Backyard Chickens, anyone?

[MarblesMom]

Hi there -

I am looking for chicken-raising info and advice.  I want to get a portable coop/run  ("chicken tractor") and have about 4 birds.  Does anyone here have chickens?  If so, are yours free-range or in a fenced area or in a tractor?  Where do you put your chickens in the winter?

TIA!!!

 

 

[catlady]

hi!  i have three hens.  they're pets with names--Suzie, Daisy, and Peaches.  we have a small coop (dog-house size) in a fenced enclosure, 9x12 feet.  we got the fencing at Lowe's, the coop at Country Max.  the hens were my nephew's science project until he developed an allergy to them.  they've been averaging about 10 to 12 eggs per week from March to mid-November.  various breeds lay at different rates.  production naturally peters out in winter; this lets their bodies rest.

we have a fully enclosed back yard, and we let them loose in it regularly.  their droppings are a good fertilizer, and they eat all manner of bugs, grubs, and spiders.  however, they can really wreck a garden, so both our flower beds and veggie gardens are also fenced off.  

i'm in New York, so we get cold winters.  the girls live in their house in the yard year-round.  most breeds are cold-hardy, and it's actually not that good for them to be indoors in the winter since they can lose their tolerance.  we buy a bale of hay each fall and give them thick layers of bedding in the winter, and we put a bank against the wind-prone side of their coop to cut down on drafts (either hay-bale, discarded xmas trees, shoveled snow, or the like).  we let them out on days where it's at least 25F (about -12C ?) including wind-chill--colder than that and they can get frostbite.  on too-cold days they stay in their coop; as long as they have food and water, they're fine.  we have an electric water dispenser for winter:  it has a heated base that keeps the water above freezing, plugs into a big orange extension cord (we run a 100-footer around the yard and thru  one of the vent holes in  the coop); you can find these online or at C-Max or Tractor Supply.  they also eat warm corn every day in winter--the starch helps them produce body heat.

they're really no more work than cats or dogs.  we change out their bedding every week, and i scrub the entire coop twice a year.  i get up early every day to let them out of the coop (6 am in summer, 8 to 830 am on colder winter days),  and then lock them back up after sunset.  if we're not home, we have a network of neighbors who pet-sit for each other.  locking them up at night deters predators.  our area also has a lot of red-tail hawks, and these guys regularly stalk the chicks because they're a nice-looking lunch.   one year, we had so many hawk sightings that we put up a chicken-wire roof over their enclosure to keep them safe.

we're in an older suburb (built c. 1940, no HOA's), and our town has no laws for or against backyard chickens; i checked the town code on their website.  their stance is, don't annoy your neighbors or create a nuisance and they'll leave you alone.  we've promised all the neighbors that we won't get any roosters, we share the eggs, and everyone's happy.

your biggest expense will be the coop.  ours was a kit, and many of these kits work well enough, but they do use lower-grade wood/hardware.  after 5 years ours showing its age and we will likely replace it this year.  i have my eye on something from one of those custom-shed companies (we have a back-yard shed from one--fabulous quality, Amish-built, a bit expensive but worth it).  if you have a friend with carpentry skills, consider hiring them to help.  but once you have your start-up, your only real expense will be food.

i hope this helps!!

 

[MarblesMom]

Thank you!  Lots of great information!  I appreciate it!

Yes, no doubt the coop will be the biggest expense.  I am boggled by how many amazing coop/run set ups there are for sale!

Thanks again!

 

[OnceUponATime]

@catlady what is inside your chicken enclosure? Is it just grass/dirt or do you occasionally sow it with other stuff?

[catlady]

1 hour ago, OnceUponATime said:

@catlady what is inside your chicken enclosure? Is it just grass/dirt or do you occasionally sow it with other stuff?

Hi!  It started out as grass, but they ate it pretty quickly and now it's all dirt.  But they use dirt for dust baths (they keep clean and cool that way).  I do lay down some sod pieces every year for them to pick at, but it's not possible to regrow the grass because they will eat it too quickly.  If you go with a tractor-style co-op, you can move it around your yard every few days so you don't get bare spots.

[OnceUponATime]

On 22/04/2016 at 1:52 PM, catlady said:

If you go with a tractor-style co-op, you can move it around your yard every few days so you don't get bare spots.

I'm thinking of dividing the area in two (I still need to measure to check it'll be large enough) and have a coop with two exits - one going to each area. At the moment I'm just dreaming and researching options/ideas

[1CrazyMama]

We have 9 hens currently and 4 chicken runs. 1 is the nursery/quarantine coop, a small coop and run that is currently being used to grow tomatoes, the one with hens and one with our ducks.

In my experience, they are easy to care for. Once they ate all the grass we put in mulch. They work it around and it becomes compost for the garden. They eat scraps of just about anything and chatter quite a bit. Ours were trained to see the children as a good thing (lots of Froot Loops!) and they terrorize our Great Pyrenees.

We bought one coop, built two ourselves and turned our kids wooden playhouse into another. We use metal dog runs with chicken overhead as enclosures. 

Be prepared for predators and give treats so that if they do get out you stand a chance of getting them back faster. Otherwise they will return at nighttime.

[MarblesMom]

I am thinking a metal dog run would be great for a grazing/pecking place.... the enclosure can be picked up and moved around.  I have one that is ... 10 x 4 or so.... how many chickens do you think this could hold?

