have had many generations of them and the it seems that the brown ones do not get hit by the hawks and owls as much as the white ones. Does this make me a chicken bigot?
There are lots of frilly chickens out there that look cute and lay different color eggs but for eggs/pound of feed go with the leghorns.
A rooster is not necessary but will protect the flock if it doesn’t turn mean and attack you at every opportunity.
Contrary to Disney, a rooster does not survey the world and crow one time at the perfect time of dawn. They crow all night long repeatedly. Close neighbors might not be amused.
Feed them layer pellets and all of your food scraps.
Welcome to the world of chickens!!!
What kind of chickens are available? -— More kinds than you can imagine!!!
Is the type of chicken enough of a factor for me to consider or will any kind do? -— I would suggest something common like Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, or Barred Rock.
Do they need a male chicken around to “prompt” them to lay eggs? -— Nope.
Are the chickens very defensive? -— Sadly, no. They are prey animals who can only flap and squawk. They must be protected from all predators for their lifetime or one by one you will lose them.
My other neighbor has cats which I don’t want to harm but how do you keep the cat from the chicken house? -— They need a very secure wire pen with a wire or solid roof strong enough to keep not only cats but skunks, raccoons, hawks, and owls out.
Do they eat regular like bags of oats? -— They can and will eat pretty much any kind of animal feed, but their nutrition needs are best met by buying Laying Pellets as a basic diet, and Hen Scratch as a treat.
These are my favorite hatcheries, and you can see all the different breeds and their descriptions there:
https://www.cacklehatchery.com/
http://www.idealpoultry.com/
You can buy a few local chicks on Craigs List rather than shipping them in from a hatchery. When you do buy chicks, try to pick out some of the older ones because they are stronger than newly hatched.
Now, go to Second Hand Books or similar store and get a backyard chickens book to read before you have feathered dependents to care for -— your chickens will appreciate it. Enjoy your birds!!!
Don’t buy “Easter chicks” because they are all roosters.
You will need a fence to keep the chickens in and predators out.
You will also have to put a shelter out in the chicken yard. A place where they can run and hide when the hawks come calling.
My advise is to go down to your local farm and feed and buy a few cheap chicks and a bag of pullet feed.
These will be your "practice chickens".
You are going to make a lot of mistakes, better to do it with a chicks you paid fifty cents for than chicks you paid $15 for.
I put a heat lamp on cold days (we get some -0 nights) but some say they don't need it. Our local supplier (Cackle Hatchery) mails chicks all over the country. My wife was waiting in line at the post office and they were mailing boxes of chicks to Alaska.
Barred Rock is a good egg layer, like someone said, get some Americanas for the colored eggs. We got rid out our rooster, he got up too early for us and the neighbors.
Watch out for those Roadapple RED’s, the pit bull of
chickendom.
Seriously, chickens are kind of cool, one came with
the house I bought, lived here for 4 years.
Hen-rietta raised two batches of chicks but now they
have all been cleaned out by the coyotes.
Kind of miss her, but she would roost in the rafters
of my shop and make a mess so she had to take her chances
outdoors.
Diana, do you live north of Stevens Point?
Wow - it’s been some seventy years or so since my dad used to buy twenty-five chicks (plus a few extras for good luck) from Sears Roebuck each spring - hauled into town on the morning local - we’d get a call from the train station to go pick them up - one of the biggest days of the year (one year they arrived during a cold snap - all were dead by the time they arrived and we got to them, but Sears made good on the order) - Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and Leghorns were the biggies - chicks need lots of warmth and special starter mash as well as “grit” (pulverized stone to help digestion) as I recall - also we used to have to show them how to drink by grabbing each one and dipping its beak into the water fountain until it got the idea - very social creatures - separate one from the bunch and it lets out a fearful series of chirps until allowed to return to its buddies - gradually introduced to the outdoors as they developed feathers and ability to fend for themselves - pen should be heavily fenced more to keep dogs (and cats and others) out than the chickens in - they will lay eggs without a rooster around - he’s needed to keep them happy and breeding - they eat mash, cracked corn and pulverized oyster shells (to strengthen the egg shells) as I remember - they’re pretty dumb but can take care of themselves fairly well if provided the basics - grown-ups don’t need a lot of heat during the winter as long as the temps don’t go much below freezing for long - that’s about it from the perspective of a kid who used to love taking care of the spring chickens all those years ago.....
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