[AlysonRR]

In my area there are predators that can and will pull a chicken *through* chain link. We have to use denser hardwire (chicken wire is susceptible, too) for runs. I do know people in other areas that can get away with less dense wire, though.

[1CrazyMama]

On May 17, 2016 at 10:14 PM, MarblesMom said:

I am thinking a metal dog run would be great for a grazing/pecking place.... the enclosure can be picked up and moved around.  I have one that is ... 10 x 4 or so.... how many chickens do you think this could hold?

I would put no more than 6 in that size run. We also enclose the top with chicken wire. The only thing I've seen get in the coop was a squirrel. The hens clucked and were angry, but we're too scared of the rodent to do anything about it!

[General Jinjur]

This is my first winter with chickens. I was expecting them to start eating more, but they seem to be eating less. They're all still laying an egg a day. I've put more toys in their run, since they don't get to play in the garden as much now that it gets dark earlier. I'm worried they're depressed. They should be eating more in winter, right? Any ideas?

[catlady]

@General Jinjur, hi!  i've had three chickens for about five years now, and mine are a lot less active in the winter.  i'm in upstate NY, so it's cold, snowy, and dark.

i'd say that your birds are simply resting in winter-mode.  i've read that in winter, their down-time lets their bodies rest from all the egg-laying and busy-ness in the good weather.  mine stop laying from mid-November to early March.

my hens eat roughly the same amount of grain year round, but in winter, i give them heated cooked corn.  the temperature and the starch help them generate body heat.  i give them about a cup of corn every morning from early December on into March, and if it's really cold, i'll give them a second one in the afternoon.  i get family-size bags of frozen corn at the grocery store for about $2.50; each bag has 11-12 cups.  Today's weather is about 15F with 25-mile gusts, so they'll get a second dish when i get home from work.

they do sleep a lot more since we have about 14+ hours of darkness right now; mine tend to sleep when it's dark, regardless of time.  they also spend a lot more time in their coop during the day when it's below the high 20's (F) or very windy; if they go outside when it's too cold, they'll get frostbite.  they get a little restless if they're kept in for more than a couple days in a row, but i keep the snow cleared in their run so if we get a few nice hours here and there, they get to come outside.

it sounds like you're doing everything right, and they're very likely doing just fine.

 

[General Jinjur]

@catlady Thank you for the reassurance! I think I'll start taking them out some warm corn. I'm in the Mid-South, so it doesn't get too cold here, but we've had a couple of days in the 20s lately, so I want to make sure they're okay. (First time  chicken-mom worries.)

[catlady]

I'm impressed that you're still getting eggs!!

[Black Aliss]

9 minutes ago, catlady said:

I'm impressed that you're still getting eggs!!

We have a breed called "Golden Sex Link" and they are phenomenal layers. They don't lay as well during the dark months (latitude 48N) but they don't shut down completely. Predators are a huge problem where we live so we built a "tractor" on a basic trailer frame and move it every day or two to fresh grass.

[catlady]

Ours are getting up in years, and laying does decrease with age. We have 2 Silkies that will be seven years old this spring.  One quit laying completely this summer, and the other was doing about two per week through the fall. They're an ornamental breed, and do not lay daily. The third is an Australorp, which is a good laying breed. She's a year younger than the Silkies, and kept up at one per day this year. 

[General Jinjur]

Mine are red sex links. I've been waiting for their egg production to lessen for the winter, but so far they're going strong.

Silkies are so cute. I'd love to get some eventually.

[catlady]

Do you have photos?  If you can have roosters, male Silkies are so pretty!

here are two of mine, the third looks like the gold one. 

[General Jinjur]

Gorgeous! We're not allowed to have roosters. Here are a couple of mine. I've got six girls.

[Black Aliss]

On 4/22/2016 at 4:52 AM, catlady said:

Hi!  It started out as grass, but they ate it pretty quickly and now it's all dirt.  But they use dirt for dust baths (they keep clean and cool that way).  I do lay down some sod pieces every year for them to pick at, but it's not possible to regrow the grass because they will eat it too quickly.  If you go with a tractor-style co-op, you can move it around your yard every few days so you don't get bare spots.

The pen where I used to keep my hens, until I got fed up with feeding the hawks and eagles and raccoons and bobcats and whatever else, was bare dirt for years. One summer of not having birds and you can hardly walk in there, it's so overgrown. I guess that bare dirt was really well fertilized.

I discovered this year that chickens love kale more than just about anything in the world. Cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprout leaves are pretty popular, but kale is the clear winner and the yolks practically glow orange. I'm going to plant an extra bed of kale next year just for my "ladies".

[PennySycamore]

@Black Aliss,  I need to tell my daughter about kale for her flock. 

[General Jinjur]

I planted kale this year, and the girls absolutely destroyed it. In fact, they destroyed pretty much everything except the peppers.

They must have heard me bragging about their egg production, because I only got five eggs yesterday.

[catlady]

Suzie (the black one above) likes to steal my tomatoes.  the garden is fenced in, but the row of tomatoes closest to the fence apparently is fair game.  she leans through it and pecks the biggest ones about 2 days before i want to pick them.......  but since she's the best egg-layer, i let her get away with it.